Stork Johan & Guretta (Stam); Daughter: Anna

Stork, Johan Charles & Guretta Elisabeth (Stam) & Anna When the war broke out, Johan and Guretta (Uta) Stork were living in Nijverdal, Overijssel, with their four adult children. Johan was the managing director of the Dutch Steam Bleachery, which made him one of the most prominent people in the district. By 1941, he and his son Piet had already provided assistance to fugitives, including two people from the Zaanstreek, North Holland. When these people were later detained, Johan and Piet were also arrested and imprisoned in the “Oranjehotel” prison in Scheveningen, South Holland, for about six weeks. This incarceration did not deter the Storks from further Resistance activity: they found a safe house for the Jewish Sarluy couple and hid two Jewish women, Nellie Leviticus and Julia Kahn, in their own home. In 1942, Johan and Uta’s daughter Anna (Ankie) refused to sign the declaration of loyalty to the Nazi regime and so her studies were terminated abruptly and she focused her energy on locating hideouts for male students. In June 1943, Ankie’s cousin asked her to try to sell the illustrated poem The Eighteen Dead in Nijverdal. The proceeds were going to the UKC and Ankie managed to sell numerous copies. Shortly afterwards she was asked to find hiding places for Jews in and around Nijverdal. Over the course of time she was provided with a list of reliable members of the Lemele, Overijssel community, with whom she could place Jewish children. After a while, these people decided to work together as a group and adopted the name “The Lemels Convent.” Because of their effectiveness, Ankie could limit herself to the task of escorting Jews from western Holland to Overijssel and, if necessary, from one address to another. Most of Ankie’s work centered around the Jewish children housed in Nijverdal, in nearby Hellendoorn, and the dozen children in the care of Adrie Knappert* in Het Weversnest in Ommen, Overijssel. Ankie provided a monthly supply of ration cards to all thefamilies in her vicinity. Ankie also arranged shelter for the young brothers Hans and Jack Prins near her home and located safe houses for Lion and Nora Bakker in Ommen, Hellendoorn, and Nijverdal. Ankie also arranged for Annemiek de Wit (later Iordens*) to take care of the two little boys Robert and Louis Bakker, who were hiding in Lochem, Gelderland. In February 1944, the Jewish children in Het Wevernest were in danger of being discovered. Ankie arranged for all of them to transfer to the De Eelerberg country estate near Hellendoorn. During the course of the war, with help from her contacts in the UKC, Ankie was gradually able to widen the scope of her activities. She made contact with the Overduin* organization based in Enschede, Overijssel, and when, in early 1944, this group required addresses for Jewish fugitives, Ankie took some of them under her wing. In late May 1944, Ankie was arrested and released after six weeks. On her return to Nijverdal she discovered that Adrie Knappert and her charges had been forced to leave Eelerberg. Ankie arranged new addresses for two of the charges, from September 4, 1944. Meanwhile, the Germans were searching intensively for Johan Stork. The Stork residence was raided, but there were only women there at the time, including two Jewish women who managed to disappear into a hideout. Johan and Ankie went into hiding in Ommen and the rest of their family found shelter in Lemele. Despite being pursued, they continued to work with the Resistance until the liberation. On September 29, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Stork and her parents, Johan Charles Stork and Guretta Elisabeth Stork-Stam, as Righteous Among the Nations.