Kuyck Jacqueline

Kuyck, Jacqueline Theodora Verkerk, Antoinette Jacqueline Kuyck and Anoinette Verkerk managed one of the children’s homes belonging to the Johanniter Order, in the town of Santpoort (prov. North-Holland). Both women had dedicated their lives to the Order with the intention of caring for the unprivileged. The Institute mostly admitted young children from broken homes or unwed mothers. As the town of Santpoort is close to the North Sea, the Germans billeted the premises soon after their occupation of the Netherlands in May 1940. Looking for an alternative place, the women moved the home to the village of Garderen, in the eastern province of Gelderland, where the institute was now spread out among a number of buildings. Starting the summer of 1942, with the onset of the deportations of the Jews, they increasingly took in Jewish children, who would fit the profile of the Institute. Towards the end of the occupation, in the spring of 1945, the majority were Jewish children in hiding. Among them were Sientje van Bever, born in 1938, Eefje Groen (later, Erwteman), who was four months old when she arrived, and Channa Spangenthal (later, Sloetzki), born in 1939. In addition, a number of men who had refused to report for forced labor in Germany (Arbeitseinsatz) were in hiding on the premises as well. In October 1944, an informer reported that the institute had these men in hiding, and a raid followed. As Ms. Kuyck was tipped off about this raid, the men were able to escape. She, as well as Ms. Verkerk, subsequently decided to stay and await the Germans, and convince them of a misunderstanding, in the hope that they would not look further and reach the children’s quarters. This risky scenario succeeded, only that one of the German soldiers, just before they were about to leave, fell into a ditch where weapons were hidden. As a result, Ms. Kuyck was taken to the police station for interrogation, where her adopted daughter was able to visit and inform her of thesafety of the children. Ms. Kuyck stayed under arrest until the liberation of the area in May 1945, while Ms. Verkerk continued to run the home. On November 2, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Jacqueline Theodora Kuyck as well as Antoinette Verkerk as a Righteous Among the Nations.