Derk den Hartog

Geslacht: Man
Vader: Geurt den Hartog
Moeder: Aagje Slothouber
Geboren: 25 Apr 1888 Zetten
Overleden: 1 MEI 1951 Valburg
Beroep: landbouwer
Aantekeningen: Last Name: Hartog den
First Name: Dirk
Rescuer's fate: survived
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Male
Profession: FARMER
Place during the war: Zetten, Gelderland, The Netherlands
Rescue Place: Zetten, Gelderland, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Hiding
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/9091)
Dirk and Margritha den Hartog were cow-raising farmers in Zetten, near Nijmegen (prov. Gelderland). They had done business with the Nathans family, Simon and Lies, cattle dealers and butchers from Arnhem (Gelderland). Before the war, the ties of friendship between the two families had developed further when Lies Nathans was hospitalized in a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients together with Aagje den Hartog, the only daughter of four children in the Den Hartog family. In summer 1942, when the persecutions of the Jews in the Netherlands turned vicious, the Nathans family was advised by friends to hide, but to do so separately: their 5-year-old son, Max, would have to go into hiding alone, and the parents would go elsewhere. The den Hartogs were willing to take in Max. In need of a cover story, he was told to say he was from bombed-out Rotterdam. He also acquired a new name: Max Klein. Max felt very strange on the farm at first, but the family's warm reception soon made him feel completely at home. Being barred from leaving the farm, he was taught twice a week by a private teacher paid for by the den Hartogs. The doctor and the barber also came to the farm for little Max when needed; these people were all in the resistance and warned the family several times when danger lurked. Twice, when there was such danger, the teenage den Hartog daughter, Geurt, took Max on his bicycle to the village to escape arrest: once they both slept in a classroom in the local high school and once in the house of the teacher who lived next door. During that time, the den Hartogs offered shelter to other Jewish fugitives for short periods, one of them being a professor named Olivier. There were also times when they had Germans billeted on their farm, with all the hardship that brought During already tough times. After the war, and a three-year separation, Max was picked up by his parents who had both survived. At first he didn't recognize them and leaving his foster parents was hard. Relations have remained close with the den Hartogs, their children and grandchildren.
On December 31, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Dirk den Hartog, Margritha Francina Jannetje Hartog den-Goedegebuure and Geurt den Hartog as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner: Margritha Francina Jannetje Goedegebuure geb. 27 Jan 1895 overl. 29 Jan 1978
Huwelijk: 5 MEI 1920 Valburg