Koning Bouke & Froukje (Kramer)

Koning, Bouke Jouke & Froukje (Kramer) Bouke Koning, born in Akkrum, was a gardener at the “de Werkplaats” school in Bilthoven, Utrecht, which produced a core of Resistance activists who were later called the Westerweel* group. He was one of those who participated in the attempt to hide all the residents of the home for young Palestine Pioneers, the Hechalutz, in Loosdrecht, Utrecht, before they were rounded up. Bouke started on his own initiative, forging legal documents, raising funds for those in hiding, and looking for hiding places. He and his wife, Froukje, also hid Jews in their home, including Margalith Rosenthal and Lotte Wahrhaftig (later Siesel). When Bouke joined the Westerweel group in the summer of 1942, one of his tasks was to accompany refugees across the Belgian border, from where they headed southward. Among those he accompanied, were two haverim from Loosdrecht, who were the first to cross the border to safety in Spain. This escape route had become a preferred method of eluding the Nazis, since many of the hiding places found had proven only to be short-term or unsafe. In December 1943, Bouke and Lotte were arrested at Bouke’s house and taken to the Utrecht police station and from there to Amsterdam. Bouke was released after six weeks, but Lotte was deported to Westerbork, from where she managed to escape and return to the Konings. To celebrate, Froukje prepared a feast of staggering proportions given the hardships of the war. On March 11, 1944, while taking two haverim to the Belgian border, Bouke was arrested again, together with Joop Westerweel, and sent to the Vught camp, from where he was sent to Oranienburg, Dora, Ravensbrück, and finally Peltoff, where the Russians liberated him. On June 16, 1964, Yad Vashem recognized Bouke Jouke Koning and his wife, Froukje Koning-Kramer, as Righteous Among the Nations.