Jolink Gerritdina ; Sister: Hermina

Jolink, Gerritdina Jolink, Hermina Gerritdina (Gerrie) and her sister Hermina (Minnie) Jolink, both in their fifties, lived in the tiny village of Varsseveld, in the eastern part of the Netherlands very close to the German border. They were strictly Calvinist, as was much of the village, and as neither of them was married, they shared a household. Both were teachers at the local elementary school. About a year after the German occupation of the Netherlands in May 1940, the increasing anti-Jewish measures also became noticeable in the rural areas. Jewish children were no longer allowed to go to public schools, or work for non-Jews. When learning about the deportations of the Jews to the camps in the East that had started in the summer of 1942, the Jolink sisters felt they had to help. They got in touch with Reinout Knottnerus*, a central figure in the local underground cell in order to volunteer their help. When in April 1943 the local Jews were ordered to move from the province to Amsterdam, they opened up their home for a number of Jews. Rafael Hirsch, born 1905, Barend Cozijn, born 1909 and his wife and their daughter Sini, born in 1937, as well as Maurits Luteraan, born in 1886, were all taken into hiding. Also many others found temporary shelter with the Jolink sisters. Being devout Christians, the Jolinks understood the importance of religion, and enabled Rafael Hirsch, the son of a rabbi in Zwolle, to organize religious instruction not only at their own home but also to a Jewish Levy boy who was in hiding elsewhere, as well as to others in the area. On February 12, 1944, disaster struck. The Jolink sisters were betrayed, and a house search by Dutch police followed. A non-Jewish man at the house at the time tried to convince the policemen that no Jews were present, all to no avail. All were arrested, including Berendina and Hermina Jolink. The Jews were sent to Westerbork and from there to Auschwitz – none survived. The Jolink sisterswere sent to the Vught concentration camp (KZ Herzogenbusch) and from there to Ravensbrueck concentration camp in Germany, where both perished. A street in Varsseveld was dedicated in their name after the war. On August 1, 2010, Yad Vashem recognized Gerritdina Jolink and Hermina Jolink as Righteous Among the Nations.