Update (4.29.20):  Video Call with Yad Vashem Honorees

The Yad Vashem award ceremony scheduled for April 20, 2020 in The Hague was postponed, due to the corona virus and global health concerns.  However, on April 19, 2020, honorees and their extended families were able to join an unofficial video call. More than 100 people from five continents joined the call.  Speakers on the call included Abraham Staal’s children (Lorri Staal and Levi Staal), his first cousin, Jack Hartog, and representatives from three families being honored: Andre Siraa (grandson of the Keijzers), Arnoud Rook and Aart van den Brink. You can watch a recording of the call by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Update (2.26.20): The Yad Vashem Application is Granted

As noted below, in September 2016, Lorri Staal submitted an application to Yad Vashem to honor two Dutch families (Keijzers and Rooks) who hid and saved Abraham Staal during the Holocaust. During the review process, additional research was undertaken and, through the tremendous efforts of local historians and Yad Vashem, the application expanded to include five additional families described in the application, but whose whereabouts were previously unknown. In 2019, Yad Vashem granted the application and recognized the following people as Righteous Among the Nations:

1. Frederik & Sophia Martina Keijzer (Bink)
2. Barend & Willempje Aarts (Ravesloot)
3. Rinske van den Brink (van Wier) and Aart van den Brink (already honored)
4. Anton & Bernardina Wilhelmina Rook (Aal) and son, Anton Rook.
5. Aalt J. van den Berg

Photographs of the people being honored are posted on the “Pre-WWII Photos” tab of this website and here.

On January 27, 2020, a related ceremony was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Aart van den Brink, whose grandparents hid Abraham Staal for about nine months, attended a ceremony at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre in South Africa.  At the ceremony, Yad Vashem honored his grandmother, Rinske van den Brink (van Wier), as Righteous Among the Nations for her role hiding Any during the Holocaust.  Aart’s grandfather was previously honored by Yad Vashem (Aart was unaware of this until Yad Vashem did research in connection with the 2016 application). Here is a link to an article about the event.  Even though the van den Brink family already received their award from Yad Vashem, Aart and his wife intend to be at the ceremony in The Hague in April. 

The Ceremony in Den Haag in April, 2020

A ceremony will be held in The Hague (Den Haag) in April 2020, during which the Israeli Ambassador will present medals and certificates to each of the individuals listed above. Nearly 100 descendants and friends of these families are coming from literally around the world to The Hague to participate in this auspicious ceremony. Words cannot express our gratitude to these families, to Yad Vashem, the Embassy and to everyone involved in helping us find and connect with these families and to whom we owe everything. Please see below for more information about the application and the journey of finding and connecting with each family

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Creating this Website in 2016

I decided to create this website after an amazing trip to the Netherlands in July 2016, when I met two families who were critical to saving my father.

Growing up, my father rarely spoke about the war. I first learned about his experience when I watched his interview through Steven Spielberg’s “Shoah” oral history project in 1998.

Then, in January 2016 (70 years after the war), I received an email out of the blue from Dr. André Siraa, in which he said that his grandparents were Frederik and Sophia Martina Keijzer, the couple who hid my father’s family in their farmhouse in Ermelo, the Netherlands. After all these years, this was the first time that I had received any communication from families who knew my father during the war. After many emails and phone calls, I learned more details about what had happened in Ermelo.  I eventually got in touch with Mr. Anton Rook, Jr., who had befriended my father in Ermelo and secretly hid him in his own bedroom. After discovering that André, his daughter Tanya, and Mr. Rook would all be in the Netherlands in July, 2016, I traveled there with my daughter, Hannah, to meet them. It was a miraculous visit.

In September 2016, I applied at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Israel, to honor the Rooks and Keijzers as Righteous Among the Nations.  For a more detailed narrative about my father’s life, and our gathering in Ermelo in July 2016, please see the Yad Vashem Application I submitted.  I have been advised by Yad Vashem that the review process takes a number of months and a decision is expected by approximately April 2017.

— Lorri Staal, September 2016