Laura Henriette van Honk
| Geslacht: | Vrouw | |
| Vader: | ||
| Moeder: | Gijsbertha Frederika Leonardina van Honk | |
| Geboren: | 10 Feb 1905 | Buitenzorg |
| Beroep: | administratrice | |
| Aantekeningen: | Last Name: Hoek Ostende van den First Name: Laura Henriette Maiden Name: Honk van Date of Birth: 10/02/1905 Date of death: 13/05/1998 Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: QUAKER Gender: Female Place during the war: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding Arranging shelter File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/6254) In 1936, ten-year-old Klaus Blumenstein arrived in Amsterdam with his mother, his younger brother, his stepfather, two grandmothers, and his step-grandmother. In the early years of the war, they were apprehended by the Germans several times, and later released. In August 1943, however, they were arrested, loaded onto a truck, and transported to a central depot. During the journey, Klaus jumped off the truck, and contacted the Joodsche Raad (Jewish Council), for which he had done some work. They helped him secure the release of his parents and his brother. By this stage, the family realized that it was imperative to go into hiding. The Dutch underground put them in contact with Laura van den Hoek Ostende-van Honk. Laura was a devout Dutch Quaker who had originally been made aware of the plight of the Jews at a Quaker convention in Germany in 1937. Laura, although single and self-supporting, decided to help rescue Jews. She was simply disgusted by the wholesale deportation of the Dutch population. Lauras means were limited and she lived in a rented room in Amsterdam. However, she also owned a small weekend cottage in Putten, Gelderland, where she agreed to accommodate a couple who were engaged. Throughout their six-months in hiding in the cottage, the strictly Calvinist Dutch Reformed neighbors cared for the fugitives. Later on in the war, a half-Jewish teacher at the Quaker school in Ommen, Overijssel, needed a place to hide. Through a Quaker friend in the underground, Laura found a safe address in Hilversum, North Holland. Laura rented the apartment in her name, lived there for the entire six months that the teacher was in hiding in order not to give her away, and commuted daily to work in Amsterdam. Lauras connections in the Quakers led her to some good German officials who were willing to help in her efforts. They provided her with a big house at 463 Prinsengracht, which had belonged to a Jewish family. She actually used the property to hide people, including the Blumenstein-Jolles, Paul Fischer, a German Quaker who had thrown his gun away in a protest against the Nazi atrocities, and several others. Throughout this time, in the neighborhood, Laura was considered pro-German, and storekeepers refused to serve her. Consequently, she ventured far afield in order to acquire food for the fugitives whom she sheltered until the end of the war. On May 5, 1945, Klaus ran out of the hideout to buy cheese from the nearest dairy. The shopkeeper asked the unfamiliar customer where he was from, and when he revealed his place of shelter the shopkeeper was stunned to discover that Laura had been hiding people for almost two years. On September 29, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Laura van den Hoek Ostende-van Honk as Righteous Among the Nations. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Gerardus van den Hoek Ostende | geb. 28 MRT 1893 |
| Huwelijk: | 15 Dec 1953 | Amsterdam |