Weijden van der Dirkje

Weijden van der, Dirkje Before the war, Adolph Cohn worked as a graphologist for the Bruynzeel firm in Zaandam, screening prospective job applicants. It was Willem Bruynzeel himself, one of the firm’s owners, who helped Cohn and his family go into hiding. Adolph and his wife Elfriede were taken to the home of Karel and Adriana van der Putt* in the village of Doorwerth, Gelderland. Their son, Uriel-Baruch, was hidden nearby with Johannes van Lith*. It was Dirkje van der Weijden who took care of the daily needs of the Jewish family in hiding. She brought them bread and other necessities. Around Christmas time, 1942, she brought them a cartful of food, kerosine, candles, and matches, which she had collected from farmers in the vicinity. Sometimes, when it was too late at night for her to return through the woods to her own home in nearby Heelsum, she would spend the night with the Cohns in their hiding place. When there were rumors of searches, Dirkje would take the Jewish refugees across the river to a safer hiding place, until the danger was past. When they had to move, she was able to find them new addresses and personally escorted the fugitives to them. Dirkje worked as a housekeeper and lived with her father in extreme poverty in a dark and unheated house. Nevertheless, she would give all she had to the hidden Jews in her charge out of love for her fellow human beings. Her father, a gardener, was against her underground activities, but this did not stop her from risking her own life. On November 5, 1972, Yad Vashem recognized Dirkje van der Weijden as Righteous among the Nations.