Berg van den Peter & Sara (Haartsen)

Berg van den, Peter Berg van den, Sara (Haartsen) During the war, Peter van den Berg (b. 1912) lived in the Dutch village of Santpoort with his wife, Sara Catharina (née Haartsen, called Noene, b. 1915). They had a baby daughter, Marjolein. Peter was an inspector for an insurance company, but he also occupied himself with other activities; he was one of the leaders of the local Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers (LO), the Dutch organization that provided help to those in hiding during the war. Because of his involvement in the LO, Peter received a lower salary, but he and his wife, Noene, thought it was more important to help their fellow men, Jews and non-Jews alike. Although they had enough food to eat, they gave away so much “for people who need it more than we do” that they went hungry themselves. They brought the food to several hiding places where Jews were staying, and they continually searched for new hiding addresses. Besides providing food coupons and false identity papers for several people in hiding, they themselves sheltered Jews for shorter or longer periods. Among those they hid were Bert Sternfeld (b. 1921), who found a warm home with the van den Bergs in August 1942 and stayed with them for one year, and his sister Alice (b. 1923), who was hidden for a couple of months until, owing to Peter’s resistance work, the situation became too dangerous. Alice left to stay with the Wentink family (recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 2001), where she stayed until the liberation. Instead of concentrating on their own well-being during the war, Peter and Noene van den Berg devoted themselves completely to helping and rescuing others. They did not look for any gain for themselves. Bert and Alice Sternfeld stayed in close contact with them until they died. As they wrote to Yad Vashem in their testimony, the van den Bergs were like “more than family” to them. Their children maintain the warm relationship that was made during the dark war years, in which Peter and Noene van den Berg were a bright light for many suffering and persecuted people. On March 13, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Peter and Sara (Haartsen) van den Berg as Righteous Among the Nations.