Rinzema Onno & Cornelia (Lindhout)

Rinzema, Onno & Cornelia (Lindhout) In 1942, following the deportation of seven-year-old Miriam (Mira) Kurz’s grandparents, the remaining members of the family went into hiding. Mira moved around among different hideouts, staying at each one from between a few days and a month. In early 1944, Mira was staying with a family in Eindhoven. One day, Cornelia (Connie) Rinzema visited the house were she stayed and realized that young Mira needed a mother figure to care for her and asked her husband to arrange the child’s transfer. Connie and Onno Rinzema were newlyweds and very much involved in underground activities. After talking to many people, Onno arranged to place Mira with Johanna and Willem Leys* in Eindhoven. After four months Onno relocated Mira to the home of Huibert and Neeltje Monteban*, also in Eindhoven. Mira stayed with them for four months, during which time Connie and Onno were the only people who knew her true identity. After the war, Mira returned to her own family. Thirty-six years later, Mira, by then Miriam Rozenfeld-Kurz, living in Israel, managed to locate Onno Rinzema, who put Miriam in touch with the Leys and Monteban families. Mira yearned to see them so much that she traveled to Holland to meet them. On January 18, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Onno Rinzema and his wife, Cornelia Rinzema-Lindhout, as Righteous Among the Nations.