Geurink Derk & Berendina (Wisselink)

Geurink, Derk Willem & Berendina Aleida (Wisselink) Jonny Levy, one of three brothers, was born in Varsseveld, Gelderland. In the autumn of 1941, immediately following the first razzias, Jonny, then 18 years old, was sent by his father to seek refuge in a farmer’s house. Jonny remained there until April 10, 1943. That day, Derk Geurink, the uncle of the farmer Jonny was staying with, took him and a younger brother to his farm in Lichtenvoorde, Gelderland. Some time later, the third brother joined them in this shelter. All three siblings, Jonny, Leon, and Helmut, remained with Derk and Berendina until the liberation in April 1945. There was never any mention of financial compensation. Derk and Berendina acted purely out of their Christian belief that people in need had to be helped and their conviction that the German occupation had to be defeated. During the daytime, the brothers stayed in the loft, with one of them on guard, looking through a hole between the tiles. At night, and in times of danger, they hid in a cellar that was located outside the farmhouse but connected to it by an underground passage. Only the very close relations of Derk and Berendina knew of the boys’ presence in their home. Besides being a shelter for the Levy brothers, the Geurinks’ farm served as a way station for a variety of people hiding out from the German authorities, including two sons of a Rotterdam policeman and a Soviet pilot who had been shot down over Germany and had escaped from a prisoner of war camp. One day in January 1945, Derk was ordered to report to the Nazi authorities. He threw the written order into the flames of the stove and declared to the messenger: “Tell your boss: even a dead Willem shall not go to work for the Germans.” On January 29, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Derk Willem Geurink and his wife, Berendina Aleida Geurink-Wisselink, as Righteous Among the Nations.