Holst Jacoba ; Sister: Lambertine

Holst, Jacoba Maria & Lambertine Elisabeth When the van Cleeff family of Rotterdam was forced to go into hiding, their neighbor, Arie van der Meer*, found shelter for the parents and both daughters. Nine-year-old Nelleke, the youngest, was taken to the children’s home in Rotterdam run by the sisters Jacoba and Lambertine Holst. The sisters hid several Jewish children in the home until they were betrayed in 1943. The Jewish children were then sent to Westerbork and Lambertine and Jacoba were sent to the Vught concentration camp. Nelleke and her sister, Liesl, who was also sent to Westerbork, survived the war thanks to the forged baptism certificates provided by Arie van der Meer. Lambertine Holst died in Vught of suffocation during the terrible Bunker Drama. On October 22, 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Jacoba Maria Holst and her sister, Lambertine Elisabeth Holst, as Righteous Among the Nations.