Baumhauer von Edouard & Hermina (Ribbink)

Baumhauer von, Edouard Henri & Hermina Jacoba Johanna (Ribbink) Attorney Edouard von Baumhauer, who came from a prominent German family, helped hide around 100 Jews near to his country estate. A lawyer from Amsterdam, Edouard was president of the Holland-America Trade Council and consultant for two other trade bodies. In September 1940 most foreign trade was halted and Edouard, his wife Hermina and their three children decided to move to their spacious villa outside Vierhouten, Gelderland. In 1941, the couple invited Jews to hide at the villa, which consisted of seven bedrooms with 25 beds. A 150-yard escape tunnel was constructed to connect the cellar with the nearby woods. When the house became too crowded Edouard rented houses for the Jews in the village. He also began surveying the woods with a view to hiding more Jews. On one of his walks he came across Dionisius Bakker*, of Nunspeet, who was also trying to see if the woods would make a good hiding place. Together they decided on a suitable location around the fire ranger station and organized a camp consisting of tents, barracks, and underground facilities which later became known as the “watch-out camp”. Trusted craftsmen were sent to install water, electricity, and other necessities, and some 100 fugitives lived there, among them many Jews but also non-Jewish Resistance workers and Allied pilots. On 29 November 1944, the Germans discovered the camp but most of the Jews managed to escape thanks to early warnings. Eight people had remained there, however, and were executed on the spot by the Germans. The refugees were brought to the von Baumhauer villa, where they were given new identity cards and food coupons as evacuees from the bombed-out city of Arnhem. On July 20, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Edouard Henri von Baumhauer and his wife, Hermina Jacoba Johanna von Baumhauer-Ribbink, as Righteous Among the Nations.