Elizabeth Gerhardina Bijkersma
| Geslacht: | Vrouw | |
| Vader: | Douwe Bijkersma | |
| Moeder: | Aletta Christina Semmelink | |
| Geboren: | 27 Dec 1912 | IJsselstein |
| Overleden: | 30 Dec 2003 | Utrecht |
| Beroep: | maatschappelijk werkster | |
| Aantekeningen: | Bijkersma Elizabeth (1912 - 2003 ) Personal Information Last Name: Bijkersma First Name: Elizabeth Alias: LIESJE Date of Birth: 27/12/1912 Date of death: 30/12/2003 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Religion: PROTESTANT Gender: Female Profession: TEACHER Place during the war: Zwolle, Overijssel, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Zwolle, Overijssel, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Supplying basic goods Providing forged documents Arranging shelter File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/10643) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 21/08/2005 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands Rescued Persons Denneboom, Menno Marcus, Emanuel, Abraham Kaneel, First name unknown Leeuw de, Leo Koopman, Joop Rescue Story Bijkersma, Elisabeth Elisabeth (Liesje) Bijkersma, b.1912, was a teacher in the town of Zwolle (prov. Overijssel), when the war broke out. She subsequently met a number of German refugees who had come to the town, and heard of their plight. As soon as anti-Jewish measures also intensified in the Netherlands, she decided to help as much as she could. She contacted friends and others to do the same. As a devout Protestant, she confided in her minister, and he too provided names of those who might be willing to take on the personal risk of rescue. With the onset of the deportations of the Jews to the extermination camps in the summer of 1942, Elisabeth had already built up a network of people who were willing to take Jews into hiding and made the connection between them. Among others, Menno Denneboom, Emanuel Abraham Marcus and some members of his family, Leo de Leeuw, all from Zwolle, Joop Koopman, his parents and siblings, Mr. M. Kaneel with family and the Swartenberg couple, were thus helped by Elisabeth with hiding addresses. She personally accompanied most of them to their hiding places on her bicycle by which she moved around in the area. In addition, Elisabeth took responsibility for providing those in hiding with false identity cards, stolen food stamps and additional food for the increased needs of the rescue families. Elisabeth also functioned as a sole source of information about the well-being of members of the Marcus family who were in hiding in different places. She initiated all this on her own and personally approached others for help. When taking care of the various Jews and their rescue families became too time-consuming, she quit her teaching position and took on rescue activities full time. Her total dedication to helping those in mortal danger until the liberation of the area in April 1945, cost her much health, forcing her into early retirement. Contact was lost between her and her wards after the war. Only recently, through the intervention of the Overijssel Historical Research Center in Zwolle, was connection with some of them renewed. On August 21, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Elisabeth Bijkersma as a Righteous Among the Nations. |
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