Paasschen van Hendrik & Pietertje

Paasschen van, Hendrik & Pietertje (Kostelijk) During the war, Ingeborg Oppenheim was active in the Resistance in Nederhorst den Berg, working as a courier. In this capacity, she met the Reverend Isaac Groenenberg*, the head of the local Resistance cell. Groenenberg helped Ingeborg to find hideouts for her brother Howard and her mother. (The Gestapo caught her father while he was looking for a place to hide.) At first, Ingeborg’s family stayed with the Snel* family. Later they moved in with Hendrik (Henk) and Pietertje (Pia) van Paasschen, who were expecting their fifth child. Although the van Paasschens knew that the fugitives were Jewish, they did not know their real names. The Jewish family was given its own room in the attic and received food and clothing at no cost. They stayed with Henk and Pia until the end of the war. After the railroad strike of 1944, the van Paasschens also hid a half-Jewish railroad worker in their home. On June 30, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Hendrik van Paasschen and his wife, Pieterje van Paasschen-Kostelijk, as Righteous Among the Nations.