Breeplein Church
The Breepleinkirche ( Dutch Breepleinkerk ) in Rotterdam serves a Reformed congregation within the Protestant Church in the Netherlands . The church is located between the Randweg and Breeweg, which are connected by the Breeplein square.
history
The church was built from brick in the neo-renaissance style from 1930 to 1931 . The foundation stone was laid on October 25, 1930 and a year later, on November 5, 1931, it was inaugurated. It contains a church organ manufactured in 1931 by the van Leuwwen company and has 1051 seats. The church was built for the strictly reformed, reformed parish . In 2008 it merged with the local Reformed congregation to form the Protestant parish Rotterdam-Zuid and is now part of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.
Second World War
In the church was during the Second World War the hospital Zuider evacuated. During the battle for Waalhaven airfield in May 1940, the hospital was too close to the front. For this reason, the patients were transferred to an improvised hospital in the Breepleinkerk. The cross and the letters "HOSPITAAL" can still be seen on the outside wall of the church.
Hiding place for persecuted Jews
In 1942 a newly wed Jewish couple reported to the church and asked for accommodation so that they could hide from the Germans. The sexton and his wife took them in. The sexton cut a hole in the attic behind the organ, creating a hatch. The family hid in this room, originally assumed to be six weeks, but they were supposed to stay there for 34 months. After a while, another family who lived on the edge of the road where the church is located turned to the pastor. They too needed a hiding place, and the priest asked the sexton if they could hide the family in the church. The sexton agreed, but had to admit that a family had already gone into hiding there, because the pastor hadn't known about it at all. The sexton sawed another hatch in the attic on the other side of the church, and the second family hid there. However, the parents had to place their children in foster families because the children could have made noise. In the first family, a baby was born in hiding in 1944, which was raised by the sexton's daughter, who had previously returned to the parental home especially for this purpose. She had just become a mother herself, so it was not noticed when a child was crying. The “illegal” child was only allowed to enter the garden and the church, while the biological child of the sexton's daughter could move freely outside.
Three weeks before the end of the occupation, the Germans broke into the church. An interrogator had stated that there were weapons in the church. During a search, however, the soldiers found nothing. A person hiding was playing a game with the sexton at that moment and could only hide under the sexton's bed. However, the soldiers were so fixated on weapons that they overlooked everything else. Accordingly, the people in hiding were not found. The liberation was celebrated three weeks later, and these two families were also free again.
On November 5, 2011, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb unveiled a plaque on the church. Then the events of the war years are remembered. Aboutaleb also wrote an essay about it. In 2017, Anja Matser also published a book in which this story is told in detail. A translation into German is in preparation.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anja Master: De Orgelzolders . Wist U Dat ... Uitgeverij, Rotterdam 2017, ISBN 978-94-92047-08-3 , pp. 23 .
- ^ Protestantse gemeente Rotterdam-Zuid
- ↑ Ahmed Aboutaleb: Droom & daad . Amsterdam 2015, ISBN 978-90-5965-324-5 .
- ↑ Anja Matser: De Orgelzolders . Wist U Dat ... Uitgeverij, Rotterdam 2017, ISBN 978-94-92047-08-3 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 53 ′ 26.9 " N , 4 ° 30 ′ 46.7" E