Maria Catherina Hattink
| Geslacht: | Vrouw | |
| Vader: | Hendrik Karel Hattink | |
| Moeder: | Margarita Elisabeth von Glahn | |
| Geboren: | 5 Sept 1918 | Warnsveld |
| Religie: | geen | |
| Aantekeningen: | Last Name: Hattink First Name: Maria Catherina Alias: MIEKE Date of Birth: 05/09/1918 Date of death: 26/02/1999 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Female Place during the war: Zutphen, Gelderland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Hague, Zuidholland, The Netherlands ; Leersum, Utrecht, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Arranging shelter File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/2196) Maria Hattink, nicknamed Mieke, was raised in Zutphen, Gelderland, where she had made a Jewish friend named Rozine Vromen. In 1942, when the Jews were being actively persecuted, Mieke sought out Rozine to see if she could help her. While searching for Rozine, Mieke met the parents of Rozines fiancé, David de Vries, and his two sisters, 24-year-old Sophie and 16-year-old Elfriede (Friedel), and befriended them. Mieke urged them to hide, but the parents were hesitant. Rozine, David, and his parents were eventually deported to Auschwitz, where they perished. After the arrest of Davids parents, Mieke and her friend the Countess Henriëtte van Hoëvell contacted Sophie and Friedel de Vries and together they devised a plan to rescue them. Their first act was to take them, without their yellow star, by train to The Hague, where Henriëttes mother and sister lived. Sophie was going to stay with the mother and Friedel was to be taken to a room in a large house that Henriëtte shared with six other girls. False papers were provided for Sophie and Friedel, who did not look typically Jewish, and thus they could remain outside for the remainder of the war. Friedel found employment in an office in The Hague and Sophie worked as a nanny for a wealthy family with whom she moved to Leersum, Utrecht, where they stayed for over two years, until after the war. Mieke kept in contact with her all the time, providing new false identity cards and food coupons whenever necessary. One day, the police apprehended Friedel on suspicion of involvement in illegal activities. She spent the last nine months of the war in Scheveningen prison, but was never identified as a Jew. Throughout the war, Mieke helped the Jewish girls without being compensated. Her family and possibly the underground organization to which she belonged helped her. On January 28, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Maria Catherina Hattink as Righteous Among the Nations. |
|