Japin Arend

Japin, Arend (Anton) Among the Amsterdam policemen involved in resistance were Arend (Anton) Japin, Bartel Post* and Pieter Elias, who was executed on December 15, 1944, after returning from a drop with a carload of weapons. One of their tasks was to register the Jews before they were sent on transports, and to take possession of their keys so that the Puls Company would plunder their homes. Being well informed about upcoming raids, Anton and his friends would often warn Jews in time for them to go into hiding. Or, if they were caught and sent to Westerbork, Anton and his colleagues sometimes forbade Puls, which worked for the Germans, to raid the Jewish homes and gave orders that the Joodsche Raad’s Department for Food Distribution should dispatch at least some of the household items to Westerbork. Anton also “ordered” Jewish women assembled for deportation in the Hollandsche Schouwburg to go to the crèche across the road, from where they could escape. On the morning of May 26, 1943, loudspeakers boomed in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam ordering a great number of Jews to prepare their luggage and go on transports. Levie de Hond, his wife, and four children all went to the Portuguese Synagogue, where their names and addresses were registered and their house keys confiscated. Anton Japin, whom Levie knew through his brother, took him and his family to the back of the synagogue, where other Jews were already waiting. Among the 48 Jews assembled were the Cohen and Rimini families. Each time the Germans asked questions about the group, Anton told a different story. From time to time, Anton gave one or more Jews their keys and sent them home and into hiding. After Heinz Cohen and his family were officially deported, but had, in reality, gone into hiding, Anton provided them with ration cards. He transported the Riminis in Captain Bessem’s police car through occupied territory to a safe address in Den Helder. In addition to saving Jews, Anton Japin was also thefounder of the KP Criminal Investigation Department in Amsterdam, a small, very secret group of men who arrested German agents and executed them after a hearing. Using his intimate knowledge of the SD and SS organizations, Anton received enough information to condemn several traitors. Thus Anton was forced to liquidate untrustworthy Dutchmen and Germans, although he hated this task. After the war, Anton never talked about his role as a leader of the KP. On April 28, 1974, Yad Vashem recognized Arend (Anton) Japin as Righteous Among the Nations.