(JTA) Cnaan Liphshiz - Nearly all the 700 residents of the Dutch rural community of Nieuwlande were involved in hiding and saving hundreds of Jews as well as resistance fighters and German deserters during World War II. In 1985, Nieuwlande became one of only two locales honored collectively by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum for rescuing Jews, alongside Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in France. "The rescuers were mostly religious people, some very religious, and I think this played an important role in their actions," said Haim Roet, 88, who spent months in hiding in Nieuwlande and immigrated to Israel in 1949. The leaders of the rescue operation were gardener Arnold Douwes and farmer Johannes Post. Douwes was honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations in 1983, but threatened to burn down a tree that was planted in his honor unless his whole village was recognized as well. In 1988, Yad Vashem dedicated a monument to honor the village. In a 1985 interview, Douwes said: "I did it all because I had no other choice."
2021-01-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive