Rebling Eberhard

Eberhard Rebling Eberhard Rebling, born 1911, was a pianist by profession. In the 1930’s he met a Jewish singer and dancer from Holland by the name of Lien Brilleslijper. Rebling was a German Communist and as such targeted by the Nazi regime. He therefore and decided to move to the Netherlands, where he renewed his acquaintance with Lien. The two became lovers, but could not marry, as Rebling had no papers and no official status. After the German occupation in 1940, Rebling’s situation became even more difficult; he was not only an opponent of the regime who had illegally left Germany, but also a deserter from military service. Somehow he managed to get a false ID, and lived together with Lien and had a daughter with her in 1941. When the deportations of the Jews began, a friend suggested they rent a big house in the town of Naarden where the extended family could hide. In the beginning of 1943 Rebling and Lien, Lien’s parents, Joseph and Fietje, her sister Janny Brandos with her non-Jewish husband, and Lien’s brother, Jacob, moved into the house, which Rebling had rented under his false name, Bos. Despite the danger of sheltering so many Jews while living under false identity, Rebling also assisted in the rescue of other Jews. Marion van Binsbergen (later Pritchard), who was recognized as Righteous in 1981, was a member of the Dutch resistance and involved in the rescue of Jews. She told Yad Vashem that often, when she needed temporary shelter for Jewish children, Eberhard would provide a hiding place and in some cases would take the children himself to a safe place. Van Binsbergen who was living near the Rebling house, testified that the large house served as shelter for resistance people and other Jews. In July 1944 the police raided the Rebling house and arrested all its residents. Rebling’s daughter and the two children of Lien’s sister were taken by a policeman to a physician in Naarden who agreed to take care of them. The adults were put in prison.Rebling managed to jump from the running car while he was taken to interrogation, and managed to hide until the end of the war. Of the sixteen Jews that were hidden in the house, only eight survived, among them Lien, her sister Janny and their children. After the war, Eberhard Rebling, his wife and daughter returned to Germany and settled in the GDR (East Germany). When Marion van Binsbergen proposed to Yad Vashem that he should be awarded the Righteous Among the Nations title, he refused, arguing that he had only acted together with the other Jews in the house, that he did not deserve special distinction and did not want to be the only one to receive one. Only many years later, in 2007, did he change his mind. In a letter forwarded by his daughter he said that having reached the age of 96, he was now the only surviving member of the household in Naarden, and he therefore felt that he could accept the honor. On 11 March 2007 Eberhard Rebling was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.