Kanis Jan & Petronella (Paans)

Kanis, Jan & Petronella (Paans) During the German occupation of Holland, Jan Kanis was in charge of the forwarding department at the post office in Amersfoort, Utrecht. In the summer of 1942, he discovered a note addressed to the population registrar, reporting the death of three members of a Jewish family whom he knew from his hometown. Jan understood that the Jews were being murdered, and he decided to concentrate his efforts in opposition to the Germans on finding shelter for Jewish refugees and acts of sabotage and resistance. In August 1942, a number of Jews from Amersfoort were forced to report for deportation. Jan wandered around Amersfoort trying to convince people to shelter total strangers in their homes. Simultaneously, he persuaded about 40 Jews not to report for deportation and subsequently he found hideouts for them. Jan brought six Jewish children to his own home, including Bert, the three-year-old son of Leo and Froo Manasse. Jan arranged for Leo and Froo to hide with his brother, Jaap Kanis. On August 16 of that year, Jan arranged for Clara van Zuiden-van Beek and her husband to hide with Mrs. Dekker in Kampen, Overijssel. After six months, Mr. van Zuiden fell ill and Jan regularly visited him to take his temperature and bring him food and medicine. In February 1943, Mr. van Zuiden died and Jan arranged for a coffin and for him to be taken by horse and cart to be buried in the meadows, all under the cover of darkness. In all Jan’s activities, he was supported by his wife, Nel, by his daughters, and by several other family members. During the war, at least 11 Jews found shelter in Jan’s home for varying periods of time. Among those he hid were J. Mok and his wife and S. van Zuiden-Kats. Another refugee hiding in his home, M. Sternfeld, knew that Jan left the house at night to carry out Resistance work and suspected that he was involved in eliminating Nazi collaborators. Over and above sheltering people, Jan and his family kept in close contactwith all the Jews they had found refuge for, providing them with ration cards and ensuring that they received all necessary provisions. Throughout the whole period, Jan took good advantage of his position at the post office to support the underground. He developed a system whereby dispersed family members could correspond with each other by using the poste restante and the postal service’s official envelopes. Jan also stole the stamp used on documents to prove that radios had been handed in, thus making it possible for people to retain their transistors clandestinely. Jan’s other Resistance activities included distributing money to the strikers during the rail strike. He also hid weapons in his home. Early in 1944, Jan was arrested by the SD and deported to Dachau. Nel and their daughters were also arrested. When Dachau was liberated, Jan was seriously ill with typhus and would not have survived another week. On July 21, 1970, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Kanis and his wife, Petronella Kanis-Paans, as Righteous Among the Nations.