Levy Leo & Magdalena (Vente)

Levy, Leo & Magdalena Maria (Vente) Joseph Manasse, who was Jewish, and Leo Levy, who had a Jewish father, had gone to the same high school in Amsterdam and were both members of the socialist youth organization. Joseph joined the Dutch army, but was discharged after the Netherlands capitulated to the Germans in May 1940. He was arrested in January 1943 and sent to the Vught concentration. A few weeks later, he escaped from the train on the way to the Westerbork transit camp and returned to Amsterdam, where he asked Leo to hide him. Leo and his wife, Magdalena (Lena), who had a baby son, gave him a small attic room, which could only be reached by an outside staircase, which meant that there was always the danger of running into the neighbors. Joseph’s twin brother, Henri, was later caught by the SS and imprisoned, but he also escaped and would occasionally hide with the Levys. He knew that there was always room for him with this courageous couple, he testified. In addition to helping people hide, Leo also forged documents and was prepared to do anything to rescue his friends, despite the danger to his life and to his family. He and Lena, who later gave birth to their second child, shared all the food they had with their charges. On March 18, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Leo Levy and his wife, Magdalena Maria Levy-Vente, as Righteous Among the Nations.