Wernart van Deventer

Geslacht: Man
Vader: Wernart van Deventer
Moeder: Hendrika Willemijntje Veenhof
Geboren: 26 MEI 1912 Haarlem
Overleden: 28 Sept 1991 Victoria Bc Canada
Aantekeningen: Last Name: Deventer van
First Name: Wernard
Alias: Wert
Rescuer's fate: survived camp inmate
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Male
Profession: BICYCLE REPAIRMAN
Place during the war: Velp, Gelderland, The Netherlands, Vught, Camp, The Netherlands, Mauthausen, Camp, Austria
Rescue Place: Velp, Gelderland, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Hiding
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/1944)
The van Deventers, who had one son and lived in Velp, Gederland, were very active in the local underground movement. In addition to participating in daring activities such as breaking into ration card distribution offices and meeting with German officers to try to engineer the release of prisoners, they also hid Jews in their home. Among these were Rosette de Vries-van Geldere (later Harpman) and her husband Siegfried de Vries, who stayed with Wernard and Johanna for an extended period, as did Rosette’s brother’s family. Unfortunately the latter were later caught and killed. A Jewish man named Albert de Vries also stayed with them. The van Deventer couple’s heroic deeds also included an attempt to bribe the Westerbork camp guards to release the Harpmans’ son, who was arrested after being betrayed during a raid. Wernard was also arrested and sent to the Vught camp for his activities and from there was deported to Mauthausen. Johanna carried on with the anti-occupation activities until she herself was forced to hide with her son. Wernard came back from the concentration camp a broken man. He was not able to reestablish his bicycle workshop, which was not open while he was in the camp. After the war, the van Deventers immigrated to Canada with their son and visited Holland from time to time.
On February 24, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Wernard van Deventer and his wife, Johanna van Deventer, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner: Johanna Snellink geb. 27 Nov 1912 overl. 12 Juli 1993
Huwelijk: 21 Juni 1939 Velp