Dekker Willem & Grietje (Loo van)

Dekker, Willem Dekker-van Loo, Grietje Soon after the start of the deportations of the Jews from the Netherlands in the summer of 1942, Simon and Elise Nathans (née Cohen) from Arnhem, started to look for hiding addresses for their young son Max, born in 1938, and for themselves. A place was found for Max with Dirk den Hartog* in Zetten. Elise and Simon found a place for themselves in Zwolle, but when it turned out that she was pregnant, she was permitted to stay only until the delivery. Immediately thereafter, in March 1943, both she and newborn baby Lex were taken to Marie Schuurman*, where both stayed for about half a year when it became too dangerous for Marie to have both. Elise was moved to Willem and Grietje Dekker, where she re-united with her husband Simon and a relative, Suze de Vries, (b. 1908) who had both come to the Dekkers together. The Dekkers were a farmer family, living in the village of Oldenbroek in the eastern province of Gelderland. They had three sons, the oldest born in 1927 and the youngest in October 1944. Soon after the birth of the youngest baby, Grietje passed away. As Elise was pregnant again, and gave birth in January 1945 to a third son, Bram, at the home of the Dekkers, she breastfed both babies, her own and the Dekker baby for months thereafter. The Nathans family and Suze helped out in the Dekker household as much as they could, now that all had to manage without Grietje. Hiding at the Dekkers was often very dangerous, as there were many raids of German forces, specifically looking for men who were dodging forced labor in Germany (Arbeitseinsatz). Each time, the Nathanses and Suze hid in specially prepared hiding areas in the home or elsewhere on the farm, together with the oldest Dekker son who had become eligible for forced labor. Oldenbroek village was liberated in April 1945, but the Nathanses stayed until they could find a home in Arnhem again. Willem Dekker remarried after the war. On September 19, 2010,Yad Vashem recognized Willem Dekker and Grietje Dekker-van Loo as Righteous Among the Nations.