Zij waren joods en mochten niet bestaan

Germany attacked the Netherlands on May 10th 1940 and the Dutch army had to capitulate a few days later. The Germans already had a bad reputation due to their attitudes and behaviour towards Jews. The regular humiliation and isolation of Jews which occurred in Germany and Austria, was also introduced in The Netherlands. From 1940 to 1942 new regulations were proclaimed on a regular base which made life increasingly miserable for many Jews. This also happened in Bedum, even though Jozef and Regina Meijer were the only two Jews living in the village. Signs were put on display: ‘Forbidden for Jews’ and Jozef Meijer was not allowed anymore to be a member of the Society ‘Eendracht”. 

In addition, Jozef and Regina Meijer’s identity cards needed to be marked with a ‘J’, meaning Jude, ‘Jew’. They also needed to be registered as Jews at the municipality. They both went to the town hall to fill out the necessary forms on February 13th 1941. With the implementation of these measurements, the Germans knew exactly how many Jewish inhabitants a municipality had and where they lived. Jozef and Regina Meijer were further humiliated by having to wear a yellow star of David on their clothing.

 

In the Fall of 1942, two members of the ‘Marechaussee’ (the Dutch Military Police) received the commission to arrest Jozef and Regina Meijer. These police officers were Hielke van der Heide and Willem Homoet. (you can find their tragic stories elsewhere on this site 

Instead of arresting them, they both warned the Meijer family and told them to flee. Regina Meijer decided to bring some leftover food to the neighbours and after that they left their house. In Bedum, the rumour was [spread] that they had left for England. Freerk Siemon Wolters, the public notary of the village and member of the Society ‘Eendracht’, prevented that the then Mayor of Bedum mr. Timmer, who collaborated with the Germans, would be able to confiscate their house (the story of Wolter’s fate is told elsewhere on this site). The Meijer family had to leave all their possessions behind, except for some clothing. They were able to go into hiding at the Lerk family who lived nearby at Schultingastreet 6. Mr and Mrs Lerk had two children, Max and Waling. (Their story is told elsewhere on this site).

Jozef and Regina Meijer stayed in the middle room on the first floor. The room is very small and measures only 2 ½ x 3 meters. They needed to stay there during the day and were only allowed downstairs when the children had gone to sleep because otherwise it would be too dangerous. The children sometimes looked through the keyhole of the room, but they never saw anything. The door was locked. The door is still there, and one can see that the keyhole at the inside of the door is somewhat higher than the one at the outside. That is why the children never saw anything. Despite all the precautions, it was not safe in the Schultingastreet 6. Noises from inside the house could be clearly heard outside, such as flushing the toilet. That is a normal sound of course, but not when nobody was supposed to be home...