Oortman Behrend & Dirkje (Blankenstein)

Oortman, Behrend & Dirkje (Blankenstein) In September 1941, when Rosette Heijmans’s husband was deported from Enschede to the Mauthausen concentration camp, she asked her former maid, Dirkje (Blankenstein) Oortman and her husband, Behrend, to hide her and her children in their home in Enschede, Overijssel. Nine-year-old Robert arrived first and he was followed later in the day by his 11-year-old sister, Renee, and then their mother, just before nightfall. At first, they hid in the upstairs bedroom in the small house, but they later moved to the attic, which was thought to be safer. In October 1942, shortly before Dirkje gave birth to her first child, Behrend took Rosette and her children by bicycle to Groenlo, Gelderland. Groenlo was 30 kilometers away and they had to pass many checkpoints. From that time on, Robert stayed in 14 different places, coming back to the Oortmans from time to time, sometimes with Renee, sometimes alone, staying sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. Behrend and Dirkje always made sure they had ration cards, clothes, and new hiding places when the current addresses became unsafe. “Wherever we went, we kept in touch with Dirkje and Behrend Oortman,” wrote Robert Heijmans in his testimony to Yad Vashem, “and whenever I came, they were always pleased to see me.” During the war, Behrend and Dirkje also hid Mr. and Mrs. Menko-van Cleeff as well as Mrs. Menko’s mother, in cooperation with the Reverend Overduin*. On March 29, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Behrend Oortman and his wife, Dirkje Oortman-Blankenstein, as Righteous Among the Nations.