Berge ten Joseph & Maria (Grol)

Berge ten, Joseph Frans & Maria Johanna Elizabeth (Grol) In 1938, Manfred Litten and his Dutch-Jewish wife, Shoshana (Jans), both teachers, moved from Danzig, Germany, to Gouda to take up positions as the directors of a home for members of Aliyat HaNoar, a department of the World Zionist Organization. At the end of 1942, a number of residents of the home fell ill with dysentery and were hospitalized in Gouda. After they were discharged, the hospital staff, well aware of the German’s fear of infectious diseases, re-hospitalized all the residents of the home who were due to report for deportation in April 1943, thereby giving Shoshana Litten-Serlui time to find hiding places for them. In the spring of 1943, the Catholic ten Berge family of Amersfoort took in young Gideon Litten (later Lotan). Shoshana, fearing that she might not survive the war due to her involvement with the underground, asked Alida Lissauer (later Eljada Freund-Lissauer), another resident of the Aliyat HaNoar home, to go with Gideon. Officially, Alida posed as a maid for Maria (Meri) ten Berge, but in reality she and Gideon were treated like members of the family. Meri and Joseph (Sjef) did not receive any financial compensation for helping them and Alida, who helped with household chores, was even given pocket money. Sjef was a fabric dealer and Meri was a teacher. When they took in Alida and Gideon, they already had six children, the eldest aged 12, and by the end of the war another daughter had been born to them. All their children were blond and it was therefore quite dangerous to take in Gideon, who had dark hair and was circumcised. Nevertheless, Meri and Sjef considered it their human duty to help the persecuted. Their actions were influenced by true Christian motives and by their opposition to the Germans. They were devout Catholics but while they often took Alida and Gideon to church they never tried to convert them. On one occasion, Sjef brought Alida an old Hebrew prayer book in asilver binding which he had found in a friend’s home, so that she and Gideon would be able to pray according to their own customs. When it became too dangerous to keep the prayer book in the house, they hid it in the garden. Towards the end of the war Naomi Pakter (later Naomi Papo-Paktor) and Schalom Weiss also found refuge with the ten Berges, despite the fact that by that time the Germans were living in the house next door. During the hunger winter of 1944-1945, Sjef did not dare go out into the street because he feared he would be sent to Germany. Thus, Alida who did not look Jewish and had excellent forged papers, went out on a bicycle disguised as a Red Cross nurse to gather food for the family. After the war, Sjef said that not only had he rescued Alida, she had also rescued him and his family. In the meantime, Manfred Litten was caught and sent to Westerbork. Shoshana remained active in the Resistance until she too was apprehended and sent there. Manfred and Shoshana were both deported to Theresienstadt but died in different concentration camps. After the war, a Jewish institute sent Gideon to Israel. This was very hard for Meri, who loved the boy dearly. On June 21, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Joseph Frans ten Berge and his wife, Maria Johanna Elizabeth ten Berge-Grol, as Righteous Among the Nations.