Tervoort Anna (Bruecker)

Tervoort, Anna Anna Brücker was born in 1909, in Schmalbroich, a small rural community in western Germany. Her father owned a bakery and food shop there. In 1936, having moved with her family to the Hülser Berg near Krefeld, she married the neighboring farmer, Peter Tervoort. Anna’s family became aware early on of the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Her father continued to maintain contact with Jews after Hitler’s rise to power and had even extended financial help to a Jewish veterinary surgeon who wished to emigrate to the United States. After the outbreak of war Anna’s husband was drafted into the Wehrmacht and she was left to run the big farm alone, as well as to attend to the two young children. In late 1944 or early 1945, her brother-in-law, Hermann Tervoort, asked her to accommodate Johanna Werner, the Jewish wife of a Protestant husband, who was threatened with imminent deportation. Hermann Tervoort called on his sister-in-law for help after his own wife had slammed the door of her home in the face of the unwelcome fugitive. Anna, who had never met Werner before, agreed to take her in without further ado, accommodating her in one of the guest rooms in the farmhouse. Curious neighbors, who visited the farm from time to time, were told that the stranger was a friend from town who sought refuge from the bombing. However, a rumor that a Jewish woman was living on the farm spread through the neighborhood, and Anna Tervoort soon became the target of blackmail. Looking desperately for a new shelter, Tervoort, was finally able to locate an alternative accommodation for Werner in the cellar of a partly damaged building. During Werner’s stay in the cellar, Tervoort continued to provide her with food. After the war, the Werner family and Anna Tervoort remained in close contact. On March 13, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Tervoort as Righteous Among the Nations.