Helm van der Jan & Johanna (Moes)

Helm van der, Jan & Johanna (Moes) In November 1942, when Sal Kimmel was 14 years old, his mother was arrested and deported. Sal had been living with his aunt and uncle, the Reiners, and their two sons, but as a result decided it was necessary to leave them and to go into hiding. Until March 1943, he hid with friends of his family in Amsterdam. When that became too risky, he was put in contact with Johannes Post*, the renowned Resistance fighter from Nieuwlande, Drenthe, who took Sal to his sister’s home in Hollandscheveld, near Nieuwlande. Sal stayed with Hendrijke Moes-Post and her husband, Albert, until January 1944, when Sal was transferred to the home of Johanna van der Helm-Moes, Hendrijke’s daughter, and her husband, Jan, who also lived in Hollandscheveld. Jan, born in Dieren, Gelderland, and Johanna were a young couple with two sons. They lived on a small farm. Their house had only two rooms, but this had not deterred them from taking in the Reiner family (of four) in May 1943 and, from January 1944, Sal as well. The van der Helms also offered temporary shelter to other Jews looking for a permanent hideout. Johanna and Jan were devout Protestants whose only motive was to save innocent lives. Collaborators were everywhere, and thus the presence of the fugitives had to be kept completly secret. However, on February 7, 1945, the van der Helms were betrayed and both Jan and Mr. Reiner were executed in front of the house. Mrs. Reiner, her two sons, and Sal were taken to Westerbork, where they survived the war. The people Johanna hid remember her as a woman of courage and inner strength, whose cruel fate did not defeat her. Despite the hard times she had endured, she managed to rebuild her life after the war. On December 12, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Jan van der Helm and his wife, Johanna van der Helm-Moes, as Righteous Among the Nations.