Remmert Aten

Geslacht: Man
Vader: Remmert Aten
Moeder: Helena Bertha van Konijnenburg
Geboren: 9 Aug 1895 Zaandam
Overleden: 15 Aug 1984
Beroep: houthandelaar
Aantekeningen: Personal Information
Last Name: Aten
First Name: Remmert
Date of Birth: 09/08/1899
Date of death: 15/08/1984
Rescuer's fate: survived
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Male
Profession: OWNER OF COMPANY
Organization/ Religious order: Nationaal Steunfonds
Rescue
Place during the war: Zaandam, Noordholland, The Netherlands
Rescue Place: Zaandam, Noordholland, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Hiding
Supplying basic goods
Providing forged documents
Other
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/726)
Commemoration
Date of Recognition: 16/05/1972
Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Tree
Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands
Ceremony held in Yad Vashem: Yes
Rescued Persons
Waagenaar, Karel, Daniel
Boem, Fraenkel, Eva
Waagenaar, First name unknown
Waagenaar, First name unknown
Holtz, First name unknown
Rescue Story
Aten, Remmert & Margaretha (Hoekstra)
Anna Elisabeth Waagenaar-Bakker, (later Bein-Bakker) who was Jewish, and Greet Heybroek, who was not, had been the best of friends when they were fellow pupils at high school in Amsterdam. When serious danger to the Jews of the city appeared imminent, Anna turned to her old friend Greet to ask for help. Greet went to visit Anna and was asked to take Anna’s two eldest sons, aged six and seven, into hiding. Greet was hesitant, but she did propose that her husband’s brother, Remmert, and his wife, Margaretha (Greet), shelter Anna’s youngest son, Karel Daniel Waagenaar. Remmert and Greet were already hiding other Jews. They immediately came to pick up Karel from his parents, and although he initially put up some resistance he eventually went off with his aunt and uncle for a boat ride that lasted two and a half years. Remmert was especially active in the Resistance. He was a member of the NSF, where he worked in the J branch under the supervision of Walraven van Hall* and I.J. van den Bosch*. This department organized loans to the LO to support hiders and to the BS in Zaandam, North Holland. In the course of this employment, Remmert provided many Jews with false ID cards, food coupons, and other such documents. Remmert and his brothers owned a lumber factory in Zaandam, where they were long-time residents and highly respected citizens. Remmert and Greet did not conceal all the Jewish fugitives whom they protected, but kept some of them visible, in the open. They hid some of the adults in the same way, including Eve Frankel (later Eva Boem-Frankel) and two others. Eve worked as a maid in the Atens’ home. Another concealed person, Holtz, a 70-year-old friend and colleague of the Atens, and another Jewish woman, Roos Top, were occupied in the same way. By pretending they were non-Jews, and by ensuring that they were provided with the appropriate false papers, these people could lead relatively normal lives. In 1944, however, the two elder Waagenaar boys, who had also been in hiding at the Atens’, were betrayed and deported to Auschwitz, where they perished. The Aten home was thenceforth considered unsafe and Karel went back to his parents, who, equipped with false identity papers, were able to remain in their own home, where together they survived the war.
On May 16, 1972, Yad Vashem recognized Remmert Aten and his wife, Margaretha Aten-Hoekstra, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner: Margaretha Hoekstra geb. 15 Nov 1899 overl. 30 MEI 1979
Huwelijk: 21 Juni 1922 Bussum