The story in English
How I became interested .....
In 1998, I moved house together with my spouse and two children. We already lived in Bedum, but preferred an ‘older’ house because we like the particular atmosphere of older houses. My spouse found out that the house at the Schultingastreet –a house built in the 1930s- was up for sale.
From the outside the building looked fine but it later turned out that the inside needed refurbishment. Many of the authentic building elements were still in place. We nevertheless decided to buy it. When we heard more about the history of our house we decided to keep the house in a state as original as possible and the planned refurbishment remained limited. My neighbour told me that Jewish people had been in hiding in this house during WWII. ‘In our house…’, I thought. And from that moment my curiosity was raised. After some months, an article was published in the Ommelander Courant (a local newspaper). It was a story about a couple called Meijer (no family) and it was written by a certain Mr. van Dis from Bedum.’This is a gentleman I would like to meet,’ I thought.
I anticipated a brief meeting with Mr Van Dis but after our initial contact many followed, and nowadays we speak each other almost daily. It turned out that Mr. van Dis lived right around the corner of our street. I told him over the phone that I was very interested in the history of the Jewish Meijer family.
Not even an hour later, Mr. van Dis appeared on our doorstep with a great store of information about Jozef and Regina Meijer. He told me that he interviewed a lot of people during the 1980s in order to gain more information about the history and fate of the Meijer family. Mr van Dis and I agreed that their tragic story should serve a broader purpose. Together we developed the idea to write an educational leaflet for primary schools. We contacted the cultural committee of the municipality of Bedum and with their support produced a wonderful flyer which is still in use in all primary schools in Bedum and which can be downloaded elsewhere on this website. It turned out that Mr. van Dis owned original pictures from Jozef and Regina Meijer. He also provided me with names of people to who could give me more information. He pointed me –for instance- to Mrs Grasdijk who –as a little girl- lived in the house owned by the Meijers. She still had one of their yellow stars of David in her possession. She donated the star, under the condition that it should be used for educational purposes. Her late sister owned the other star. Her brother in law also donated this item.
From the outside the building looked fine but it later turned out that the inside needed refurbishment. Many of the authentic building elements were still in place. We nevertheless decided to buy it. When we heard more about the history of our house we decided to keep the house in a state as original as possible and the planned refurbishment remained limited. My neighbour told me that Jewish people had been in hiding in this house during WWII. ‘In our house…’, I thought. And from that moment my curiosity was raised. After some months, an article was published in the Ommelander Courant (a local newspaper). It was a story about a couple called Meijer (no family) and it was written by a certain Mr. van Dis from Bedum.’This is a gentleman I would like to meet,’ I thought.
This is a gentleman I would like to meet .....
I anticipated a brief meeting with Mr Van Dis but after our initial contact many followed, and nowadays we speak each other almost daily. It turned out that Mr. van Dis lived right around the corner of our street. I told him over the phone that I was very interested in the history of the Jewish Meijer family.
Not even an hour later, Mr. van Dis appeared on our doorstep with a great store of information about Jozef and Regina Meijer. He told me that he interviewed a lot of people during the 1980s in order to gain more information about the history and fate of the Meijer family. Mr van Dis and I agreed that their tragic story should serve a broader purpose. Together we developed the idea to write an educational leaflet for primary schools. We contacted the cultural committee of the municipality of Bedum and with their support produced a wonderful flyer which is still in use in all primary schools in Bedum and which can be downloaded elsewhere on this website. It turned out that Mr. van Dis owned original pictures from Jozef and Regina Meijer. He also provided me with names of people to who could give me more information. He pointed me –for instance- to Mrs Grasdijk who –as a little girl- lived in the house owned by the Meijers. She still had one of their yellow stars of David in her possession. She donated the star, under the condition that it should be used for educational purposes. Her late sister owned the other star. Her brother in law also donated this item.Taking good care of the original items....
Mr van Dis and I decided to frame all the original items that had a connection with the Meijer family and WWII, in order to preserve them better. But we felt that not only the material items, but also the story behind them should be safeguarded for the future. We had heard that the memorial centre at the former transit camp (Durchgangslager) Westerbork was looking for stories about people who stayed in the camp and who were transported from there to concentration camps in the East. We provided them with two stories which now feature on their website and which in this way will not be forgotten. Just like Mr van Dis, I have spoken with many people who remember the Meijer family and can tell about them. But those people diminish rapidly in number… Waling Lerk and his wife visited us in our house at the Schultingastreet. During WWII, Waling and his family lived in our house and he was a young boy when the Meijers hid in a room on the upper storey. Thanks to him, we know which room they occupied (see his story and photo elsewhere on this site). I also spoke with Mr van Kooten who transported Regina Meijer to a new hiding place on the back of his bicycle. Some time ago, Mr van Dis and I travelled to the Hague to visit the grandson of Sergeant Major ter Horst. He donated a sable that belonged to his grandfather. We enjoyed a visit from the daughter of public notary Wolters and from Mrs Jonkheer-Veldman and her husband. The father of the latter hid Hielke van der Heide and Willem Homoet on his farm (see their story elsewhere on this site).
Visiting primary schools.....
After the education leaflet was produced we thought it a good idea to visit
primary schools ourselves and to share our knowledge with the children in the highest grades. The interest was, and is, overwhelming and the enthusiasm infatuating. Mr van Dis still had the original suitcase which he used when he was put on transport as a young man and forced to work in Germany during WWII. This a separate story of course. In this old suitcase we preserve all items connected to the Meijer family we collected over the years and we keep them in the room of our house where they went into hiding. Teachers can also borrow the items, but because of their unique character we are very careful with them. Over the past year, I visited many local schools, and even high schools in the city of Groningen were interested. I thus enjoy the wonderful experience of addressing school classes, even though I am not a teacher! I hope to continue giving these lectures for many years to come, most importantly because I want the story of the only two Jews living in Bedum never to be forgotten. The suffering of these two people is representative of that of six million others. I therefore wish this website to serve as a memorial to Jozef and Regina Meijer as well as to all other victims of the holocaust. In addition, I hope that this website will help readers to realise that many men and women sacrificed their lives for the freedom we now enjoy. Finally, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all of those who contributed to this website.
primary schools ourselves and to share our knowledge with the children in the highest grades. The interest was, and is, overwhelming and the enthusiasm infatuating. Mr van Dis still had the original suitcase which he used when he was put on transport as a young man and forced to work in Germany during WWII. This a separate story of course. In this old suitcase we preserve all items connected to the Meijer family we collected over the years and we keep them in the room of our house where they went into hiding. Teachers can also borrow the items, but because of their unique character we are very careful with them. Over the past year, I visited many local schools, and even high schools in the city of Groningen were interested. I thus enjoy the wonderful experience of addressing school classes, even though I am not a teacher! I hope to continue giving these lectures for many years to come, most importantly because I want the story of the only two Jews living in Bedum never to be forgotten. The suffering of these two people is representative of that of six million others. I therefore wish this website to serve as a memorial to Jozef and Regina Meijer as well as to all other victims of the holocaust. In addition, I hope that this website will help readers to realise that many men and women sacrificed their lives for the freedom we now enjoy. Finally, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all of those who contributed to this website.Han Meijer, Bedum 28 february 2006.
