Voute Henriette

Voûte, Henriëtte Henriëtte (Hetty) Voûte came from a fiercely anti-German family. In 1940, her two brothers founded Bulletin, the first Dutch Resistance newspaper. During the occupation, Hetty was studying biology at the State University in Utrecht and living with her parents on Kromme Nieuwe Gracht. In August 1942, Hetty joined the Utrechts Kindercomité (Utrecht Children’s Committee*, UKC). Before this, she had, with the help of fellow student Olga Hudig, found addresses for Jewish children in and around Noordwijk, South Holland. Joop Westerweel’s* Resistance group had sent her these children. Working within the UKC, the two friends expanded their activities. Hetty’s task was threefold. In the second half of 1942, she combed the whole country in search of ration cards for the many Jewish children sheltered with the help of the UKC. In a short time, she had set up a network of 12 distribution offices where co-operative officials supplied the required ration coupons against the children’s registration cards. She also obtained ration cards from Menachem Pinkhof, one of the Jewish members of the Westerweel group. From November 1942, Hetty also took charge of the UKC’s administration, which consisted of an innocent-looking notebook containing the names of the Jews in hiding and---in code---their hiding addresses. Hetty’s third job consisted of escorting children to their safe houses. Whenever there was no hiding address available, Hetty would find a temporary shelter for her charges. In February 1943, Hetty narrowly escaped arrest. She went into hiding with Adrie Knappert* in Ommen, Overijssel. A few weeks later she resumed her Resistance work. Four months later, Hetty was arrested. She was incarcerated in many prisons and camps. She ended up at Ravensbrück camp and survived the war. On March 24, 1988, Yad Vashem recognized Henriëtte Voûte as Righteous Among the Nations.