Samuel Breijer

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Samuel Breijer
Moeder:	Dina Catharina van Dissel
Geboren:	24 Juni 1888	Oegstgeest
Overleden:	31 Juli 1983	onbekend
Beroep:		arbeider
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Breyer First Name: Samuel Date of Birth: 24/06/1888 Date of death: 31/07/1983 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: PROTESTANT Gender: Male Place during the war: Nieuw Vennep, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Nieuw Vennep, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/227) The Breyers were a family of hard-working day laborers in the Haarlemmermeer, an area in North Holland noted for resistance to the German occupation and for hiding persecuted Jews and non-Jews. Like their neighbors the Breyers were devout Protestants who believed that the Jews were God’s Chosen People. The Breyers lived in a modest duplex consisting of a living room and kitchen downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. There was a small cellar under the living room and an outhouse in the backyard. In these cramped living quarters, Samuel and Antje Breyers raised their seven children, the eldest of whom was a daughter who got married during the war. The five sons slept upstairs and the youngest daughter, Gerritje, who had cerebral palsy, slept downstairs in the living room with her parents. In this humble abode, the Breyers first took in eight Jewish fugitives, six of them children and teenagers. Seven of the Jews slept with the Breyer sons upstairs and the eldest member of the group, Salli Cohen, took Gerritje’s bed while she slept with her parents. All these fugitives arrived at the Breyers’ home in 1943 and stayed there until the end of the war. The Breyers saved their lives; they were not even discovered during the frequent house searches, including one for Hendrikus’s wanted son. One night, Pieter (Piet) Breyer, whose task it was to bring clothing and other personal belonging to the wards, came home with a suitcase full of clothing. Salli, who recognized the suitcase, heard Piet whispering to his parents about the terrible conditions in which the couple whose suitcase it was were living in, and he burst out crying. The suitcase belonged to his son Harry Cohen and daughter-in-law Sieny Cohen-Kattenburg (who herself had rescued numerous Jewish children from the Amsterdam crèche). Antje immediately got out of bed and promised Salli that they too would be welcome in their home in Nieuw Vennep. Thus, with the arrival of Sieny and Harry Cohen (who were brought to the Breyers by a member of the Bogaard* family), the number of hidden Jews in the Breyers’ home rose to ten, and Jannie, a young woman whose husband had been rounded up in Amsterdam, also found shelter there with her baby. The baby, however, was soon relocated to a home with no other hidden people so that his presence could not endanger the lives of others. Although the group of hidden Jews kept constant watch at the front window of the house, the security situation was precarious and it was decided to dig an underground hideout. As there was an existing cellar, an opening was made at the far end of it and from there a corridor was dug between the cellar and the outer walls of the house. Whenever there was a house search, a total of seven times, the fugitives, at one time 18 people, lowered themselves into the hideaway while a blanket covered the cellar entrance on which 11 year old Gerritje pretended to be playing. The Jews even slept there at night. After the seventh search, in December 1944, when the search squad threathened to take away one of her sons, Antje wrote to the Dutch-Nazi mayor of Nieuw Vennep and demanded that the searches cease and that her family be left in peace. She wrote that her home had been searched seven times and nothing found---and that her home was so small that she had no room to hide people anyway! Their home was not searched again. Throughout the war the Breyers fed all their wards. In addition, they always prepared food for people who were going hungry in the cities; no one was ever turned away from their home. They received some financial support from some of their charges as well as from national organizations. Mostly, however, they used their own resources. They managed to keep all their charges alive and maintained a warm and friendly atmosphere in the home. Children’s birthdays were celebrated with presents and a cake. After the war, two of the Breyer boys married girls who had been hidden in their home. The parents were afforded a state pension in their old age. On July 28, 1966, Yad Vashem recognized Samuel Breyer, his wife, Antje Breyer-Eveleens, and their children Samuel, Pieter, Dirk, Hendrikus, Jan Dirk, and Gerritje Breyer as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Antje Eveleens	geb. 2 Nov 1892 overl. 1977
Huwelijk:	17 Juli 1912	Haarlemmermeer
Kinderen:
	Samuel Breijer	geb. 1912
	Dirk Breijer	geb. 1915 overl. 9 Apr 1918
	Pieter Breijer	geb. 1916
	Gerritje Breijer	geb. 1920 overl. 27 Feb 1921
	Hendrikus Breijer	geb. 1921
	Dirk Breijer	geb. 1921
	Jan Breijer	geb. 1928
	Willem Breijer	geb. 1931 overl. 26 MEI 1931
	Gerritje Breijer	geb. 1932