Cycling route Death Valley De Peel - Rabbi Jacob Soetendorp (#11)

Rabbi Jacob Soetendorp

In 1943, special people in hiding found shelter with the Rijken family, on the forecourt in Zeilberg: the young Rabbi Jacob Soetendorp and his wife Miriam, parents of Abraham Soetendorp, one of the current leaders of the Jewish community in the Netherlands. Piet Rijken had built a shelter for 'Jaap' and 'Marietje' in a chicken coop behind a peat wall. Jacob turned out not to be an outdoorsman. The first time he saw the cattle, he politely took off his hat and said 'good morning cows'.

Life in hiding was hard for the couple. Only shortly before their flight from Amsterdam was their son Abraham born. The baby was to be transported separately to the safe house, but instead of going south, it was smuggled in a suitcase with air holes to a farming family on the Veluwe.
From there people regularly came to the Peel with messages such as 'Bobby is playing' or 'Bobby is laughing'.

The Soetendorp couple were only reunited with their son after the war.
The family emigrated to Israel after the war, but returned to the Netherlands in 1953.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Martin Damen