Overduin Leendert ; Sister: Maartje ; Sister: Aukes Corrie (Overduin)

Overduin, Leendert & Maartje Lenkes, Corrie (Overduin) During one of the first razzias in Holland in September 1941, during which about 100 young Jewish men from Enschede Overijssel, were seized and transported to Mauthausen, the Reverend Leendert Overduin felt angry and helpless. When the death notices of the 100 Jews were sent back to Enschede, Leendert contacted Sieg Menko, the owner of a local textile plant and chairman of the Jewish council in Enschede, and together they established a rescue organization. In the fall of 1942, when the Jews of Enschede were threatened with mass deportation, each one of them was given the opportunity to hide. A large minority accepted the offer. Leendert sought the Jews out and persuaded them to go into hiding. People who knew the Reverend described him as an idealist and a dreamer. His sisters, Maartje and Corrie (later Lenkes), were more practical, and the combined efforts of Sieg Menko and his followers and the three Overduins, all single and living in the same house, resulted in the rescue of 40 percent of the Enschede Jewish community. Moreover, in May 1943, when the local Jews were already in hiding or had been deported, Leendert shifted his attention to Amsterdam, where he succeeded in saving many more Jews. In all, the Overduin network saved between 700 and 800 Jews – the highest number saved by any organization in Holland. Among those saved by the network were many children. “The Reverend Overduin accompanied Jews in the hour of acute danger,” wrote M. Seligman. “No wonder the Germans and their collaborators wanted to catch him. For months he did not sleep at home but wandered from place to place in and around Enschede, never ceasing to work for the benefit of Jews.” “He visited us several times,” wrote A. de Leeuw. “Once he was disguised as a baker, another time as a chimney sweep, a third time as something else again.” These visits were vital because identity papers and ration cards had to be delivered. TheOverduin group alone used 1,100 ration cards each month. According to D. Bosboom, himself a member of the Resistance, Leendert looked out for Jews in need while remaining, for most of the period, in his job in Enschede. Meanwhile, his sisters traveled extensively, crossing the Netherlands in search of suitable hiding places. Some of the people who hid Jews were paid weekly or monthly. Since the Germans had already robbed the Jewish manufacturers of all their possessions, the Overduin organization collected the money necessary for rescuing Jews mainly from non-Jewish manufacturers. The Overduins were arrested several times but as soon as Leendert was released he immediately visited the Jews in his charge to make sure they were safe. The last time the Germans caught him they kept him until the end of the war and interrogated him over a period of several months. They asked him why he risked his life for the Jews. He answered that both religious and humanitarian principles compelled him to help the needy. He added that, for the same reasons, he would have to help his tormentors too if they were treated unjustly after the war. After the war, when a wave of anti-NSB feelings swept the country, Leendert kept his promise. He appealed to the courts whenever former NSB members were unjustly treated, favoring a fair trial for each one of them. He even went as far as camping on the steps of the home of the Minister of Justice in protest. On July 10, 1973, Yad Vashem recognized Leendert Overduin and his sisters, Maartje Overduin and Corrie Lenkes-Overduin, as Righteous Among the Nations.