Berend Engels

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Berend Engels
Moeder:	Baukjen Nonkes
Geboren:	29 Nov 1910	Stadskanaal gem. Onstwedde
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Engels First Name: Berend Date of Birth: 29/11/1910 Date of death: 23/10/1985 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: NURSE Place during the war: Wolfheze, Gelderland, The Netherlands; Ede, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Wolfheze, Gelderland, The Netherlands; Ede, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/2388) Berend and Gerritdina Marrigje Engels, a young married couple who were both nurses, lived in the village of Wolfheze, Gelderland, and had one son when they took a Jewish boy into their house. Thirteen-year-old Louis Clarenburg came to the Engelses in August 1942 through the Clarenburgs’ housemaid, who had been a classmate of Berend’s. In October of that year, Louis’s younger brother, who was then 11 years old, came to stay with them after the Engelses’ friends, who had been hiding him, could no longer cope with the stress. The Resistance helped the Engels family during the long, dangerous months when they were hiding the two boys and, for a short time, two Jewish women. Berend Engels prepared a secret hiding place for the boys to sleep in. During the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944, the whole area became a battlefield, and the Engels house was hit by a bomb and totally destroyed. Although Berend’s shoulder was seriously injured, he first made sure that his family, including the two Jewish boys, was safe. He was eventually hospitalized after losing a great deal of blood and contracting an infection. The responsibility for her own family, as well as the Clarenburg brothers, fell on Gerritdina’s shoulders. She had to cope with the situation without a home and in the midst of heavy fighting. Gerritdina found an abandoned house but was discovered by an SS officer and forced to leave. She tried in vain to find shelter in other people’s crowded basements, but while people were prepared to take in her children, they would not take the Jews. Gerritdina chose to put herself and her young children in danger rather than abandon the two boys, and so once again they went back to the street to seek refuge. Somehow, they managed to get to the town of Ede, where, with the help of a trustworthy Red Cross officer, she found a place to stay on a nearby farm, which solved almost all problems of food and shelter. At the end of the war, in April 1945, Berend Engels was discharged from the hospital and joined his family on the farm. The two Jewish boys were reunited with their parents, who had been hidden elsewhere. During the war, the Engelses also helped other Jews. On October 18, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Berend Engels and his wife, Gerritdina Marrigje Engels-van der Linde, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Gerritdina Marrigje van der Linde	geb. 27 Aug 1912
Huwelijk:	XXXX	onbekend doen