Righteous Among the Nations

I've often wondered, had Aunt Hermanna kept a  journal, or talked about her experience during World War II, what kinds of stories would have been passed down. But over the years the family has mostly been silent.

The following is a fictional excerpt from a fictional journal that my aunt might have written...there is so much we will never really know.




Instinctively, she rose up quickly from her chair to pull down the shades on the windows of her small home. Thinking better of it, she instead edged over to the corner of the room and turned off the old victorola; turning to listen more intently. There it was again. She could hear through the paper thin walls the sounds of marching and the many tanks that followed the battalions.

She fought against the anxiety that clawed its way upward through her chest threatening to strangle her, and rushed over to the child, not yet two, making sure he had a cracker and his favorite toy to keep him quiet. She uttered a prayer, reaching out to her sovereign God to please keep the boy silent! He musn't attract any attention!

She knew she needn't be so fearful, they had passed by her small home before, usually on their way to the fighting in another part of the country, and they hadn't stopped then. But the stories were numerous of the ones who were not so fortunate. The breaking down of doors for impromptu searches, the screams and crying as the soldiers took away the children from their foster parents, and ultimately the parents themselves being hustled into cattle cars with the rest of the enemies of "der Führer".

A small cry broke her concentration, and she again knelt down to comfort the child.

Shhh...sjetieka zoon! Silence my son!

As she smoothed his hair attempting to soothe him, she again looked at his angelic little face, examining his features carefully as she had done many times before.

Would that strong Aquiline nose, and those deep set eyes so unlike her own dutch ancestry give them away?

She wouldn't think about that now, and she wasn't about to arouse suspicion by pulling down the shades. All must appear as normal as possible, even if life had not been normal for a very long time. They musn't find the treasure that she had hidden in her home, and in her heart. God sent her this child 15 months previous, at a time that she herself was still greiving the loss of her husband. Like the daughter of Pharoah, hiding the identity of the child found in the bulrushes, she would protect this child from the menace who occupied her homeland. She knew, they all knew about the death camps, though none ventured to talk about it

She shuddered as the soldiers drew closer. Pulling the boy tightly against her, she sat, huddled in the middle of the kitchen floor and prayed for protection while she waited for them to pass...

Hermanna Van Corbach Devries and Andy

Jewish children were hidden in the Netherlands from 1942-1945 to save them from Nazi deportation. After the war the few surviving Jewish parents, deeply traumatized, began the difficult search for their children. The children's return home involved many psychological problems both for themselves and for the parents. Often the hidden children had had to change addresses several times, leading them to "turn off their feelings" so as not to be overwhelmed by grief. After the war many of them could not "turn on" their feelings and suffered from emotional deficiency. As for the parents, many had undergone "anticipated mourning" out of expectations that they or their children would be killed before they could reunite, and this made it difficult for them to receive the returned children. Sometimes the natural parents also could not "forgive" the "hiding-parents" for caring for their children. The hiding-parents, for their part, often suffered from grief after the child's departure.
           ~Dr. Bloeme Evers-Emden

You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family.
         ~Corrie ten Boom (The Hiding Place)

The family of Hermana Van Corbach-de Vries received the Righteous Among the Nations honor from the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest on February 19, 2010, for her saving Andy Ijzerman from the Nazis during the Holocaust .

My Grandfather's sister hid the Jewish child Andy from the Germans in the occupied Netherlands during the years, 1942 to 1946. He was only 9 months and 3 weeks old when she first took him into hiding. Andy's parents, and 4 sets of grandparents were all murdered at Auschwitz.

Before giving their only child to the Dutch Reformed resistance group my aunt belonged to, the family made a pact. Whoever survived, would find and raise the ones who were left. They never had a chance to meet my Great Aunt Manna. She held onto her son after the war was over in 1945. For the first time, she felt she could safely take Andy out of the house for walks and stroller rides. When Andy's uncle came for him later that year, he knew it would be difficult for her to give him up, and left him for a little while longer.

He went back to get Andy after locating his own son Jack in 1946. Andy was now 3 years old.  

Little Andy( in the middle) with  his Aunt, Uncle and Cousins who survived.

At the ceremony my great Aunt Hermanna was commended for being a hero twice. Once for taking him in....

                         
              the other for giving him up.

Even in our time, as the Jewish human rights activist and Hudson Institute scholar Michael Horowitz has observed, "The mounting persecution of Christians eerily parallels the persecution of Jews… during much of Europe's history." Worldwide, an average of 159,000 Christians a year are now losing their lives because they believe in Jesus, with 200 million to 250 million believers suffering physical and political persecution, and an additional 400 million not being able to practice their faith freely! And it is shocking how a scandal of silence has covered up this worldwide persecution of Christians.

                ~Scott Hafemann

Father...let me be courageous in my faith. Let me be willing to suffer for your sake, like those of the Greatest Generation.

I will meet my Aunt Hermanna in Glory someday. not because of what she did....

but because of why she did it.

Always Seeking Higher Ground,

Nora