Majoor Hendrikus & Wilhelmina (Bouwman)

Majoor, Hendrikus Johannes & Wilhelmina Barbara (Bouwman) Hendrikus Majoor, who worked as a mason, and his wife, Wilhelmina, saved the lives of seven Jews despite having two small children of their own to look after. In May 1943, Albert Gomes de Mesquita and his sister, Theresia, arrived at the Majoor household in Laren for a short stay before joining their parents at another hiding place. Two months later, when the location became unsafe, Hendrikus Majoor’s father sheltered Albert and Theresia while their parents Izak and Esther Gomes de Mesquita and their daughter, Annie, were taken in by Hendrikus and Wilhelmina themselves. Soon afterward, Albert and Theresia returned to Hendrikus and Wilhelmina’s house to be near their parents. The Jewish fugitives were hidden in the largest of the three rooms in the Majoors’ tiny house. They slept in a space between the ceiling and the roof and conditions were very cramped. In the summer of 1944, a Dutch policeman raided the house but failed to uncover the Gomes de Mesquita family. Nevertheless, the increasing danger meant that the family had to seek refuge elsewhere. On November 10, 1975, Yad Vashem recognized Hendrikus Majoor and his wife, Wilhelmina Barbara Majoor-Bouwman, as Righteous Among the Nations.