Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., October 26, 2007 Cheshvan 14, 5768 | | Israel Time: 10:49 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Print Edition Diplomacy Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising Magazine Week's End Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Books Travel

Yad Vashem. (AP Archives) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 19:06 25/10/2007 Dutch couple honored by Yad Vashem for saving Jews in WWII By The Associated Press A Dutch couple posthumously received the highest honor for non-Jews from Israel's Holocaust memorial authority Thursday for their bravery in sheltering a Jewish family from the Nazis during World War II. Hendrikus (Hein) and Martha Snapper were named 'Righteous Among the Nations' at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial authority in Jerusalem. The recognition is given to non-Jews who rescued Jews from the Nazis during the war, when 6 million Jews were killed. More than 21,000 have been honored since the designation was originated in 1963. Advertisement They were in their early forties with six children when the war reached the Netherlands in 1940. Hein Snapper, as a labor official in Naaldwijk, a town in the western part of the Netherlands, was confronted early on with the registration of Jews, the appropriation of Jewish property and the expulsion of Jewish children from public schools, Yad Vashem officials said. In the summer of 1942, he became active in a local underground group and was put in contact with a Jewish family, Rosa and Levy (Leen) de Hartog. The de Hartogs had received a deportation notice and were frantically searching for a hiding place. The Snappers decided to open their home to Rosa de Hartog, whom they presented as their housekeeper. The Snappers also found hiding places for Leen and their five children, according to officials at Yad Vashem. "It's hard to imagine the terrible panic, and the courage it took to respond to such a cry," said Irena Steinefeldt, spokeswoman for Yad Vashem. "Most houses [in the Netherlands] were too small for hiding spaces. People had to take in strangers in clear view and concoct a reason for their presence," said Johan Snapper, the Snappers' son, now a professor of German and Dutch studies at the University of California, Berkeley, speaking at the ceremony. "The penalty for hiding Jews was a concentration camp or death," Snapper said. "Our parents understood that." In May 1943, a massive recruitment of Dutch men for forced labor in Germany began. Snapper used his position at the labor exchange to forge documents and falsify information for the de Hartogs. The couple faced a stern test in 1944, when six German S.S. soldiers were billeted in the Snapper home. "The daily stress put on Hein and Martha can only be imagined," Steinefeldt said. The entire de Hartog family survived the war and was reunited afterward. A photograph of the two families together after liberation was on display during the ceremony. Hein Snapper died in 1979 and Martha Snapper in 1980. Their names were unveiled on the wall of Righteous Among the Nations at the ceremony Thursday. More than 30 members of the Snapper extended family traveled to Israel for the ceremony. Surviving children of the de Hartogs who were saved by the Snappers - Truus de Hartog of the Netherlands, and Salomon de Hartog of Israel - were also present. "Nothing has ever made a bigger impact on me, as young as I was, Johan Snapper said of witnessing his parents' heroism. It's not because they were Jews - they would have done it for anybody." More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us For their grandparents Many young Israelis are honoring their grandparents' pre-Shoah communities. Something fishy here... Amnon Levy's candid camera show catches frozen fish importer adjusting sell-by dates.   1.   yad vashem honours snapper family 17:50  |  ralph stein 25/10/07   2.   Heroes of Holland 18:03  |  Sanders 25/10/07   3.   The Righteous Amongst Gentiles - MENSCHES! 18:43  |  Lee Marks 25/10/07   4.   Real Dutch People can be proud! Exception: a faked "Dutch" 18:44  |  Vittorio 25/10/07   5.   If only there would have been more people like the Snappers 19:28  |  Mark B. 25/10/07   6.   Very touching. Nice to see the picture? 20:15  |  Albert1@aol.com 25/10/07   7.   BTW: Snapper in Dutch means a person who 20:31  |  Mark B. 25/10/07   8.   It`s handy that one lives in the US 20:33  |  Peter XM 25/10/07   9.   helping Jews 20:52  |  Dik 25/10/07   10.   G-d Bless these people 20:58  |  TAZ 25/10/07   11.   Heroes of Humanity 21:12  |  Nephtaly 25/10/07   12.   Surely all human beings matter? 21:54  |  Marc 25/10/07   13.   THE RIGHTEOUS SNAPPERS 01:24  |  EGON LAZARUS 26/10/07   14.   THE SNAPPERS 01:30  |  EGON LAZARUS 26/10/07   15.   Old Almanacs never lie 03:14  |  Dav 26/10/07   16.   Pity there are so few righteous Jews 03:40  |  peacelover 26/10/07   17.   +1 to the dutch for calling out Israeli Nuremberg Type Crimes 05:14  |  Paul 26/10/07   18.   My Grandparents 07:45  |  Gena (Snapper) Long 26/10/07

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