Vrouwtje Smit

Geslacht:	Vrouw
Vader:	Gerrit Smit
Moeder:	Fettje de Graaf
Geboren:	7 Sept 1917	Zwolle
Overleden:	13 Feb 1973
Aantekeningen:	Bijlsma Vrouwtje (1917 - 1973 ) Personal Information Last Name: Bijlsma First Name: Vrouwtje Maiden Name: Smit Date of Birth: 07/09/1917 Date of death: 13/02/1973 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Female Place during the war: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/5868) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 03/11/1993 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 Honorary Citizenship of the State of Israel: Yes Rescued Persons Frijda, Rose, Marie Rescue Story Bijlsma, Theodorus & Vrouwtje (Smit) Theodorus Bijlsma became friendly with Maurits Frijda and his father, Joseph, through his work as an accountant for a printing firm in Amsterdam. When attacks on the Jews intensified in 1942, Theo suggested to Maurits that the family go into hiding. Maurits refused. In October 1942, Maurits and his wife, Lea Querido, gave birth to a daughter, Rose Marie. Theo and Vrouwtje Bijlsma again urged the Jewish family to go into hiding or at least to allow them to take care of the new baby. Maurits and Lea agreed. The Bijlsmas represented the infant to the local authorities as a foundling, the child of an unmarried mother, and renamed her "Marianne." They brought her up as a twin to their daughter, Hettie, born in August 1942, and gave her the love and security needed by a baby. During the time Rose Marie stayed with the Bijlsma family, Theo kept a diary to record her progress. He had hoped to give it to her parents following the war, but Maurits and Lea Frijda did not manage to find a safe hiding place and were caught by the Nazis, taken to Westerbork, and later transported to Sobibor, where they died on July 23, 1943. Rose Marie stayed with the Bijlsmas until the summer of 1946, when she went to live with her grandmother's sister, her only surviving relative. Rose Marie lost contact with the Bijlsma family after the war because her new parents thought it best that she forget her early life. Many years after the liberation, however, Rose Marie tracked down the family and they have been in touch ever since. On November 3, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Theodorus Bijlsma and his wife, Vrouwtje Bijlsma-Smit, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Theodorus Bijlsma	geb. 8 Sept 1911 overl. 20 Sept 1993
Huwelijk:	1940	Den Helder