Westerweel Group
Encyclopedia
The Westerweel Group was a resistance group
that operated during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Led by a Dutch Christian Joop Westerweel
and Jewish German refugee Joachim Simon
, the group was initiated in August of 1942 and its first objective was to hide a Jewish youth group that were ordered deported to the Nazi Westerbork concentration camp.
to the Land of Israel
and called themselves the "Palestine Pioneers" or Hechalutz. The teenagers were split into groups throughout Holland, including one in Amsterdam
and one in Loosdrecht
, a village in North Holland
. The group in Loosdrecht, which consisted of around 50 teenagers, worked on farms or with other agricultural related work in preparation for kibbutz
-life in Israel.
, a local Dutch Christian opposed to the Nazis, who agreed to undertake the mission of finding hiding places for the entire group. They had to find and organize different addresses, forge identification cards and travel documents, raise money, and arrange ration cards.
Westerweel Group then began assisting Palestine Pioneers members located in Amsterdam.
The group then decided that it would be less dangerous for the escapees if they were smuggled outside of Holland's borders. This was because their housing, which was temporary, required that they move frequently from one place to another, thus increasing the chances of being betrayed by locals or caught by the civilian police.
They first attempted to move twelve teenagers to the neutral Switzerland, but they were caught by the Nazis. The group assumed they were betrayed by one of the people they asked for help, and they resolved to avoid using unknown outsiders.
Their second escape route, planned by Joachim Simon, was through Belgium to France and then to Spain over the Pyrenees
mountain range.
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...
that operated during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Led by a Dutch Christian Joop Westerweel
Joop Westerweel
Joop Westerweel was a progressive schoolteacher who became a Dutch World War II resistance leader, the head of the Westerweel Group....
and Jewish German refugee Joachim Simon
Joachim Simon
Joachim Simon was a Jewish-German leader of a rescue movement during World War II. Simon, along with Joop Westerweel, led a group called the Westerweel Group.-References:...
, the group was initiated in August of 1942 and its first objective was to hide a Jewish youth group that were ordered deported to the Nazi Westerbork concentration camp.
Background
Around 450 Jewish teenage boys and girls were living in Holland as refugees from Austria and Germany. They planned on making aliyahAliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
and called themselves the "Palestine Pioneers" or Hechalutz. The teenagers were split into groups throughout Holland, including one in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and one in Loosdrecht
Loosdrecht
Loosdrecht is a village in the municipality of Wijdemeren, North Holland, Netherlands.Loosdrecht consists of two small villages, Nieuw- and Oud- Loosdrecht...
, a village in North Holland
North Holland
North Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
. The group in Loosdrecht, which consisted of around 50 teenagers, worked on farms or with other agricultural related work in preparation for kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
-life in Israel.
Westerweel Group
The initiative to form the group arose in August of 1942 when the Nazis began ordering the deportation of Jews in Holland. The Loosdrecht group, living together in an Aliyah center, chose to go into hiding instead of reporting for deportation. The leaders of the youth group met with Joop WesterweelJoop Westerweel
Joop Westerweel was a progressive schoolteacher who became a Dutch World War II resistance leader, the head of the Westerweel Group....
, a local Dutch Christian opposed to the Nazis, who agreed to undertake the mission of finding hiding places for the entire group. They had to find and organize different addresses, forge identification cards and travel documents, raise money, and arrange ration cards.
Westerweel Group then began assisting Palestine Pioneers members located in Amsterdam.
The group then decided that it would be less dangerous for the escapees if they were smuggled outside of Holland's borders. This was because their housing, which was temporary, required that they move frequently from one place to another, thus increasing the chances of being betrayed by locals or caught by the civilian police.
They first attempted to move twelve teenagers to the neutral Switzerland, but they were caught by the Nazis. The group assumed they were betrayed by one of the people they asked for help, and they resolved to avoid using unknown outsiders.
Their second escape route, planned by Joachim Simon, was through Belgium to France and then to Spain over the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
mountain range.