Henriëtte Pimentel

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Henriëtte Henriquez Pimentel (born April 17, 1876 in Amsterdam ; died September 17, 1943 in Auschwitz ) was a Dutch resistance fighter against the German occupation of her country during the Second World War . She ran the crèche for Jewish children across from the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam and, together with other resistance activists, saved the lives of around 600 children.

biography

Henriëtte Pimentel was the youngest of 13 children in a wealthy Portuguese-Jewish family. Five of her siblings died as infants. Her parents were Nathan Henriquez Pimentel (1837-1893), a non-religious diamond cutter , and Rachel Oppenheimer (1841-1929). On November 14, 1899, she married Samuel Rodrigues Pereira in Amsterdam. The marriage was childless and divorced in 1916.

Pimentel received training in a kindergarten and as a nurse . In the 1920s she worked as a kindergarten teacher and governess in Bussum . In 1926 she became director of the Vereeniging Zuigelingen-Inrichting en Kindertehuis , founded in 1906 by Jewish benefactors , which had been located at Plantage Middenlaan 31 since 1924. The crèche was open to children of all denominations and was led by Pimentel according to the progressive educational principles of Maria Montessori and Friedrich Froebel . Pimentel herself - "a little woman with short-cut gray hair" - lived in the same house: "Anyone who knew her better knew that behind her strict appearance there was a big heart for 'her' children and the nursing staff."

After the occupation of the Netherlands by the German Wehrmacht , Henriëtte Pimentel had to fire her non-Jewish employees. Three months after the deportation of Jewish people from the Netherlands began , around October 1942, the crèche was converted into a branch of the Hollandsche Schouwburg by order of the Germans : From now on, the children of the Jews imprisoned there were sent to the Westerbork transit camp before they were deported housed in the crib. Pimentel and her staff were now officially employed by the Amsterdam Jewish Council and temporarily protected against deportation. Pimentel was determined to look after the children who stayed there in the best possible way and to save them if possible.

Together with Walter Süskind , member of the Judenrat and their contact person in the Schouwburg, Henriëtte Pimentel developed a plan at the end of 1942 to protect children from the crèche from deportation. With the consent of the parents and after falsifying the transport lists of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration - children of theirs were allowed to "disappear" - child workers ("child helpers") smuggled the children outside in bags, rucksacks and baskets. From April 1943, this also happened through the neighboring Hervormde Kweekschool , whose director Johan van Hulst Pimentel supported her project. Around 600 children were saved, many of whom survived the war.

On July 23, 1943, the day care center was unexpectedly cleared by the Germans. All children and their carers, including Pimentel with her dog Brunie , were transported to the Westerbork camp. There Henriëtte Pimentel made plans to set up a new day care center after the war. After a few weeks in Westerbork, Pimentel was deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered on September 17, 1943. Three of her sisters (Grietje, Klara and Eva) were also victims of the Holocaust .

memory

Name plate on the Henriëtte Pimentelbrug in Slotermeer

In 1946 the board of directors of the Vereeniging Zuigelingen-Inrichting en Kindertehuis named the kindergarten in honor of Henriëtte Pimentel in Huize Henriëtte , which from 1950 was located in a new building in Sarphatistraat (No. 26). The facility was closed in 2006 because the old building was no longer suitable for this purpose. The Nationaal Holocaust Museum is being built in the former building of the Hervormden Kweekschool opposite the Schouwburg .

In 2016 a bridge (No. 603) in the Amsterdam district of Slotermeer was named Henriëtte Pimentelbrug .

In the 2011 film Süskind by Rudolf van den Berg , actress Olga Zuiderhoek played the role of Henriëtte Pimentel. For her portrayal of Pimentel she received the Dutch film award Gouden Kalf for best supporting actress in 2012 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Henriëtte Pimentel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Marie-Cécile van Hintum: Pimentel, Henriëtte Henriquez (1876-1943). In: resources.huygens.knaw.nl. Retrieved January 21, 2020 (Dutch).
  2. ^ Beuys, Leben mit dem Feind , p. 258.
  3. ↑ Henriette Pimentel. In: joodsmonument.nl. Accessed January 21, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ Huize Henriëtte sluit hair poorten - Nieuws. In: joods.nl. September 26, 2006, accessed January 21, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Vijf krijgen verzetsheldinnen brug in Slotermeer. In: parool.nl. May 3, 2016, accessed January 21, 2020 (Dutch).
  6. ↑ Olga Zuiderhoek. In: De Wereld Draait Door. BNNVARA - Tav afdeling Research & Development, January 26, 2006, accessed January 21, 2020 (Dutch).
personal data
SURNAME Pimentel, Henriëtte
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pimentel, Henriëtte Henriquez (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH September 17, 1943
Place of death Amsterdam