Kalma Jacob & Froukje (Koops)

Kalma, Jacob Jetses & Froukje (Koops) Reverend Jacob Kalma and his wife, Froukje, who had seven children, sheltered many Jews in their home in Warga, Friesland, and found places for many others with farmers in the region. Jacob, who was a strict Calvinist (“Gereformeerd”), foresaw during the war that some foster parents, especially Dutch Calvinists, might refuse to return the Jewish children to their own community after the war, especially if their parents had not survived and they were claimed by other relatives or Jewish institutions. Therefore, whenever possible, he placed Jewish children with farmers with a liberal religious outlook. Since most of the children never knew the name of the man who took them on the back of his bicycle to foster families in the middle of the night, it is hard to estimate how many Jewish children the Kalmas rescued. One child who knew his name was Mirjam Cohen (later Seligman-Cohen). Another girl rescued by the Kalmas was three-year-old Naomi Noot (later Shlomi-Noot) of Borculo. After the war, Jacob, a well-known scholar in the Frisian language and culture, was one of the very few non-Jews who raised his voice in support of the Jewish institutions who claimed the children back. He also spoke out against the Commission for War Foster Children (OPK), which sometimes preferred to leave them with their foster parents. He even published two leaflets on the subject: Redt de Joden! Wat gebeurt er met de Joodse Oorlogspleegkinderen? (“Save the Jews! What is happening to the Jewish War Orphans?” Amsterdam, 1946) and Nogmaals: Redt de Joden! (“Again: Save the Jews!” Amsterdam, undated.) On May 28, 1974, Yad Vashem recognized Jacob Kalma and his wife, Froukje Kalma-Koops, as Righteous Among the Nations.