Breur Krijn & Adriana (Hibma)

Breur, Krijn Martinus & Adriana Klazina (Hibma) Journalist Krijn Breur was active in the Communist movement and had traveled to Spain in the late Thirties to fight against the Franco regime. There he met a Jew from Amsterdam named Samuel Dormits. In 1939, the two men returned to Holland and during the occupation became deeply involved in Resistance work, initially publishing the illegal newspaper De Waarheid and later planning acts of sabotage against the Germans. Krijn Breur also worked closely with his wife, Adriana, whom he had married in September 1940. The couple lived in the center of Amsterdam in a two-room apartment. As the deportation of Jews was stepped up, the Breurs became involved in convincing Jews to go into hiding. Among others, they persuaded Resistance worker Tertia Kolthoff (then Bueno de Mesquita) that she was in grave danger. In October 1942, Samuel Dormits was apprehended and immediately committed suicide. On hearing this, Krijn Breur hastened to pick up Samuel’s nine-year-old son, Maurits, from an uncle’s house. He brought the child to his home, where his mother, Rosalie Dormits-Hartog, was already hiding. The German authorities had been monitoring Krijn Breur’s movements and, on November 11, 1942, he was caught in The Hague. The following day, his house was searched and his wife, Adriana, with their six-month-old infant, and Rosalie and Maurits Dormits were all arrested. Rosalie was transported to Auschwitz from where she never returned. Maurits was inexplicably set free by Dutch police and went back to his uncle. Adriana’s baby was taken to the grandparents while Adriana was sent to Scheveningen prison. From there she was moved to a number of detention camps and eventually the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was liberated by the Red Army and returned to Holland on July 6, 1945. Krijn Breur, meanwhile, remained in prison and was subjected to torture, tried on January 2, 1943, and sentenced to death. He was accused of espionage and ofestablishing a sabotage ring in cooperation with Samuel Dormits. He was executed on February 2, 1943. After the war, Krijn was buried at the cemetery of honor near Overveen. On March 5, 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Krijn Martinus Breur and his wife, Adriana Klazina Breur-Hibma, as Righteous Among the Nations