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| Johan Van Hulst in 1980 (GFDL license) |
During the
Nazi occupation of Holland, Van Hulst was running
a Reformed Teachers’ Training College which “bordered
the garden of a Jewish nursery.” This “Calvinist
Protestant” managed to smuggle many of
those Jewish children to safety during the darkest
of times.
He did this
by cleverly waiting until a tram routinely blocked his
school from Nazi view. Van Hulst would then quickly
“hide the Jewish children in baskets and sacks” and
whisk them off to “their next underground destination.”
This went on
for quite some time until approximately 600 children
were rescued. Van Hulst had to
eventually go into
hiding to avoid being executed for these “crimes” of
compassion.
During his
subsequent long life, Van Hulst “resolutely closed the
book” on this chapter. Rather than “play a resistance
hero,” he instead thought mainly of the tortured
kids that he wasn’t able to save.
Resources
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/03/28/johan-van-hulst-who-saved-600-jewish-kids-dies-at-107/
Copyright March 30, 2018 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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