Beernink Hendrikus & Hendrika

Beernink, Hendrikus Beernink-te Riet, Hendrika As the founder and leader of the De Groene resistance group, Henk (Hendrikus) Beernink from Zwolle (prov. Overijssel) was well known in the area. Among the many and various fields in which he was active were: finding shelter for fugitive Jews, taking Allied pilots and other military air crews to safe havens, raising funds for the resistance, stockpiling food coupons and IDs for the underground, and taking part in espionage and sabotage. In the winter of 1942-1943, after Joseph de Groot and his wife had been hidden by other people for short periods, they were taken into the home of Henk and Riek Beernink for several weeks. While the de Groots felt safe with them, they could not stay for long because Henk and Riek were deeply involved in resistance work and their house was the hub for the De Groene. Joseph de Groot describes Henk as a calm, intrepid and extremely courageous fighter against the Germans. In September 1944, he successfully boycotted the bus transportation network in Zwolle causing a complete standstill; he kept a radio transmitter in the city’s Roman Catholic hospital through which he was connected to the national resistance net; he freed fellow resistance members from the police stations and the detention center in the city, and his group raided two distribution centers for food coupons. On February 8, 1945, just two months before the liberation of the eastern part of the Netherlands, Henk was caught and executed. After Henk's death, Riek Beernink immediately went into hiding with her four-year-old daughter but nevertheless continued with her illegal activities for the duration of the war. On November 1, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Hendrikus Beernink and Hendrika Beernink-te Riet, as Righteous Among the Nations.