Bartels Leonardus & Maria (Litjens)

Barbanson de, Gerardus B. J. Barbanson de, Elisabeth J. A. (Blom) Bartels, Leonardus Bartels, Maria Margaretha (Litjens) Smulders, Jacob Smulders, Maria Magdalena (Bartels) When the German bombs fell on Rotterdam, Elly Hamme was only 4 years old. She remembered that sound of breaking glass all her life. The Hamme family (father, mother, and two daughters) moved to Oud-Beijerland, where they lived until Elly, her mother, and her sister, Hanneke, were transported to Westerbork. Elly’s father, who escaped the arrest, managed to ransom his wife and daughters, and the family went to Amsterdam, where they lived for about half a year in the house of a Jewish family who had already been deported. During a razzia (roundup of Jews) on June 20, 1943, Elly’s father was caught and transported to Westerbork; later he was sent to Sobibor, where he was murdered on July 13, 1943. Elly’s mother was clever and dressed the girls and sent them “for a walk” in the park. She then lay down in bed with heavy bandages around her leg, saying that she had “a bad wound.” The Germans told her they would come back the next day, but she did not wait for them. That same day Elly, her mother, and Hanneke went into hiding with the help of two members of the Trouw-groep (a Dutch resistance group); Elly arrived at the De Barbanson family’s home, in the Keizersgracht neighborhood in Amsterdam. The family consisted of the father, Gerardus (Ge), mother, Elisabeth (Bets), and daughters, Mieke and Lia, who were 13 and 11 years old. The girls were delighted to get a new little sister (who was said to be an evacuee from Rotterdam) and Elly was taken care of very well. Sometimes she was allowed to go out to the street to get some fresh air. Once, while she was playing outside, the son of Nazi-sympathizing neighbors asked her if she was Jewish. Of course she denied it, but when Bets heard about this incident, she feared betrayal and immediately contacted the Trouw-groep. Elly was transferred to hide with a new family in fall 1943. This time she was taken care of by the resistance group in the south of Holland, headed by Nico Dohmen (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1984) and Hanna van der Voort (recognized as Righteous in 1975). They brought her to the Bartels family: Leonardus (Len), Maria (Marie), and their seven children—five boys and two girls. Elly immediately felt at home there. Marie felt a lot of compassion for the little girl who was sent alone into hiding and told her that should her parents not come back after the war, she would adopt her as her own daughter. What the Bartels family did not know was that someone in their village of Tienray betrayed eleven families. On July 31, 1944, the Nazis came and searched all the betrayed addresses. Fortunately, Nico Dohmen learned about this betrayal and managed to warn them by tapping on the window. One of the sons, Piet, and Elly hid in the hay and stayed there all night. It had become too dangerous now to stay with the Bartels family, and although Elly cried all the way, she had to move on to a new family. On August 1, 1944, Elly arrived at her new hiding place with the Smulders family in the village of Horst. Jacob and Maria Magdalena Smulders had five children: four girls at home and one boy who was sent to work in Germany. Upon arrival, Elly could only cry, so sorry was she to leave the Bartels family. But after a while she discovered that the Smulders family was a very warm and caring family too, and she quickly felt at home. The family had cows, horses, pigs, and chickens, and many fruit trees, which made her stay with the family exciting. But danger was everywhere: many times German soldiers came by, asking for food. One time the soldiers started whispering in German, “She is a Jewish girl!” Alarmed, the Smulders family hid Elly in a shelter, which was low and damp. Mia, one of the Smulderses’ daughters, often came to play with her so she would not be alone. When the Germans confiscated the farm, the whole family went to live with friends. In November 1944 the south of Holland was freed by the English. Elly was already 9 years old and was standing by the road where the English soldiers passed by, handing out sweets, cigarettes, and chocolate. She stayed with the Smulderses until her mother came to look for her. In the beginning Elly did not want to go home with her mother. They had been separated for so long that Elly hardly knew her, and she felt at home with the Smulders family. But Jacob and Maria Smulders were clever people. They invited Elly’s mother to stay with them for a couple of days; slowly Elly got used to her again and was reunited with her mother and sister. Thanks to these three brave families Elly survived the war. She always felt very grateful for that and always stayed in contact with her rescuers and their children. On April 26, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Gerardus B. J. and Elisabeth J. A. (Blom) de Barbanson, Leonardus and Maria Margaretha (Litjens) Bartels, and Jacob and Maria Magdalena (Bartels) Smulders as Righteous Among the Nations.