Schreinemachers Louise (Matthes)

Schreinemachers, Louise (Matthes) During the war, Louise Matthes would often spend weekends with her family in Blaricum, North Holland. The rest of the week, she lived in Hengelo, Overijssel, where she earned a living as a social worker. At one point, the Matthes family were hiding Kitty (Sara) Rijnveld after she could no longer stay with the Maillette de Buy-Wenniger* family. Louise told Kitty: “If there are any problems, you can come and stay with me.” In the spring of 1943, information was received that searches were imminent in Blaricum. Kitty immediately fled to Louise’s house, where she remained until the end of the war. Louise shared her house with another social worker, Bep ter Braak* of Eibergen. Whenever members of the Resistance were in the Twente area they were always welcome to stay with Louise and Bep. The two women also helped Kitty find a job as a housekeeper with the Damhuis family. It was there that Kitty, in 1943, met her first husband, Riemko M. Holtrop, a painter. Riemko subsequently arranged for his friend, Wim ter Broek, to forge an identity card for Kitty. By 1944, the couple was keen to get married and Riemko almost succeeded in arranging the ceremony, but at the last moment the sympathetic town clerk of Markelo was arrested and sent to Vught. Later on, registry official Mr. H. Wanroy arranged a new identity card for Kitty, showing that she had been born in Bandung. Riemko and Kitty were illegally married on August 30, 1944, by the mayor of Markelo, Mr. Korthals Altes, who came out of hiding for the occasion. On April 12, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Louise Schreinemachers-Matthes as Righteous Among the Nations.