Heckmans Pieter & Anna (Ruiters)

Heckmans, Pieter Joseph & Anna Maria (Ruiters) From mid-1942 with the onset of the deportation of Jews to mid-1943, Mr. and Mrs. Kukenheim of The Hague and their daughter, Betty (born in 1935), were hidden at various addresses. They were then arrested and taken to the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam. The parents were deported to Sobibor, where they perished, but Betty, by prior arrangement, was smuggled out and taken to the home of Pieter and Anna Heckmans of Schaesberg, Limburg. The Heckmanses, a family of three, warmly welcomed Betty into their home and looked after her for three years, until her only surviving relative, an uncle, picked her up and took her to the Jewish de Groot family in Amsterdam to be raised. Pieter, who was employed by the local bakery, and his wife, Anna, were devout Catholics. While staying with them, Betty attended a Catholic school and regularly went to church with her foster parents, but they respected her Jewish background and never attempted to convert her. During the war, the Heckmanses also briefly hid a Jewish couple in their home. On August 16, 1978, Yad Vashem recognized Pieter Joseph Heckmans and his wife, Anna Maria Heckmans-Ruiters, as Righteous Among the Nations.