Sijtsema Bauke & Catharina (Boer de)

Sijtsema, Bauke & Catharina (de Boer) Dr. Roelofje Heida*, the veterinarian of Beetsterzwaag, Friesland, agreed to hide Fieke (Tsofia) Asscher (later Langer) on condition that she would stay for one month only. After the month was up, Roelofje’s sister, Catharina (Tine) Sijtsema, born in Knipe, and her husband, Bauke, originally from Gorredijk, who were living in Assen, Drenthe, took in Fieke. Fieke stayed there until the end of December 1943, when her situation became precarious. She fled once more in early 1944, back to Roelofje Heida’s home. It was around this time that Fieke’s brother, Isaac Asscher, was betrayed. The Germans seized him in hiding in a nearby village with the van Bruggen* family and deported him to Auschwitz. As a result, both Fieke and the Heidas faced even more danger. Fieke returned to the Sijtsemas, who took her back without hesitation despite the fact that the Germans were actively seeking her and the risk that she posed to them all. On March 19, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Bauke Sijtsema and his wife, Catharina Sijtsema-de Boer, as Righteous Among the Nations.