THe Underground
The Underground was an organization made by the Dutch Resistance. They had a secret network which was used to communicate with each other and send needed items such as ration cards and fake ID cards. They tried to keep everything as secret as possible. If found, they would be arrested and taken to concentration camps where they were killed.
"They had to go around to all the places where we were hiding and bring money, false identity papers, and ration stamps to the families looking after us. They also had to travel all over Holland, constantly for new families that would take us in. It's a small country, but in those days travel was not so easy. Even if you had a car, there was no gasoline. There were curfews, raids all the time, and German guards at every station checking identity papers on the trains. It was a full-time job."
-Joseph Heinrich (To Save a Life)
Rita Admiraal
In an interview, Rita Admiraal, whose father, Case Veldman, was a member of the Resistance, talks about the Underground.
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What Did they dO?
Provided Food
"We can provide safe places for these people but they must provide something too. Ration cards." Fred stared at me a moment," How many do you need?" I opened my mouth to say , "five." But the number that unexpectedly and astonishingly came out instead was, "One hundred." But he had the cards . On the table in a brown manila envelope were one hundred passports to safety. Fred had already torn the "counting coupon" from each one. This final coupon was presented at the Food Office the last day of each month in exchange for the next month's card. With these coupons Fred could "Legally" continue to issue us one hundred cards." -Corrie Ten Boom ( The Hiding Place) |
Falsified Papers
I had many Jewish friends. There were the friends of friends, and then their families, and so fourth. They would ask me how to get a non-Jewish ID card. First, I had them give me a photograph. I put their finger-print on the back of the photo , using a little machine I had which was made for this purpose. Then I would steal a passport of the appropriate age group, soak of the seal, put their picture in is it, and seal it again. They looked good." -Tina Strobos (Holocaust Museum Oral History) |
Found Homes
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"My wife was smarter and much more practical than I was. Right away when Henny came, she told me to build a hiding place, in case the situation got worse. She and Henny were really pressing me, but I was too busy and couldn't see the use of it. Maybe I was more optimistic than they were. I took things easy and let the consequences come later. But they were simply trying to help themselves. Finally, it penetrated that they were right, and I built it. It's good that our family had that place, too, because later on it saved our lives." |
Secretly Delivered mail
So we had to go make strict rules and rush them throughout the whole group. It was my responsibility to tell all the Jewish people we had hidden out in the country: "We have to do everything we can to avoid getting these people in trouble. You're endangering them by getting mail, because they never got any before, and now they're getting all kinds of it." I became the new Underground mailman, or Hein would be the mailman, or whoever was working in our group would run those Jewish missives around. We told all the people we had placed in the country that we would carry their mail to them." -Diet Eman (Things We Couldn't Say) |
George Cassutto
Interview with George Cassutto, whose father and mother were both Jews in the Holocaust.
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"There was a network in the Underground that brought people to us; I didn’t understand how it worked and was never interested either. After all, with so many strangers coming into my house, the less I know the better."
-Bert Bochove (To Save A Life)