Krijn Johannes van den Helm
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Krijn Johannes van den Helm | |
| Moeder: | Sieuwke Lijcklama à Nijeholt | |
| Geboren: | 19 OKT 1912 | Amersfoort |
| Overleden: | 25 Aug 1944 | Amersfoort |
| Beroep: | rijksklerk dir. belastingen | |
| Aantekeningen: | Omgekomen bij een schietpartij met de SD. Last Name: Helm van den First Name: Krijn Date of Birth: 19/10/1912 Date of death: 25/08/1944 Rescuer's fate: murdered Cause of Death: SHOT Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: CLERK Organization/ Religious order: LO - Landelijke Organisatie Amsterdamse Studenten Groep Place during the war: Leeuwarden, Friesland, The Netherlands ; Amersfoort, Utrecht, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Leeuwarden, Friesland, The Netherlands ; Heerenveen, Friesland, The Netherlands ; Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding Supplying basic goods Other File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/2200) Krijn van den Helm and his wife, Johanna (Joop), only moved to Leeuwarden, Friesland, in 1941, but despite being an outsider, the entire Frisian Resistance movement accepted Krijn as their leader later on. His first encounter with Jewish persecution was in early 1942, when Jacob de Jonge, a Jew living in Leeuwarden, got into trouble with the tax authorities where Krijn worked as a clerk. De Jonge had covertly taken money with him when he fled Germany in 1938. After consulting with his department head, tax inspector Jan Evenhuis*, Krijn found a way to keep Jacob from being punished by altering the tax declaration. He also gave Jacob his house key, telling him that he was always welcome in his home on the Beetgumerstraat. On August 19, 1942, the de Jonge family received deportation orders, and Krijn organized a safe house for them with Sikma, a concrete manufacturer in Heerenveen, Friesland. Krijn himself took in their daughter Ruthie. This was the foundation of what was to become an extensive organization centered around a hard core of tax officials who helped many Jews hide, a great number of whom passed through Krijn and Joop van den Helms home. When there were no more local Jews to assist, Krijn shifted his focus to Amsterdam. Dozens of Jews from Amsterdam were sent to him by various organizations, especially the LO and the Amsterdam Student Group*, whose leader, Piet Meerburg*, became a close friend. In March 1943, Piet sent his representative, medical student Henk Kluvers*, to Leeuwarden to help Krijn find safe houses for Amsterdam students. When, by early 1943, things were running smoothly, Krijn asked his new assistant if he would help find addresses for Jewish children. Together with the nurse Benita Rinsma from nearby Huizum, Henk found dozens of addresses until he was diagnosed for tuberculosis in September 1943. Krijn had many female co-workers as couriers including Greta Nijdam* (later Ket) of Heerenveen, who was one of his runners, as was his wife, Joop, who combined her activities with looking after their son, born in July 1942. As he steadily increased his armed resistance activities, Krijn became the most wanted man in Friesland, while his wife got more and more involved in looking after those in hiding. In the summer of 1944, Krijn had been forced to leave Friesland for his own safety, and he and Joop settled in Amersfoort, Utrecht, with plans to establish a KP Midden Nederland---a fighting unit for central Holland. After only several weeks, the Sipo (German Security Police) got wind of his Amersfoort hiding place and on August 25, 1944, they came to arrest him. In the ensuing exchange of fire, Krijn van den Helm was killed. After the death of her husband, Joop fled with her son and Ruthie to Bakhuizen, Friesland, where they were liberated in April 1945. It is not known exactly how many Jews were rescued by Krijn van den Helms organization, but the figure is thought to be around 200. On January 28, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Krijn van den Helm and his wife, Johanna Cornelia van den Helm-Logtenberg, as Righteous Among the Nations. |
|
Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Johanna Cornelia Logtenberg | geb. 15 MRT 1905 overl. 10 Dec 1994 |
| Huwelijk: | 2 Juli 1935 | Amersfoort |