Krijl Johannes & Jantje (Schoemaker)

Krijl, Johannes Krijl, Jantje (Schoemaker) Mechel Jamenfeld was born in Amsterdam in 1934 to Moshe (b. 1904) and Rachel (née Gastwerth, b. 1900) Jamenfeld. Both parents were of Polish origin, but they had settled in Amsterdam. Mechel was their firstborn son. The family was religious, and Mechel went to the synagogue with his father. After the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, increasing tension entered the house. The family wore the yellow star on their clothes, as the Germans had decreed. In the second half of 1942, the mass deportations of the Jewish citizens of the Netherlands started. Moshe opposed going into hiding because he did not want to endanger or disturb other people. Instead, he dug a hole under the floor. When the Germans came to arrest the family in 1943, they were easily discovered and imprisoned in the Hollandsche Schouwburg (the Dutch Theater) in Amsterdam. Mechel’s sister, Mirjam (b. 1942), had already been sent into hiding and was therefore not arrested. During his time in the Crèche (the place opposite the theater where the children were held), Mechel learned that his parents had been deported to the Westerbork camp. Despite his young age, he immediately understood that he would never see them again, and he cried for hours and hours. Thanks to some brave resistance workers belonging to the “NV group” of Joop Woortman (recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 1981), Mechel was smuggled out of the Crèche and brought by train to the southern Netherlands. An intense period of hiding began for him then. He went from place to place, from family to family, and learned to adapt, eat everything that people put on his plate, and behave like a Christian boy. His name was changed to “Kees.” He stayed with the last family he went to for the longest period. This family—Johannes (b. 1896) and Jantje (née Schoemaker, b. 1897) Krijl and their children, Marion and Harold, who were a little older than Mechel—lived in Kaatsheuvel. The Krijls’ house was connected to the little public primary school, where Mr. Krijl was a teacher. He was a very liberal, progressive thinker, and at first Mechel was shocked that Mr. Krijl did not seem to belong to any religion at all. Mr. Krijl loved playing the organ, especially pieces by Bach. Mrs. Krijl took care of the household, which was not easy during that period of the war. The Krijls also hid another boy, whose name was Gershon Eisenmann (b. 1937 in Amsterdam). He had also been brought to the southern Netherlands by the NV group and had already been at several hiding addresses. Gershon was called “Gerrie,” and soon the two boys became attached one to another. They each understood that the other one was Jewish, but they never discussed it until after the liberation. The boys went to the school where Mr. Krijl taught, and the Krijl family told the neighbors that they were from Rotterdam, which had been heavily bombed. After the war, it became clear that many people had not believed that story and had understood that the boys were Jewish, but nobody betrayed them. Gershon remembers the Krijl family as very brave people, who radiated confidence and showed no fear at all. Some Dutch resistance workers also found shelter with the Krijl family for a period of time. During the liberation of the town in September 1944, the Krijl family spent three days in the cellar of the house because of the heavy fighting in the area. After the area had been liberated by the Allies, everyone came out and went into the streets. There were big celebrations. After the war Mechel and Gershon remained for some time with the Krijl family. Gershon’s parents, who had survived in hiding (also in the southern Netherlands), came for him following a six-month search. Their other children had also survived, even a son who was born during the war. After a couple of months they invited Mechel to come and live with them. Mr. Krijl told Mechel that he was free to choose whatever he wanted—to stay with the Krijl family or to go to the Eisenmanns, “his own people.” Mechel felt he should go to the Eisenmanns, where he had a good time. Mechel’s sister, Mirjam, had also survived the war in hiding. She remained with her hiding family, who adopted her. After having been with the Eisenmann family, Mechel went to Prosdor, a Zionist religious Jewish institution in Hilversum. In 1952 he went to Israel, where he studied, and in 1964 he married. In 1967 the couple’s daughter was born. Gershon stayed in the Netherlands. He also married, and the couple and had two sons. Mechel and Gershon never forgot the Krijl family, who had saved their lives. On October 18, 2017, Yad Vashem recognized Johannes and Jantje (Schoemaker) Krijl as Righteous Among the Nations.