Having spent World War 2 remaining steadfast in the face of great evil, an Australian couple will be posthumously awarded ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ – the highest honour the State of Israel can bestow upon non-Jews.
The late Jacob and Klaasje van der Haar (pictured) will be recognised for their bravery during the Holocaust, when they hid, protected and cared for Jewish children Joseph Gokkles and Sonja Peters in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, along with the Israel Embassy and the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies, is set to award the couple through their living relatives, with Charge d’Affaires Dr Tibor Shalev Schlosser presenting the award to the couple’s family at a ceremony tonight, Thursday October 22.
“Without these people, the state of Israel as we know it might not exist today, so it is crucial that we recognise and honour their actions,” Israel Embassy spokesperson Eman Amasha said.
“The Embassy of Israel in Australia has been honoured to present several of these awards in recent years to Australians who rescued Jews in Europe during the Holocaust.”
Righteous Among the Nations is an official honorary title awarded by Yad Vashem, on behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
This award was designed as a way for the Jewish community to express their collective gratitude to extraordinary individuals who, in their commitment to humanity, actively saved Jews from the threat of death or deportation.
“Many of these awards, like that of the van der Haars, have been granted posthumously, as it often takes many years for their actions to become known and be brought to attention of Yad Vashem,” Ms Amasha said.
A story of bravery
In 1942, the van der Haar family lived in the town of Hoogeveen, in the Netherlands. Records indicated that the family, including Jacob and Klaasje and their three young children, chose to resist the German’s regime shortly after their invasion.
A family friend, who was part of the local resistance group, approached the family to provide sanctuary for a small Jewish boy whose parents faced deportation.
The van der Haars did not hesitate to take two-year-old Joseph in, helping to hide him from German collaborators. It did not take the family long to consider Joseph as one of their own.
In February 1945, a Jewish girl from Amsterdam, Sonja Peters, was also taken into the van der Haar home and, together with Joseph, stayed with the family until the area’s liberation in April 1945.
The van der Haar’s home was a refuge for free thinking in their neighbourhood, where the resistance could meet in secret and make plans to help jewish neighbours escape the area.
Australian Online News will provide a live stream of the ceremony.
