Righteous unto the nations

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MESSAGE FROM ERICA MOEN–DEEN “I am very pleased that we have been able to formally recognise some special people who took care of me during those dark years. While it is a shame that I am physically incapable of attending this important ceremony, I am encouraged and thankful for the effort my family has made to represent me and the Deen family. It is also important to me that my siblings Harold and Rebecca, who died so tragically, be remembered as part of this ceremony. My family and I wish you all the best from Australia.” Erica Moen-Deen PAGE 4 ©2013 Edited and compiled by Martin Moen, Perth, Western Australia.
Message from Martin Moen In 1940 the German army invaded Holland. As restrictions against the Jewish people increased, those sympathetic to their plight put together elaborate plans to resist the intent of the Nazi regime. Research shows that some Dutch citizens were caught between supporting the Germans and the extreme right Dutch party, the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (NSB), or joining the Dutch underground resistance. Wolter Keers (son of Cornelis and Maria Keers) believes that “on the one hand, the collaborators were encouraged, through reasons of personal safety, position and money, to betray Jews and on the other hand the Dutch Resistance helped, through food, drink, esteem and money, the rescuers to hide Jewish people. However this appears to be true for a minority of the Dutch people. An estimated 2% choose to join the underground resistance and unofficial figures suggest that 10%, at the most, joining the NSB. By and large most of the Dutch people did not choose to join either group.” My mother was a 16 year old girl when the war broke out in Holland. She was the child of Mr and Mrs Levie and Marianna Deen, who lived at Nieuwe Brug Restaurant and Hotel, Oud Loosdrecht, the Netherlands. Her parents and siblings Sonja, Rebecca, Lou, Ellen and Harold were taken by the Dutch Underground and hidden in various locations around Holland. Unfortunately Harold and Rebecca were betrayed by the NSB and perished on the same day at Sobibor Concentration Camp in 1944. In 1949 my mother and I travelled by boat from Holland to Fremantle, Western Australia to join my father, Klaas Moen. He had recently acquired a farm in Bedfordale, an outer settlement of Perth, Western Australia. The farm life that followed was tough, yet rewarding and had a profound influence on my life. My siblings, Louise and Peter, followed shortly thereafter. Finding out what happened to my mother and her family was a journey of discovery that started 40 years later in 1990 when I visited my birthplace, Loosdrecht. My father’s sisterin-law showed me a limestone war memorial, which exists to this day, with the names of a number of war victims including that of Rebecca and Harold Deen. Until that time I was unaware of what had happened to Dutch Jewry in Holland. PAGE 5 ©2013 Edited and compiled by Martin Moen, Perth, Western Australia.
Page 1 and 2: Righteous unto the Nations Yad Vash
Page 3: “Whosoever saves a single life: s
Page 7 and 8: Yad Vashem and “Righteous Among t
Page 9 and 10: OUR “Righteous Among the Nations
Page 11 and 12: Minister Piet Visser and Stien Viss
Page 13 and 14: How does the keers family feel abou
Page 15 and 16: The Grootemarsink Family Hendrik an
Page 17 and 18: The following was provided as furth
Page 19 and 20: Jan Van Zutphen’s family and frie
Page 21 and 22: Erica Moen-Deen’s Story Extract o
Page 23 and 24: are places in this province. The ho
Page 25 and 26: My first thoughts then were for my
Page 27 and 28: Remembering Harold and Rebecca Deen
Page 29 and 30: Limestone War Memorial PAGE 29 ©20
Page 31 and 32: ©2013 Edited and compiled by Marti
Page 33 and 34: ©2013 Edited and compiled by Marti
Page 35: Last, but not least, I acknowledge

Righteous unto the nations

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