Kuiper Gerrit & Wilhelmina (Dalenoord)

Kuiper, Gerrit Jan & Wilhelmina Christina (Dalenoord) Walter Heuman, who had been born in Germany, left his parents’ house in April 1937 at the age of 15 and traveled to Eindhoven, North Brabant, to train as an electrician at the Philips Trade School for Boys. During the second half of the four-year course, the student-apprentices were assigned to various departments in Philips factories for on-the-job training. One day early in 1941, Walter was quite unexpectedly approached by his supervisor, Gerrit Kuiper, who took him aside and, apologizing for getting too personal, asked him if it was true that he was Jewish. When Walter said that he was, Gerrit said: “If you feel that you are in danger or need help, let me know. I might be able to do something.” Not long after this conversation, all Jewish employees at Philips were transferred to a new department, SOBU (Sonder Büro), in an isolated building on the factory grounds. Walter contacted Gerrit and asked him for a forged identity card. Within a few weeks a forged identity card in the name of Willem Bos was delivered, at no charge. The Jews of SOBU were given some degree of immunity. However, their situation became more precarious and on July 3, 1943, Walter asked a trustworthy friend to let Gerrit know that he needed help. Gerrit arrived within an hour and invited Walter to hide with his family until a better solution was found or until it was safe for him to come out of hiding. Gerrit returned that evening with two bicycles and took Walter to his home, a typical Philips employee’s row house in Eindhoven. There, Walter met Wilhelmina (Mien) Kuiper, who was to become his second mother, and their 12-year-old son, Jan. On the second floor of the house was a rather narrow room just large enough for a bed, a table, and a chair, and this is where Walter lived. The room also had a trapdoor in the ceiling, right above the table, which led to the attic and from there to a cleverly constructed hiding place where Walter oncespent many tense hours. A few days after Walter went into hiding the Germans offered a general amnesty with no retaliatory measures to all SOBU employees who had, like Walter, gone into hiding, if they returned immediately. The decision Walter had to make was very difficult. The Kuipers attitude convinced him to stay. After the war, it transpired that many of the SOBU employees who had returned to work had died in concentration camps. During his time in hiding, Walter never left the house, except for two or three visits to the dentist late at night. Walter stayed with the Kuipers until April 1947, when he left Europe for America. On January 31, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Gerrit Kuiper and his wife, Wilhelmina Christina Kuiper-Dalenoord, as Righteous Among the Nations.