At the De Zorg farm, on the Oude Sloterweg in Nieuw-Vennep,the Netherlands, the Boogaard family, led by the 75-year-old Johannes Boogaard, showed remarkable compassion. They helped hundreds of—mainly Jewish—people in hiding, providing refuge in every corner of the yard: an air raid shelter, on the haystack, and in a car. Their compassionate actions during the war were a beacon of hope for those in need.
The Boogaard family, guided by their Christian duty to protect ‘the people of God,’ Demonstrated remarkable selflessness. They risked their own lives to provide refuge to many people in hiding. The sons Hannes Jr. and Pieter, who lived nearby, also showed selflessness by taking in Jewish people in hiding.
An arrest of someone in possession of illegal meat led the police to the farm on October 6, 1943. The suspicion of harboring an illegal slaughterhouse was enough to invade. In the shed, Detective Pieter Van Duyn found a group of children and was about to pass on the discovery of the hiding place to his colleagues; one of the adults in hiding took quick action and shot him dead in the orchard of the farm.
The remaining officers fled and warned more colleagues. Shortly after the murder, German soldiers, together with Dutch SD members and police, searched the area. Willem Boogaard, a son of owner Johannes Boogaard, hid for hours in a ditch behind the tall grass together with twenty children. They escaped the raid.
More than thirty others, including ‘Grandpa’ Hannis, daughter Aagje, and son Piet, were arrested and all deported to Camp Vught. Aagje returned sick, and her brother Piet died in the camp. The Nazis transported Johannes Boogaard from Camp Vught to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. There, they gassed him to death on February 13, 1945.
Freddy Deen, who had been one of the people hiding on the farm, recalled, “The ‘Jew Farm’’ was once called out by the bus driver, then you have to get out of here. That was known.”
Sources
https://www.haarlemmermeermuseum.nl/05-verzet
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/artikel/moord-op-boerderij-de-zorg-maakt-einde-aan-onderduikplaats
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