Maintz Josephus & Marie (L Ortije)

Maintz, Josephus Gertrudis Antoine & Marie Josephine Wilhelmina Rosalia (L’ortije) In 1942, the Wijnperle family of Amstelveen decided to go into hiding and Antoine Maintz of Geleen, Limburg, an old acquaintance, took the three daughters to an address in Oldenzaal, Overijssel. Antoine, the chief mechanic at the Maurits State Mine, then started to act as an intermediary between the members of the family, who were dispersed in various hideouts. When one of the hiding places, at the Sijmonsmas’* home, was raided, he arranged an alternative shelter. Antoine also organized food stamps. Wilhelmina Maintz helped her husband as well as independently assisting many other Jews in hiding. In the second half of 1942, Antoine, C.L.J.I. Zwaans*, the captain of a barge for inland shipping from nearby Born, and a Mr. Kooymans started to provide more assistance to Jews in hiding. After two Jews whom they helped were caught, the three men quarreled and Kooymans quit. A.J.A. Hoekstra, who had gone into hiding with the Zwaanses and who worked under the alias Koenraadt, replaced him. In late 1943, they made contact with another group, Pietab-OXO, which requested that they provide information on the possibilities for escape via Limburg to Belgium. Antoine succeeded in finding a route via Hasselt. Over and above all this, Antoine was also involved in helping Allied pilots who had been shot down by the Germans. On January 31, 1978, Yad Vashem recognized Jospehus Gertrudis Antoine Maintz and his wife, Marie Jospehine Wilhelmina Rosalie Maintz-l’Ortije, as Righteous Among the Nations.