Wormgoor Hendrik & Johanna (Veer van der)

Wormgoor, Hendrik Albertus & Johanna Helena (van der Veer) Johanna (Joke) and Hendrik (Henk) Wormgoor, members of the Socialist Labor Party and the Natuurvrienden (Nature Friends) Association, were involved in the Resistance from the start of the war. The couple had many Jewish friends and Joke would bring illegal work to her husband, who, as a graphic artist, became an expert in forging identity papers. The Wormgoors were part of a group specializing in forgery and known as the PBC (Persoonsbewijzen Centrale), and in this capacity Henk helped hundreds of people in need of a new identity, including Jews, Resistance fighters in hiding, and men in fear of being sent to forced labor to Germany. When fellow Resistance workers Heiman (Puck) Rabbie and Beligje (Bep) Rabbie-Polak needed a hiding place, Henk and Joke agreed immediately to take them in. The Wormgoors’ two young daughters were never told about the guests, who only came out of their room when the children were at school or asleep. After a year and a half, when the tension had begun to make life difficult in the house, another address was found for the two Jewish refugees. Later on in the war, the Wormgoors sheltered a five-year-old nephew of Puck and Bep Rabbie, Peter van Zuilekom. The Wormgoors had just moved to Landsmeer, North Holland, where the locals did not know exactly how many children the couple had. Anneke, the elder daughter, was in charge of looking after Peter during raids or when visitors arrived. In emergencies, she would escape with the boy through the reeds along the stream at the back of the house. Peter attended school and had a warm relationship with the Wormgoors, who treated him like a member of the family. Herman Polak, who was born in 1937, moved to at least ten different addresses in Amsterdam. He ended up in an attic with two women in De Nes, where Henk delivered food coupons. Henk felt sorry for Herman, who had to remain in the dark most of the time, and decided to offer him ashelter. Thus he too moved in with the Wormgoors. Herman had a Jewish appearance and was not allowed to play outside, but he was treated with great affection by the family and enjoyed playing with Peter van Zuilekom. When his father came to get him after the war, Herman did not want to leave his rescuers, with whom he remained in close touch. On March 23, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Hendrik Albertus Wormgoor and his wife, Johanna Helena Wormgoor-van der Veer, as Righteous Among the Nations.