Penraat Jaap

Penraat, Jaap Jaap Penraat helped Jews flee to Switzerland and Spain by giving them forged documents that identified them as construction workers for a massive building project in France carried out by “Organization Todt.” His involvement in the Resistance began when he finished his architectural studies in Amsterdam. Jaap found hiding places for Jews who could no longer remain in the city, including Hans Jaffe and Mr. de Lange. Soon he was specializing in falsifying identity papers, for which he and his wife, Eleonor, had set up a plastics foundry as a cover. On August 20, 1942, members of the Bureau Joodsche Zaken (a police task force trained to arrest Jews and those who helped them) arrested Jaap, who was working under the alias “Blond Jaap.” On his way to the police station, he managed to throw incriminating papers out of the streetcar window and after two months in various Amsterdam prisons he was released for lack of evidence. Together with fellow Resistance worker and photographer Kryn Taconis, Jaap decided to try to reach England and continue his underground activities from there. While in northern France, it was suggested to him that he arrange his travel in such a way as to take a group of Jews with him. Forged papers were manufactured for him, attesting that he was recruiting Dutch workers for the Todt organization, a Dusseldorf contractor responsible for building the “Atlantic Wall.” Twenty Jews at a time, posing as members of the workforce, would accompany Jaap through France and then flee south to Switzerland and Spain. With much bluffing, he continued to perpetuate this fraud until the third convoy was arrested. Jaap returned to Amsterdam and continued his Resistance activities. He distributed ration cards to Jews in hiding with Mien Dekker and falsified documents with Jan Bons. When the German police raided their printing shop, the two men had a narrow escape across the rooftops. They went into hiding where Jaap became involved in armedResistance and evaded capture until the end of the war. On October 8, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Jaap Penraat as Righteous Among the Nations.