Dutch couple risked all by saving Jewish children

“Despite my great-grandfather being in hiding, both he and my great-grandmother showed incredible resilience and bravery to get through such a difficult time,” Benayahu Wesseloo told a packed audience at the Yom HaShoah ceremony at King David High School on 14 April. 

He was speaking about the consequences of the courageous actions of his great-grandparents, Barend and Lipjke Wesseloo, who saved nine Jewish children in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during the Holocaust. 

“They survived through fear, hunger, and loneliness, and had nobody to trust until they were reunited,” he said. “This piece of history is proof that we all, as individuals and the collective, can change history for the good, and we can make a difference.” 

Wesseloo, who has converted to Judaism and is part of the Pretoria Jewish community, spoke at the first combined Johannesburg and Pretoria Yom HaShoah commemoration. Joining communities, said Gary Nowosenetz, chairperson of the Pretoria Council of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), “is a statement that we’re not separate communities, merely sharing a faith, but one family”. 

“The Nazis sought to isolate us, to weaken us, to pick us off one by one. They failed. Those who hate us today … hope that we will … retreat into our own corners, into our ghettos, that our bond … that too, will fail,” he said. 

“Family is precisely what is destroyed, name by name, household by household, generation by generation. To remember is to deny that destruction’s final victory,” said Danny Mofsowitz, chairperson of the Gauteng Council of the SAJBD. 

Those at the ceremony also heard survivor Wanda Albinska’s story, in particular how her mother, Dr Halina Rotstein, sacrificed herself to save others in the Warsaw Ghetto. 

Wesseloo told how both his great-grandparents had difficult childhoods, but despite the hardships they endured, they risked their lives to help those in need. 

Once the war was imminent, the pair saw that Jewish people in the Netherlands were the target of the Nazis. They knew this because they recognised the surnames of the people who were taken away or murdered. 

“My great-grandmother, being a mother herself, couldn’t stand by and do nothing,” said Wesseloo. “So they decided to join the resistance, opening their home, and ultimately helping nine Jewish children. It wasn’t easy. They received extra food stamps for being part of the resistance, helping sustain the household, but often it wasn’t enough. 

“Some children would stay a few weeks, others a few days, and they sheltered mostly the young. They told the resistance they would have children only of the same age as their own kids, to avoid being questioned as much as possible. Because they knew if they were caught, they would be executed,” he said. 

The first child they saved was the daughter of a rabbi, who was directed to them by the resistance. When this rabbi showed up at their door, all he could muster was “Please save this child”, and then he died. 

“She stayed only a few days as the resistance designated the house as one of the first safe stops on the journey to a safer place,” he said. “As time went by, the family had a sense of thirst, disruption, and fear of detection. So, my great-grandmother instructed the resistance to send at least one child to live with them permanently.” 

They were then sent a child with a forged birth certificate, with the name Rob. They instructed the children to refer to him only as a brother. He became the “twin” of one of the children. 

Shortly after this, Wesseloo’s great-grandmother gave birth to his grandfather. Being born during the war presented many challenges, including malnutrition, and the baby nearly died. 

To save him, his great-grandmother was sent to a nearby town to improve her diet. She and her sister encountered problems with a German patrol along the way and, fearing for their lives, went into hiding overnight, planning to return home to their children the next day. That night, their town and their house were bombed by the Germans, but upon their return home they found the home standing. 

“A miracle had happened. A bomb was on their porch and it hadn’t detonated,” said Wesseloo. “Inside, they found all the children, including Rob, as a protective shield over my infant grandfather. Had the bomb exploded, the family could have been killed, five children and Rob, the Jewish child.” 

All the time his great-grandmother was looking after the children, his great-grandfather was in hiding. After the Germans had defeated the Dutch in 1940, he went into hiding to avoid being sent to work in German factories like many other Dutch men. For many years of the war, he stayed underground, on farms, in his own attic, and under the stairs. The children knew they had to hide any evidence of his positions, and they successfully evaded the frequent German inspections. 

“Some were not so lucky. My mother’s grandfather, unfortunately, was caught and shot by the Germans after being forced to dig his own grave,” said Wesseloo. 

Ten years after the war ended, in 1955, the family relocated to South Africa, where they built a life for themselves and their families. 

“They both helped establish a carpentry business and had more children, survived cancer, and lived vibrant lives, despite the effects of the war. On 8 April 1996, they received the award of Chasidei Umot HaOlam, or Righteous Among the Nations, from Yad Vashem, for saving Jewish lives in the war,” he said. 

The couple lived into their 80s and 90s, saw the birth of 36 grandchildren and 57 great-grandchildren, and Barend lived to see them all.