Elisabeth Knuttel

Geslacht: Vrouw
Vader: Daniel Elisa Cornelis Knuttel
Moeder: Anna Elisabeth Roosenburg
Geboren: 16 Aug 1890 Leiden
Religie: geen
Aantekeningen: Last Name: Hoyer
First Name: Elisabeth
Maiden Name: Knuttel
Date of Birth: 16/08/1890
Date of death: 21/01/1963
Rescuer's fate: survived
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Female
Organization/ Religious order: Utrechts Kindercomite
Place during the war: Hague, Zuidholland, The Netherlands
Rescue Place: Hague, Zuidholland, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Hiding
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/309)
Elisabeth (Bep) Hoyer, a widow in her early fifties and her daughter Betty, a kindergarten teacher in her early twenties, lived in The Hague (prov. South-Holland). In the summer of 1942, when the deportations of the Jews “for work in the East” had started, the Leefsma parents from Amsterdam started to look for a hiding address for their children. They contacted Henrica (Ru) Paré*, who was active in the Utrechts Kinder Comite (UKC)*, one of the student groups that had organized to rescue children mostly from the Crèche, the deportation holding area in Amsterdam for Jewish children, and to locate hiding addresses for them. Henrica Paré managed to find a place for about 50 such children, one of them Nathan Leefsma. Nathan was taken to Bep Hoyer and her daughter Betty who became his family and jointly took care of all his needs. Nathan, now answering to the name Nico, felt loved and protected. All during the period in hiding with the Hoyers, Henrica kept in touch and provided food stamps for the boy. At the end of 1943, the section of the city where the Hoyers lived was declared a closed military zone by the Germans, and the residents were ordered to evacuate. The Hoyers took Nathan along to a townhouse on some estate, where they all stayed until the liberation in May 1945. After the war, it turned out that Nathan’s parents had not survived. Nathan stayed on with the Hoyers until October 1945, when Henrica Paré picked him up together with his sister, Meira, b.1937, who had been in hiding at another location also with the help of the UKC. The siblings were taken to the Jewish Youth Immigration Home run by the Levin family in Bilthoven, who were taking care of a number of orphaned children. In 1949, the Levins moved to Israel with their wards. Nathan Leefsma (later, Lev) stayed in touch with the Hoyers ever after, each visiting the other as much as possible.
On March 27, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Elisabeth Hoyer-Knuttel and her daughter Betty Hoyer, as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gezin 1

Huwelijkspartner: Herman Henricus Theodorus Hoijer geb. 18 Juni 1887 overl. 22 Aug 1940
Huwelijk: 16 Juli 1914 Den Haag