Kroon Kleys & Henriette (Dijk van)

Kroon, Kleijs Hendrik & Henriette Pouline Johanna (van Dijk) Foreseeing the fate of the Dutch Jews long before they were actually deported to the east, Reverend Kleijs Kroon used his pulpit in Noordwijk, South Holland, to urge the members of his congregation to hide Jews before it was too late. Kleijs belonged to the small group of clergymen of the Nederlansch Hervormde Kerk (Dutch Protestant Church) who, in the 1930s, were already firmly opposed to National Socialism. In February 1941, he contributed to the publication of an anti-Nazi pamphlet called Betere Weerstand (“Better Resistance”) in which church leaders were urged to resist rather than thoughtlessly comply with every order that the Germans issued. In the summer of 1941, Kleijs co-authored a pamphlet entitled “What We Do and Don’t Believe,” which contained a spirited critique of antisemitism and was thus a protest against the anti-Jewish measures taken by the German occupying force. During the war, Kleijs became the head of a congregation in Amsterdam. He and Henriette hesitated for a long time before renting an otherwise suitable apartment because it was situated above a police station and they were taking two Jewish children, the Sturhoofd brothers, with them from Noordwijk to Amsterdam. When the children moved on to another hiding place, the family took in Mr. and Mrs. van der Beugel. Later, Frans Hinlopen* brought them Emiel Polak, whose wife, Elza, went to hide with Henriette’s brother and sister-in-law, Piet and Geertruide van Dijk-Nooter*. There was a small study in the attic of the Kroons’ apartment and it was here that Emiel Polak and the van der Beugels practiced hiding behind a double wall in case of danger. Emiel Polak lived with the Kroons from the summer of 1943 until the end of the war. After the war, Kleijs Kroon continued to take a stand against anti-Semitism in Christian circles, among other things writing a book called Verwerp de oudwijfse fabelen. (Disregard old wives Fabels). OnJune 26, 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Kleijs Hendrik Kroon and his wife, Henriette Pouline Johanna Kroon-van Dijk, as Righteous Among the Nations.