Jan Hendriks was posthumously awarded the Yad Vashem award for his resistance work in the Second World War. Hendriks helped Jews go into hiding in Valthe, among other places. He had to pay for that with his death.
This afternoon the Israeli award was presented to Hendriks’ granddaughter in The Hague, under the watchful eye of historical researcher Johan Withaar from Emmen. He has worked for years to award the award (see box).
The fact that Hendriks was not decorated after the war bothered Withaar. About 3.5 years ago he submitted the application to the organization that awards the award.
“It is accomplished. There is no more tension as to whether and when it will happen,” Withaar says after the ceremony. “It has been great to be able to arrange this.”
‘A very quiet Drent’, says Withaar fellow provincial Jan Hendriks. He was born in Emmen in 1905, earned his money as a grocer in Emmer-Compascuum and became involved in the resistance during the Second World War. “He became a link in the peat area to provide shelter for Jews,” Withaar says. First at home, but later he came into contact with Albertus Zefat, who helped Jews take shelter in a hiding place in Valthe.
The German occupier finds out about the role played by Hendriks through an uncle. After his arrest he doesn’t say anything. Ultimately he is deported to a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. Exhausted by forced labor, he died in November 1944. His body ended up in a German mass grave. ‘Anonymous, dishonorable and inglorious’, says researcher Withaar. “Unlike other resistance fighters from Valthe, Jan Hendriks did not receive a Yad Vashem award for his efforts in the Second World War.”