Filz Wilhelmina (Winkel Te)

Filz-te Winkel, Wilhelmina Nivine When the war broke out, Kitty (Sara) Rijnveld was living in The Hague with her parents, three brothers, and a sister. When the family decided to go into hiding Kitty was instructed to go to the city of Utrecht, where she met Machteld van Hardenbroek*, a student. Machteld then escorted Kitty to a place in Utrecht where they stayed overnight, and the following day they cycled to the “log cabin” in Laren. Dr. Willem de Buy Wenniger lived in the Huize de Blokhut (the Log Cabin) in Laren, North Holland, with his wife, Wilhelmina (Miny) te Winkel (later Filz), and their infant. Even though the log cabin, an old military barracks, was generally used as a halfway house for fleeing Jews, some stayed there for longer periods of time. Kitty remained there until December 1942, and while there she helped take care of the baby. “Molly” Garf-Benjamins, Dick and Betty van Gelder, and the Miranda family with their newborn son also stayed in the log cabin for an extended period. All in all, about 30 people stayed there during the course of the war. The family could not possibly provide food stamps for all these people. The problem was solved by members of the underground, who arranged forged documents for them. In December 1942, they were warned that a raid on the log cabin was imminent. Consequently, Kitty and Molly left the cabin and walked through the night from Laren to Hilversum. Afterwards, until the end of the war, Kitty hid in several places and survived. On April 12, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Wilhelmina Nivine Filz-te Winkel as Righteous Among the Nations.