Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumus
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumus | |
| Moeder: | Huibertje IJzerman | |
| Geboren: | 26 Feb 1880 | Amsterdam |
| Overleden: | 18 Apr 1960 | Laren, N.-H. |
| Beroep: | hoogleraar economische geschiedenis | |
| Aantekeningen: | The Righteous Among The Nations Rescue Story Posthumus, Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumus-van der Goot, Willemijn Hendrika Diaz-van der Goot, Annie Nicolaas (Nien) Posthumus, born in Amsterdam in 1888, had a Ph.D. in Law from the local City University. Ever since 1913, he was held positions at various Universities teaching both law and philosophy. He was also a prolific writer, mostly on social history and social justice. In 1931, Prof. Posthumus married Willemijn (Lil) van der Goot, who was the first woman in the Netherlands to obtain a Ph.D. in Economics. She was heavily involved in the struggle for womens rights, then still very rudimentary. The couple lived in Amsterdam where their only daughter Claire was born in 1938. At the beginning of the war, they moved to Noordwijk aan Zee (prov. North-Holland), where Willemijns sister Annie joined them with her daughter Liesbeth, born in 1930. Annies husband had been unable to leave occupied France. When the German authorities billeted soldiers in the Posthumus home, all moved to nearby Leiden. In 1941, with the increasing anti-Jewish measures, Prof. Posthumous no longer felt that he could function under German Nazi occupation, and resigned his University position. In June 1943, the Posthumuses were approached by their friend Mies Boissevain, a sister of Hester van Lennep*, who was active in an underground group smuggling children out of the Creche, the Amsterdam transit point for Jewish children prior to deportation. Hester had succeeded in getting ten-year-old Bep Koster out and needed a hiding address for her. Bertha Eveline (Bep) Koster, born in 1933, had lived in Rotterdam with her parents Leo (b. 1907) and Helena Koster-Hartog (b. 1909) and her older sister, Annie (b. 1931). In early 1942, Leo Koster was arrested at home, as he had refused to hand in his bicycle. He was deported to Mauthausen, where he perished in October 1942. Immediately after the arrest of her husband, Helena Koster managed to find hiding addresses for her children as well as for herself, each in a different place. However, these turned out to be unsafe locations and both Helena and Bep were betrayed at their respective hiding addresses. Helena was deported to Auschwitz, but managed to survive. By then ten-year-old Bep was taken to the Creche, from where she was smuggled out. The Nicolaas and Willemijn Posthumus took Bep in without hesitation. She felt immediately at home, as she now had two instant sisters with whom she could play. Whereas the extended Posthumus/Diaz family knew clearly that Bep was Jewish, she was presented to the outside world as an orphan from the bombardment of Rotterdam. Yet, Bep was allowed to join Claire and Liesbeth at school, where the teacher was informed of her real identity. Passing Germans on the street always scared Bep, but she managed not to show her fears. Taking in the girl entailed an extra danger to the Posthumus family, as Nicolaas had connections with others, such as Prof. Jan Romein*, with the intention of documenting all the developments during the war, in what was to become the beginning of the official Dutch War Documentation Center holdings after the war (NIOD). They also planned a new Faculty at Amsterdam University, the Faculty for Pollitical and Social Sciences, to be set up after the war. They held their planning sessions often in the Posthumus home. During the last winter of the war, the infamous Hungerwinter of 1944-1945, when the German authorities had cut off electricity and food supplies to the western parts of the Netherlands, all had to share the very little there was. Bep was allowed to stay on and shared their tulip bulb soup and sugar beet meals -- all endured together. Bep stayed with the Postumus/Diaz family until the liberation of the city in May 1945. Soon afterwards, her sister Annie, then 14 years old, joined her there. Annie had survived in hiding as well. Later on, their mother, Helena, who returned from the camps, was reunited with her children. Bep experienced the return to her mother as very traumatic since she had grown very close to her rescue family. The Kosters moved back to Rotterdam and started a new life. Contact with members of the Postumus and Diaz families was renewed at a later stage after the full trauma of persecution had started to subside. On March 16, 2008, Yad Vashem recognized Nicolaas W. Posthumus and Willemijn H. Posthumus-van der Goot, as well as Annie Diaz-van der Goot as Righteous Among the Nations |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Dorothea Maria van Loon | geb. 16 MRT 1881 |
| Huwelijk: | 20 Juli 1908 | Hilversum |
| Scheiding: | 1 Aug 1928 |
Gezin 2
| Huwelijkspartner: | Willemijn Hendrika van der Goot | geb. 2 MEI 1897 overl. 16 Jan 1989 |
| Huwelijk: | 7 Jan 1931 | Londen, Groot-Brittannië |
| Scheiding: | 24 Jan 1951 |