Zwanenburg Lammert & Wobbigje (Honing van der)

Zwanenburg, Lammert & Wobbigje (van der Honing) The Zwanenburg family saved many lives during the war, including that of a lawyer who was later to become a Supreme Court justice and a student who became an eminent professor of physics. On August 23, 1942, another of their charges, 27-year-old Arnaud van Gelder, at that time interned in Westerbork, learned that he was due to be deported. He managed to contact a policeman, who took Arnaud on his motorbike to the Zwanenburg farm near Beilen, Drenthe. Lammert and Wobbigje Zwanenburg and their two children had enormous faith in God. They were all very active in the Resistance. The son, Yntse, distributed ration cards to refugees in hiding and the daughter, Wietske, distributed the illegal newsletter and later the illegal newspaper Vrij Nederland. The morning after his escape from Westerbork, Arnaud met the three other Jews who were already hiding with the Zwanenburg family. These were a 40-year-old lawyer, Nico J. Polak, 19-year-old Salko Kats, and 20-year-old Peter Mazur (later Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Leiden). The Zwanenburgs were also hiding several non-Jews. Most of the time, the guests stayed in the Zwanenburgs’ best room. Sometimes, if there was no danger, they were invited to sit with the family in the living room. If they had to use the outhouse, great precautions were taken and a member of the Zwanenburg family would always accompany them. After awhile, a hideout was dug under the floor. The entrance to the hideout was covered with an old, torn doormat so that the Germans would not be drawn to looking underneath it. Once, Yntse Zwanenburg managed to bring Arnaud a letter from his fiancée, who was hiding elsewhere. On three occasions in 1943 and 1944, American pilots also hid on the Zwanenburg farm. On the night of October 18, 1944, the Landwacht surrounded the farm. The Jews who were hiding in the dugout escaped through a second exit that led outside and fled. The following day,the SD arrived at the Zwanenburg farm and found the hiding place and other evidence that incriminated Lammert. After having been abused in front of his daughter, Lammert was executed on the evening of October 19, 1944. Wobbigje who saw her husband shortly before he was killed, reported to the children that he had asked: “Are they safe?” When she assured him that they were all safe, he added, “Then it is all right.” Wietske was released 16 days after her arrest. She went into hiding and was active in the Resistance until the end of the war. On December 24, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Lammert Zwanenburg and his wife, Wobbigje Zwanenburg-van der Honing, as Righteous Among the Nations.