Ader, Bastiaan Jan

Date of birth:: December 29th, 1909 ('s-Gravenzande, The Netherlands)
Date of death:: November 20th, 1944 (Veenendaal, The Netherlands)
Buried on:: Dutch Field of Honour Loenen
Plot: E. Grave: 52.
Nationality:: Dutch

Biography

Bastiaan Jan Ader became a minister in Nieuw-Beerta in 1938. It was not an easy task, because many churchgoers had become estranged from the church over the years. The enormous contrasts between the poor farm workers and rich gentlemen farmers had ensured that people no longer felt at home in the church. However, Bastiaan proved to be a very talented minister. With his enthusiasm and dedication, he managed to reconnect many people. He was especially popular among young people. During the war years, his involvement with the people and the village became even more evident. The rectory where he and his wife Johanna Adriana AderAppels lived soon became a centre for the resistance. From here, help was offered to Jews, people in hiding and English pilots. Under the pseudonym 'Van Zaan', Ader played an important role in the resistance in the entire area of ??North Groningen. Ader-Appels and her husband took in many Jewish people in hiding. They also offer assistance to allied pilots and arrange the distribution of ration cards far beyond Nieuw-Beerta. At the end of 1944, Reverend Ader was arrested when he allegedly provoked a police officer on his way to Haarlem. He ended up in prison on the Weteringschans in Amsterdam. After the war, he was buried in the Loenen cemetery of honour. His wife continued his work for the church after the war. She wrote a novel about the war years entitled "Een Groninger pastorie in de storm". Nowadays, a ‘Bastiaan Jan Ader train' runs through Groningen. A memorial corner has been set up in the church of Nieuw-Beerta to Bastiaan Jan Ader and his wife. In 1967, Yad Vashem awarded the Ader family the distinction of ‘Righteous Among the Nations’.

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