Joannes Hubertus Mathias Heijnen
| Geslacht: | Man | |
| Vader: | Joannes Mathijs Heijnen | |
| Moeder: | Maria Anna Boosten | |
| Geboren: | 3 Aug 1906 | Hulsberg |
| Beroep: | musicus | |
| Aantekeningen: | Last Name: Heijnen First Name: Johannes Hubertus Mathias Date of Birth: 03/08/1906 Date of death: 27/02/1984 Rescuer's fate: survived Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: ORGANISTE Place during the war: Schimmert, Limburg, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Schimmert, Limburg, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Hiding File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/2977) Johannes Heijnen was an organist from Schimmert, Limburg. In this capacity, he played in the convent in Hulsberg where nine-year-old Leonie (Leni) Weslij was hidden. Leni had been brought to the convent after a Dutch policeman arrested her four-and-a-half-year-old brother at his hiding place and turned him in for deportation. In the spring of 1944, after having been in the convent for several months, Leni recognized a girl as the daughter of the policeman. Leni alerted her protectors, the sisters Oblaten, to this fact and the mother superior decided to relocate her to another hideout. She turned to Johannes, who immediately agreed to take Leni into his home although it was already full of hidden fugitives. At the convent, Leni had received some elementary education but after she was moved to the Heijnens it was too dangerous for her to continue to attend school. Adriana Heijnen thus took it upon herself to teach Leni the third grade curriculum. She obtained the required textbooks and taught Leni every day, strictly supervising her homework as well. Although at the time Leni felt she was being disciplined too harshly, in later years she was grateful for the education, which enabled her to rejoin her peers in school after the war. During her time in hiding, the Heijnens house was searched several times because they were suspected of hiding Jews. During one of the searches, Johannes succeeded in misleading the Germans. While they spent about an hour looking at the wrong address, Leni was spirited across a fence and into a neighbors home for safekeeping, her bed linen was thrown into the laundry, and her bed was dismantled and stowed away. When the Germans eventually arrived at the right house, they found nothing. From 1943 to 1944, the Heijnens also hid Mr. and Mrs. Weiner in their home. The Weiners had been forced to leave their former hideout because they had run out of funds to pay towards their upkeep. Both Leni and the Weiners vividly remember the warm and friendly atmosphere in the Heijnens home, a stark contrast to other hiding places they had been in. Johannes and Adriana saved these peoples lives as a matter of course, simply considering it their duty. On October 2, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Johannes Hubertus Mathias Heijnen and his wife, Adriana Petronella Liduina Heijnen-Vroomans, as Righteous Among the Nations. |
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Gezin 1
| Huwelijkspartner: | Adriana Petronella Lidwina Vroomans | geb. 4 Juni 1907 |
| Huwelijk: | 12 MRT 1942 | Heerlen |