Willem Hak

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Hendrik Cornelis Hak
Moeder:	Hendrika Verduijn
Geboren:	8 Aug 1911	Giessen
Overleden:	24 Feb 1996
Religie:		Ned. Hervormd
Aantekeningen:	Last Name: Hak First Name: Willem Date of Birth: 08/08/1911 Date of death: 24/02/1996 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Place during the war: Gorinchem, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Gorinchem, Zuidholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Arranging shelter File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/5019) Hendrika and Hendrik Hak and their 13 children lived in Giessen, South Holland. They ran a grocery business and traveled around the region with a horse and cart selling their wares. Through their trips into town, they became acquainted with Otto and Ella Sachs, a German Jewish couple with two young daughters, Hanne Lore and Marianne. There was also an elderly grandmother, Elisabeth Sussman, and her other daughter, Johanna, who was unmarried. When the situation of the Jews became precarious, the Haks offered to find them hiding places. Otto and Ella Sachs moved in with a farming family for eight or nine months, but then they were betrayed and deported. They perished in Sobibor. In the meantime, Elisabeth and Johanna had also been apprehended and deported. The two young Sachs daughters, Hanne Lore and Marianne (later Greenblum), wandered between hiding places, survived the war, and then moved to the United States. The Hak children, some of whom were already married, were active in the Resistance and helped Hanne Lore and Marianne escape from the Germans, who were constantly in pursuit of them. At first, the girls hid with the elder Haks, but because of the large number of customers frequenting their grocery store the girls had to move. Whenever their hideout became unsafe, one of the Hak boys took them by bicycle to a safer location. The Hak girls followed with food for the hosts and for the hidden children. Hanne Lore and Marianne themselves did not have any money to pay the host families and consequently the Haks supported the two girls from mid-1942 to May 1945 from their own savings. Jos was in his mid-30s when he sheltered the girls in his home for about two months. He married in 1942. Willem was 31 when he came into contact with the girls and he frequently moved them around on the back of his bicycle. Hendrik, Gijsbert, Elibert, and Aart all helped out too, as did Maria (aged 30), Teuntje (26), and the two youngest sisters, who were both teenagers. Whenever there was a lack of food, the women all went out to get staples for everyone. Jan, a 23-year-old medical student in the city of Utrecht, refused to sign a document declaring loyalty to the German regime. Instead, he dropped out of college and started working for the Resistance, regularly transporting Marianne from one family to another on his bicycle. Jan was killed in a shootout in a bunker in 1943. On July 6, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Hendrik Cornelis Hak, his wife Hendrika Hak-Verduin, and their children Jos Hak, Willem Hak, Hendrik Cornelis Hak, Gijsbert Hak, Jan Hak, and Maria Hak and as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner:	Johanna Kant	geb. 18 Apr 1920 overl. 20 Juni 2011
Huwelijk: