Next Thursday (May 2) there will be presentations and commemorations in Utrecht homes, shops and schools that will make the consequences of the Second World War palpable.
The denominator under which all this happens is ‘Open Jewish Homes | Houses of Resistance’. In 2015, this annual event took place in our city for the first time.
This is the program (all accessible for free):
11am, 12pm and 1pm, Bergstraat 6
The Jewish doctor Bram Querido spent his childhood in Wijk C. Only he and his sister survived from the Querido family. Their father and another sister were murdered in Sobibor, their mother in Auschwitz. The current resident of their home, Corrie Huiding, tells their story.
11am and 1pm, Shallow 63
Historical researcher Victor Frederik talks about the origins of the Jewish school that was located in this building. Ruth Jacobsen was one of the students at the school. Victor tells her moving story.
11 a.m. and 12 p.m., Utrecht Library
Wolter Heukels is working for the PTT when the war starts. He doesn’t think twice and joins the illegal anti-German organization, the Order Service. From the Kraaienest, the code name for the post office, Wolter builds a telephone network under the pseudonym ‘Oom Henk’. Descendants of Wolter Heukels tell their story.
11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Prins Hendriklaan 50A
Law student Truus van Lier was 19 years old when she joined the Amsterdam resistance group CS-6 in 1940. In 1943, Truus liquidated the bad Utrecht police chief Gerard Kerlen. A short time later she was arrested and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There she was executed by firing squad. Evelien Ribbens talks about Truus’ life and acts of resistance.
11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., Railway Museum, Maliebaan Station 16
On September 17, 1944, the Dutch government in London called on more than 30,000 railway employees via Oranje radio to immediately stop work. The railway strike was intended to support the Allied operation ‘Market Garden’ to accelerate the liberation of the Netherlands. To what extent can the railway strike be seen as an act of resistance by NS? And how did ordinary railway employees position themselves against the German occupier?
12 noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., Zaagmolenkade 28
Ester van der Hoeden and her fiancé Isaac Cohensius dream of running a doctor’s and nursing post together in Palestine. Ester is studying nursing and also obtains diplomas in child nursing and maternity care. Isaac studies medicine. Soon after the invasion of the German occupiers, Ester is fired, but then starts her own practice as a sick and maternity nurse. When their deportation was imminent in the summer of 1942, they married in Utrecht and reported to Westerbork.
12.00, 13.00 and 14.00, Vredenburg 31
The Jewish Ben Bril had a sandwich shop in Utrecht and was a world-famous boxer. Together with his family he survived the Vught, Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen camps. Theater maker Kim Arnold talks about their lives before, during and after the war.
12:00, 14:00, 16:00, Railway Museum, Maliebaan Station 16
Flora Snatager worked as a shorthand typist in the freight transport department of the NS. Because she was Jewish, she was fired in 1940. After going into hiding, Flora ended up in Westerbork in 1943. She was murdered in Auschwitz on August 27 of that year. Journalist Bas Dekkers tells her story, and the history of Jewish NS employees.
12:00 and 14:00, Academy Building, Achter de Dom 7a
In the night of December 12 to 13, 1942, five students set fire to the student administration of the University of Utrecht to protect students from the Arbeitseinsatz. Two of them, Frits Jordens and Anne Maclaine Pont, were also involved in the rescue of 360 Jewish children. Emeritus professor Leen Dorsman tells their story.
1:00 PM and 2:00 PM, Kromme Nieuwegracht 35a
Together with her husband Alphons, Mieks de Leeuw-Snackers ran a grocery store. During the war, a German lady was billeted with the couple. After Mieks got into an altercation with her, she was arrested and severely punished. She died in February 1945 in a women’s prison in Leipzig. Nicole Zonderhuis tells her story.
1:00 PM, 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, Tuindorpkerk, Professor Suringarlaan 1
Political scientist and journalist Wilfred Scholten wrote a book about the resistance fighter Henk Das. Together with Henk’s daughter Jantien, he talks about his work as provincial leader of the National Organization for the Assistance of Hiders. Henk survived the war, but the war never left him.
1:00 PM and 3:00 PM, Academy Building, Achter de Dom 7a
In 1941, Trui van Lier started a daycare center called Kindjeshaven. Together with her help Jet, she sheltered at least 150 Jewish children, after which they moved on to other hiding places. Journalist/historical researcher Jim Terlingen writes a book about Trui. Together with 91-year-old Anneke Schroevers-Hut, a cousin of Trui, he tells her resistance story and her bond with her younger cousin, Truus van Lier.
1:00 PM and 3:00 PM, Volksbuurt Museum, Waterstraat 27
Historians Han Lettinck and Els Boon tell the story of Michael Pappie and his four sons. Michael was a successful Jewish textile merchant. In District C he was considered a prominent person who was active in association life. He was murdered in Auschwitz on February 5, 1943.
1:00 PM, 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, Bijlhouwerstraat 6
The Jewish Ludwig and Johanna Danheisser – Bloch fled from Frankfurt to the Netherlands in the 1930s. After living in The Hague for some time, they settled in Utrecht. In 2023, relatives recognized them in the film footage of the deportation train that left Westerbork for Auschwitz. Ludwig and Johanna were murdered there on May 22, 1944. Robin van Essen tells their story.
(JT)
