Elisabeth Alexandrina Visser
| Geslacht: | Vrouw | |
| Vader: | Pieter Visser | |
| Moeder: | Dina Jacoba Elisabeth Timmerman | |
| Geboren: | 4 Aug 1899 | Den Helder |
| Religie: | Ned. Hervormd | |
| Aantekeningen: | Last Name: Breukers First Name: Elisabeth Alexandrina Alias: BETS Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Female Profession: OLD AGE HOME MANAGER Place during the war: Blaricum, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Blaricum, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/1663) Elisabeth (Bets) Breukers ran an old age home in the town of Blaricum, North Holland. Her humanistic world-view led her to despise the Nazis and what they were doing to the Jews. Hence, she did not hesitate when asked to shelter a four and a half month old Jewish baby boy named Avram Melkman. At the meeting with his parents on the Jewish New Year, she explained that since the child would live in the old age home, where everyone who lived there would see him, she could only take him if he was formally registered as a foundling and promised to organize the registration process with an employee at the Blaricum municipality. The parents found it hard to part with their son, but when a relative, Rabbi Diner, and his entire family were arrested and deported, they understood that they could not put off the decision any longer. On Yom Kippur, they sent the child via a non-Jewish friend to the old age home when Bets Breukers was not there, so that the home's residents would believe he was a foundling. The parents also left a sum of money for the child's upkeep. On November 13, 1942, the baby was registered as a foundling under the name Kees Willem Breukers. Two months later a German government order was issued declaring that all foundlings from the date of the publication of the order would be considered Jewish. During the war Bets Breukers hid other Jewish children in the old age home for short periods of time and also took care of Jewish adults there illegally. One of these people died, and although the burial of a hidden Jew was always a serious problem for those hiding them, Bets organized the burial with great sensitivity. BetÂ’s husband, a doctor in the Dutch navy, spent the whole war outside Holland. A few weeks after the end of the war, he returned and he too fell in love with the child whom his wife had raised. When the Melkmans returned to Amsterdam after spending two years in the camps, they were welcomed by Bets with open arms. Despite their pain at giving up the child, the Breukerses helped the Melkmans overcome the difficulties of adaptation: they returned all the money that had been given to them and, in addition, gave them furniture and many other items that the survivors needed. On June 26, 1979, Yad Vashem recognized Elisabeth Alexandrina Breukers as Righteous Among the Nations. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Peter Wilhelm Breukers | geb. 31 OKT 1892 overl. 19 Juli 1971 |
| Huwelijk: | 6 Nov 1933 | Blaricum |