Asbeek Wilhelmina (Brusse)

Asbeek-Brusse, Wilhelmina In 1942, two brothers, Manfred and Harry Klafter, were deported from Amsterdam to Westerbork. They were interned in the camp for two years before staging a bold escape and returning to Amsterdam in September 1944. On their arrival in Amsterdam, Wilhelmina Asbeek-Brusse safely hid the brothers until the war’s end. Manfred and Harry knew Wilhelmina, who was otherwise known as “Tante Cos” or “Oma,” and were aware that she had been active in the Resistance since the beginning of the war. Wilhelmina had two daughters who had converted to Judaism in 1941 as an act of protest against the Nazis and she had also been hiding a Jewish couple, Mr. and Mrs. Groen, since 1942. Even under great duress, during the infamous hunger winter, Wilhelmina shared everything she had with the four Jews she was harboring. Over and above hiding Jews and preparing additional secret hideouts for use in times of danger, Wilhelmina also hid the material possessions of some of her Jewish friends, returning them untouched at the end of the war. Furthermore, her activities included one famous incident when she braved all odds to smuggle out lists of names of members of the Resistance from the office of an anti-Nazi organization in Amsterdam, and then burn them. This heroic act saved many from arrest and possible death. Wilhelmina did not perform any of these humane acts out of specific religious or ideological conviction, but because, in her own words, “I just believe a person is a person.” When her name was first put forward to be honored by Yad Vashem in 1965, she refused to hear anything of it. Over 20 years later, aged 91, she finally agreed to receive a certificate of honor. On May 19, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Wilhelmina Asbeek-Brusse as Righteous Among the Nations.