Joop Westerweel
Joop Westerwheel. Source: United States Memorial Museum.
"Joop Westerweel was shot to death in August, '44." -Mirjam Waterman |
"He said, 'No, I need to stay here. I'm responsible for these children. ' He was one of the leaders and couldn't leave them. Soon after that the idea was formed to save the whole group. We didn't want to save only ourselves; we wanted to save as many children and Jews as possible." "Joop Westerweel and I became good friends. I learned at first hand about his enthusiasm for helping Jewish children , and his anti-Nazi, anti-German feelings. He was 100 percent on the Jewish side." -Mirjam Waterman |
Westerweel Group
"Mirjam was the link between our Loosdrecht leaders and several teachers from the Werkplaats school in Bilthoven. They formed a group headed by Joop Westerweel, a non-Jew. I was in his home quite often before all the troubles began. He was a really special person, a very strong man. For Joop there was only two sides: something was either right or it was wrong." -Joseph Heinrich
"Shushu found the first contacts into France; eventually we developed three routes. We discovered people--mostly smugglers--who could help you across the Belgian border. We called it going over the 'green border' because you did not go on a road, or past a regular border post, but crept through the bushes and across farmers fields--a route where there was no route. Westerweel himself took many of the kids through this border. From Belgium they went to France, and in France there was another illegal group--all Jewish Young Pioneers--with an organization that had first been set up in Paris and afterwards in the South of France. It worked so well that seventy of our Young Pioneers managed to cross the Pyrenees during the German occupation. They reached Spain, and from there set off on ships bound for Palestine. That was our greatest success: seventy kids reached Palestine in '44 before the war even ended." -Mirjam Waterman
Map of the route Joop used to take the
Jews to Spain. Source: To Save A Life.
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Mountain that Joop had to cross to take the Jews to Spain. Source: To save A Life.
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"It's not about how long you live, it's about how you live."
--Joop Westerweel