You likely are not familiar with the "Righteous Among the Nations." If you are, good. If not, and you are interested, read on.
It is Holocaust-related, and now we can say that our extended family -- in Israel and Belgium -- has a connection to it.
The "Righteous Among the Nations" is part of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Jerusalem.
It is a tribute to those individuals -- as the Yad Vashem web site says -- "who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust."
The worldwide project to research and find those names began in 1963. But here it is, 55 years later, and -- finally -- two names are going to be added to the list:
Cornelis and Wilhelmina de Ru (Retel). Commonly known as Kees and Mien.
And our family -- that is, the Kopuits (second cousins Heleen and Philip, and their families) and, by extension, the Van Thyns -- is grateful. We share the same great grandparents on my mother's side, and we share this story.
It centers on Maurits Kopuit, Heleen and Philip's father. The de Rus basically saved his life.
But for 5 1/2 decades, the de Rus declined the recognition they deserved. That has been corrected.
The connection is this: It was at their grocery store in the city of Leiden -- in south Holland, close to The Hague -- where Maurits was hidden away during much of World War II. He was in his early teens.
The Nazis never found Maurits, nor his parents hidden closeby at a small farm in Voorschoten, although Maurits' father, Philip, died of heart disease at age 39 during that time.
Of Mom's 35 first cousins -- her mother and father each were from large families -- Maurits was the only survivor of the Nazis' reign of terror. All the others, like most of my parents' families, perished in the gas chambers or otherwise.
(Three years ago, I wrote two blog pieces on Maurits, who after the war returned to Amsterdam, lived with his mother two houses over from us and eventually became a writer, columnist and dynamic editor for the main Jewish newspaper in The Netherlands. Links to those blog pieces are below.)
Quick summation: My mother and Maurits were very close.
Philip Kopuit, who lives in Jerusalem and relatively close to Yad Vashem, informed us of the de Ru honor in a note earlier this week.
Philip wrote: "Some history. During the war, Papa [Maurits] was mainly with one Christian family, the de Ru family. A family with seven children; the youngest were about his age.
"Arie, the oldest, was a guest at my bar mitzvah dinner [1973 in Amsterdam]. Heleen and I remember a visit we all paid at the de Rus once when we were very young.
"Today, only the youngest child is still alive. He lives an hour and a half from Los Angeles.
"One of the granddaughters contacted us over a year ago. They wondered why their grandparents were not registered at Yad Vashem and were not recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
"Heleen and I gave some testimonies and memories, and last week I got this attached letter from Yad Vashem."
Some background (from the "Righteous" section of the Yad Vashem web site):
"One of Yad Vashem's principal duties is to convey the gratitude of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. This mission was defined by the law establishing Yad Vashem, and in 1963 the Remembrance Authority embarked upon a worldwide project to grand the title of Righteous Among the Nations to the few who helped Jews in the darkest time in their history.
"To this end, Yad Vashem set up a public Commission, headed by a Supreme Court Justice, which examines each case and is responsible for granting the title. Those recognized received a medal and a certificate of honor and their names are commemorated on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem."
So over the past year, the de Rus -- with Philip and Heleen making their case -- were up for consideration.
Done. Accepted.
The letter above, from the "Righteous" department director, was sent to Herman de Ru, the remaining child, who lives in Fallbrook, California (between Los Angeles and San Diego, a town known to me because that was the hometown of baseball great Duke Snider).
For years, Herman -- like my mother did -- has been a public speaker about the Holocaust years, his experiences as a teenager in Holland, and his parents' help in hiding Maurits ... and many others.
The letter was copied, among others, to Philip Kopuit and de Ru family members -- Mrs. Elane Lazet in San Marcos, Calif., and Mrs. Elena Bins-de Ru in Gent, Belgium.
It was Elena Bins who contacted Philip and Heleen and asked for their help in gaining the "Righteous" honor for her grandparents.
She is the daughter of Kees de Ru, who she said died the same year (1992) as Maurits, and related fond memories of her visits with her uncle Herman in America.
She said her grandparents had hidden other Jewish people, but names were changed and she could not find those who survived. But she and her uncle remembered the name Maurits Kopuit, who was called "Maup" by the de Rus. Herman often talked about him.
(Elena also said that her recall is that at least six de Ru family members were at his bar mitzvah. The elder de Rus had died in 1971 and '72.)
When Maurits long ago suggested to the de Rus that they belonged on the "Righteous list, they declined. As Elena explained, "My grandmother was very modest." But Maurits had a tree planted in their honor at Yad Vashem, and they were very pleased.
And when, in 1985, the Dutch government granted Maurits knighthood in the Order of Orange Nassau -- for service to the country -- the de Ru family members, especially Kees and Mien, were proud.
Fitting, because the once young man really was part of their family, and he of theirs.
---
Looking at the Yad Vashem "Righteous" database, there are as of today, 26,973 people who have been honored. The most (6,863) are from Poland, and The Netherlands has the second-highest total (5,669).
Soon it will be 5,671 -- Cornelis and Wilhelmina de Ru do belong. They were Righteous.
"Heleen and I pretend this doesn't mean much to us," Philip wrote, "but we are actually moved by it."
So are we. I know Rose and Louis Van Thyn would have been, too.
---
http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-mothers-first-cousin-one-of-my-heroes.html
http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2015/08/cousin-maurits-driving-force-in.html
It is Holocaust-related, and now we can say that our extended family -- in Israel and Belgium -- has a connection to it.
The "Righteous Among the Nations" is part of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Jerusalem.
It is a tribute to those individuals -- as the Yad Vashem web site says -- "who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust."
The worldwide project to research and find those names began in 1963. But here it is, 55 years later, and -- finally -- two names are going to be added to the list:
 |
| Wilhelmina and Cornelis de Ru (photo from Elena Bins-de Ru) |
And our family -- that is, the Kopuits (second cousins Heleen and Philip, and their families) and, by extension, the Van Thyns -- is grateful. We share the same great grandparents on my mother's side, and we share this story.
It centers on Maurits Kopuit, Heleen and Philip's father. The de Rus basically saved his life.
But for 5 1/2 decades, the de Rus declined the recognition they deserved. That has been corrected.
The connection is this: It was at their grocery store in the city of Leiden -- in south Holland, close to The Hague -- where Maurits was hidden away during much of World War II. He was in his early teens.
The Nazis never found Maurits, nor his parents hidden closeby at a small farm in Voorschoten, although Maurits' father, Philip, died of heart disease at age 39 during that time.
Of Mom's 35 first cousins -- her mother and father each were from large families -- Maurits was the only survivor of the Nazis' reign of terror. All the others, like most of my parents' families, perished in the gas chambers or otherwise.
(Three years ago, I wrote two blog pieces on Maurits, who after the war returned to Amsterdam, lived with his mother two houses over from us and eventually became a writer, columnist and dynamic editor for the main Jewish newspaper in The Netherlands. Links to those blog pieces are below.)
Quick summation: My mother and Maurits were very close.
Philip Kopuit, who lives in Jerusalem and relatively close to Yad Vashem, informed us of the de Ru honor in a note earlier this week.
Philip wrote: "Some history. During the war, Papa [Maurits] was mainly with one Christian family, the de Ru family. A family with seven children; the youngest were about his age.
"Arie, the oldest, was a guest at my bar mitzvah dinner [1973 in Amsterdam]. Heleen and I remember a visit we all paid at the de Rus once when we were very young.
"Today, only the youngest child is still alive. He lives an hour and a half from Los Angeles.
"One of the granddaughters contacted us over a year ago. They wondered why their grandparents were not registered at Yad Vashem and were not recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
Some background (from the "Righteous" section of the Yad Vashem web site):
"One of Yad Vashem's principal duties is to convey the gratitude of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. This mission was defined by the law establishing Yad Vashem, and in 1963 the Remembrance Authority embarked upon a worldwide project to grand the title of Righteous Among the Nations to the few who helped Jews in the darkest time in their history.
 |
| Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem (photo from the Yad Vashem web site) |
So over the past year, the de Rus -- with Philip and Heleen making their case -- were up for consideration.
Done. Accepted.
The letter above, from the "Righteous" department director, was sent to Herman de Ru, the remaining child, who lives in Fallbrook, California (between Los Angeles and San Diego, a town known to me because that was the hometown of baseball great Duke Snider).
For years, Herman -- like my mother did -- has been a public speaker about the Holocaust years, his experiences as a teenager in Holland, and his parents' help in hiding Maurits ... and many others.
The letter was copied, among others, to Philip Kopuit and de Ru family members -- Mrs. Elane Lazet in San Marcos, Calif., and Mrs. Elena Bins-de Ru in Gent, Belgium.
It was Elena Bins who contacted Philip and Heleen and asked for their help in gaining the "Righteous" honor for her grandparents.
She is the daughter of Kees de Ru, who she said died the same year (1992) as Maurits, and related fond memories of her visits with her uncle Herman in America.
She said her grandparents had hidden other Jewish people, but names were changed and she could not find those who survived. But she and her uncle remembered the name Maurits Kopuit, who was called "Maup" by the de Rus. Herman often talked about him.
(Elena also said that her recall is that at least six de Ru family members were at his bar mitzvah. The elder de Rus had died in 1971 and '72.)
When Maurits long ago suggested to the de Rus that they belonged on the "Righteous list, they declined. As Elena explained, "My grandmother was very modest." But Maurits had a tree planted in their honor at Yad Vashem, and they were very pleased.
And when, in 1985, the Dutch government granted Maurits knighthood in the Order of Orange Nassau -- for service to the country -- the de Ru family members, especially Kees and Mien, were proud.
Fitting, because the once young man really was part of their family, and he of theirs.
---
Looking at the Yad Vashem "Righteous" database, there are as of today, 26,973 people who have been honored. The most (6,863) are from Poland, and The Netherlands has the second-highest total (5,669).
Soon it will be 5,671 -- Cornelis and Wilhelmina de Ru do belong. They were Righteous.
"Heleen and I pretend this doesn't mean much to us," Philip wrote, "but we are actually moved by it."
So are we. I know Rose and Louis Van Thyn would have been, too.
---
http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-mothers-first-cousin-one-of-my-heroes.html
http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2015/08/cousin-maurits-driving-force-in.html
From Ron Hill: When I went to Israel in '69, our group went to Yad Vashem and I'm glad we did. So many came to the aid of the sons of Abraham during the Holocaust. Some lost their lives for it! Am Yisrael Chai!
ReplyDeleteFrom Donna Morrison Kent: Visited Yad Vashem in May of this year with Precept Ministries Israel tour. Very moving especially because of knowing you and your family!
ReplyDeleteFrom Sylvia Pesek: I realize that I don't often respond, but I do want you to know that these accounts touch my heart deeply.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I read them, I invariably ask myself whether I truly believe I'd have had the courage to risk so much.
I like to believe I would, but we never know, do we, until we're put into such a situation.
Let's hope that we don't have to find out.
Nico thank you so much for writing this. Like Maurits children We too are moved.
ReplyDeleteFrom Ron de Ru: Just wanted to thank you for the writeup on "Once a Knight." ... My dad is Herman, my are cousins Elane and Elena.
ReplyDeleteI told Elena that my son Nick had an opportunity to go to Israel. She said: Oh, great, the de Rus have a tree planted there for Opa and Oma's participation during the war. I immediately told Nick "make sure you get me a good photo of that tree with our name on it." He called me while there that he could not find the tree and our name was not on the wall. I told Elena and that's what got the ball rolling to see what happened.
This recognition is great news as I want our posterity to know in no uncertain terms what happened and how our grandparents participated in it.
From Elane Lazet: I enjoyed reading your blog SO much! I had heard of Maup, of course, and my uncle Herman (in Fallbrook) and his wife, Elly, have talked about stories from the war. I had heard that a tree was planted in Jerusalem, but when my husband and I went there in May of 2016, I asked about my grandparents' tree, and they had no record of it. I'm so glad that Elena took the opportunity to do the research and request the title!
ReplyDelete