Bloem Hendrik ; Sister-In-Law: Lucia (Koolwijk van de)

Bloem, Hendrik Bloem, Lucia (van de Koolwijk) Gert Eichenwald was born in Germany, where he lived during the first nine years of his life. In 1939 the Eichenwald family fled to the Netherlands, where they settled in Eindhoven. In Germany, Gert’s father, Walter, had run a dried fruit factory, and in Eindhoven he continued in the business, selling dried fruit door-to-door. In this way he got to know many people. When the Germans invaded the Netherlands and the Eichenwalds were no longer safe, some families offered to hide Gert’s father and his family. One of these families, the Bloems, lived on a big farm in Maarheze, in the Dutch province of North Brabant. When in August 1942 the Nazis started transporting the Dutch Jews to concentration camps, Gert was hidden by Hendrik and Lucia Bloem (b. 1880 and 1879, respectively), who had nine grown-up children. Gert’s mother, Therese, was also hidden by the Bloem couple; Walter was hidden at another address, in Nuenen. In June 1943 he was arrested, and he perished in Sobibor. During the beginning of their hiding period at the Bloem farm, Therese and Gert could move freely around the farm. In June 1943, however, the Gestapo (the Nazi police) arrived in the village and requested help from the local police in arresting Therese and Gert. One of the policemen warned the Bloem family, and Therese and Gert immediately went to hide in the woods. When the policemen did not find them, they arrested Hendrik Bloem and put him into their car. Hendrik’s son Hendrik saved him by convincing them that the Eichenwalds had already left for Belgium, and Hendrik Sr. was freed. Therese and Gert stayed in the woods for another week. After that they moved into a shed that was standing at some distance from the farm, and twice a day they received food from the Bloem family, until August 1944, when the area was liberated by the American army. After the liberation of South Holland, Gert and his mother stayed for some months with the Bloem family. In 1947 they immigrated to the United States, where Gert changed his name to Gary. Contact with the Bloem family was lost, and when Gary returned to the Netherlands in 1982 and went to look for his rescuers, he was unable to find them or their children. He was only able to find one granddaughter. In his testimony Gary states that he and his mother were not the only ones hidden by Hendrik and Lucia Bloem: his aunt Helene Blumenfeld, her daughter Gabriella, and a Jewish couple by the name of De Vries were also hidden there. The Bloem family took a great risk by hiding them, and their motives were purely to help their fellow men. On January 21, 2014, Yad Vashem recognized Hendrik and Lucia (van de Koolwijk) Bloem as Righteous Among the Nations.