Joseph Antonius Albertus van Ass

Geslacht: Man
Vader: Antonius Wijnandus van Ass
Moeder: Cornelia van de Winkel
Geboren: 4 MRT 1899 Heel en Panheel
Overleden: 28 OKT 1957 Weert
Beroep: landbouwer
Aantekeningen: Personal Information
Last Name: Ass van
First Name: Joseph Antonius Albertus
Alias: ALBERT
Date of Birth: 04/03/1899
Date of death: 25/10/1957
Rescuer's fate: survived
imprisoned
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Male
Profession: FARMER
Rescue
Place during the war: De Weerd, Limburg, The Netherlands
Rescue Place: De Weerd, Limburg, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Hiding
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/4416)
Commemoration
Date of Recognition: 24/06/1990
Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor
Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands
Ceremony held in Yad Vashem: Yes
Rescued Persons
Citroen, Karel
Weyl, Gertrude
Schlejen, Michael
Citroen, Lise
Weyl, Thea
Rescue Story
Ass, van Joseph Antonius Albertus & Helena Gertrudis (Maessen)
Albertus (Albert) and Helena van Ass lived on a farm in De Weerd, a small village near Roermond, Limburg, with their four children aged between five and 16. Remote farms were ideal hiding places---they were both isolated and had easy access to food sources. The van Ass family hid several Jews and also Allied pilots during the course of the war. Among the Jews they sheltered were Karel and Lise Citroen, Lise’s mother, Gertrude, and sister, Thea Weyl. The family also hid Michiel Schlejen, the youngest son of a family from Maastricht. Michiel was eight years old when it became necessary for him and his family to go into hiding, dispersing in September 1942. The parents were hidden in Brussels and the children scattered in various safe hideouts in Limburg. Michiel stayed with the van Asses until November 1943, when the German police raided the van Asses’ farm. Albert van Ass and Karel Citroen were arrested and imprisoned but Karel managed to escape after a short time. Albert, however, was sent to the camps in Holland and then Germany, from where he was liberated only at the end of the war, by which time he was a physical and mental wreck. On the night of the raid, Gretha van Ass, one of Albert’s daughters, transferred Michiel to a new hiding place. From this address, A.H. Gielens* took Michiel across the border to Brussels a month or so later, where he was reunited with his parents and grandmother. This reunion was not to last though. Michiel, his brother, and his sister spent the closing months of the war hiding in different places in Belgium, protected by the Catholic clergy. Despite all their wanderings, the Schlejen family survived the war, partly due to the selfless assistance of Albert van Ass and his family.
On June 24, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Joseph Antonius Albertus van Ass and his wife, Helena Gertrudis van Ass-Maessen, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner: Helena Gertudis Maessen geb. 13 Nov 1897 overl. 23 Dec 1988
Huwelijk: 20 Apr 1925 Maasniel