Gerrit Wiechert Kleisen helped Jews escape to Switzerland
On May 30, a special ceremony took place in Zoetermeer, organized by the Embassy of Israel and the Friends of Yad Vashem Netherlands Foundation. Gerrit Wiechert Keisen was posthumously honored with the Yad Vashem award 'Righteous among the Nations'.
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is the institution in memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah (Holocaust) and of the thousands of thriving Jewish communities destroyed by the Nazis in the period 1939-1945. The institute is also a center of research into both the causes and consequences of the persecution of Jews during the German domination of large parts of Europe before and during the Second World War. The Yad Vashem Institute is an Israeli institution, founded in 1953 by the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament). The aim of the Institute is to commemorate the six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Second World War and to honor those who - themselves not Jewish - have made a special contribution to their rescue.
In 1936, the Jewish couple Frans and Erika Joseph fled with their family from Germany to the Netherlands. In 1938 they had a son, Paul. However, the family was not safe for long in the Netherlands, given the Nazi occupation from 1940 onwards. During their escape to Switzerland in 1943, they were helped by the courageous resistance member Gerrit Wiechert Keisen, who, despite the danger, saved many lives by helping people across the border. smuggling. Unfortunately, Keisen was later betrayed, arrested and executed by the Germans on June 6, 1944. The Josephs survived the war thanks to the courageous efforts of heroes such as Keisen.
In Zoetermeer Town Hall, the Yad Vashem award 'Righteous among the Nations' was presented to the son of Gerrit Wiechert Keisen, in honor of his heroic actions in saving Frans and Erika Joseph and many others. The recognition was presented by Head of Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy Fentay Alamu.