Schipper Johanna (Kuiper); Husband: Klaas

Schipper, Klaas Abe and Johanna Engelberta (Kuiper) Johanna Kuiper grew up in a strict Calvinist family. In her early twenties, she broke with the education she had received at home, and turned to socialism. She became a writer, publishing many books. In that period of her life she had various romantic liaisons, from which two children were born. Only later did she settle down, marry the Reverend Klaas Abe Schipper who adopted her two sons. Schipper was a Reverend and intellectual in Etersheim. As the anti-Jewish measures started soon after the German invasion in May 1940 and increased over time until the start of the deportations in the summer of 1942, Johanna and Klaas Abe became active in resistance activities, whereby they focused on helping persecuted Jews. One of them was Samuel Segal, born in 1933 in Amsterdam. He had escaped a razzia in October 1942, during which his parents and brothers were arrested. Relatives took him to the “Werkplaats” school. Another boy, Dorus Stibbe, who went by the name of Dorus van Tuyl, was already in hiding in the school, as were the brothers Rudolf and Frans Hijmans, in their early twenties. In July 1943, the school was raided after a tip-off. Most of the Jews were able to escape, but Frans Hijmans was caught, deported and murdered in Auschwitz in March 1944. Some of the staff was also arrested. Dorus was apprehended and taken to the crèche detention center in Amsterdam, from where he was smuggled out by Johanna Schipper, who took him to a temporary hiding address. She herself went into hiding in Amsterdam. Nevertheless, Johanna was able to bring Samuel to his parents. Soon afterwards, however, his presence with them became known to collaborators, and he was moved to Johanna’s own hiding place. Dorus also soon came to her address. Being in hiding with two Jewish boys in Amsterdam turned out to be very dangerous, and Johanna had to move a number of times, but always taking the boys along with her. Nevertheless, in 1944 Dorus was returned to his earlier hiding address.Samuel survived under the wings of Johanna until the liberation in May 1945. He stayed in close touch with Johanna until her death in 1956. Before Johanna herself went into hiding, other Jews also found short-term hiding in the home of Klaas Abe and Johanna. Among them was Ruth Lipman, originally from Germany and active in the Communist movement, as well as a couple Gans. In April 1943 the Schippers took into their home the brothers Meijer and Simon van der Sluis, both in their early twenties, when an earlier address had become too dangerous. They had escaped a raid on their home in Amsterdam some months earlier, whereby their parents and sister were caught, and had gone into hiding. In addition the couple Hans and Ro Hofman also found shelter in the Schipper home for some time. With the raid on the school in July 1943, they were quickly moved by Klaas to the church where they hid in a hollow area until the searches were over. After some days, they were moved to different addresses. On April 22, 2012, Yad Vashem recognized Johanna Engelberta Schipper (Kuiper) as Righteous Among the Nations. On August 4, 2014, Yad Vashem recognized Klaas Abe Schipper (Kuiper) as Righteous Among the Nations.