Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury (also Betty Boeke, Beatrice Boeke, Beatrice Cadbury; April 28, 1884 – February 13, 1976) was an English-Dutch social activist, educator, and

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

missionary. For her work educating and hiding Jewish children during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, she was posthumously recognized as one of the

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

Life

Early life

Born to

Richard Cadbury Richard Barrow Cadbury (29 August 1835 – 22 March 1899) was an English entrepreneur, chocolate-maker and philanthropist. He was the second son of the Quaker John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company. Together with his ...

and Emma Richard Cadbury (née Wilson), and an heiress to the Cadbury chocolate fortune, Cadbury was raised in an ascetic Quaker household. She was educated at

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

in London. She was involved in the Friends' Foreign Mission Association (FFMA), which is how she met her future husband, Cornelius "Kees" Boeke. They married on December 19, 1911.^:3 Between 1912 and 1914 they served as Quaker missionaries in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

.^:3,

Pacifism

With the outbreak of World War I, the couple returned to England; Boeke taught briefly before being fired for his

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

views and public protests against

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

and war, for which he was imprisoned and later, in 1918, deported to the Netherlands. During the 1920s, the young couple protested against

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

with

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

and other left-wing radicals.^:39 The couple had eight children between 1912 and 1927. They resigned from the Religious Society of Friends during the 1920s, though Beatrice returned to the faith late in her life.

Cadbury fortune

Throughout the couple's lives, Boeke-Cadbury's inheritance financed their educational organizations and other endeavors, though this was indirect.^:3 In 1921, the couple relinquished their

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

and bonds because of their

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...

views, but friends, in consultation with the workers' council at the Cadbury factory, who supported the couples' activism, set up a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

to fund their family and work. In 1922, Boeke-Cadbury transferred many of her shares to Cadbury workers. Boeke himself refused to pay taxes because of governmental military spending, which led to economic uncertainty throughout their lives. The couple also did not recognize

property ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

, which led to several

evictions Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgage ...

Education reform

''Werkplaats''

Due to their refusal to pay money to the state, their children could not attend state-sponsored education, including the

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

school in which they were enrolled, so the Boekes founded their own school in 1926. This school was the ''Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap'' (Workshop Children's Community) in Bilthoven.^:45, Boeke-Cadbury also taught

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

at the school.^:4

Resistance

In 1938, the school began offering classes for German-Jewish refugee children fleeing from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. After the Nazis ordered the

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...

of schools in the Netherlands in 1941, Boeke-Cadbury wanted to close the school, but her husband convinced her that they would be able to make more of a difference if it remained open. Boeke-Cadbury taught at a private Jewish school in

Loosdrecht Loosdrecht () is a town in the municipality of Wijdemeren, North Holland, the Netherlands, with a population of about 8,600 inhabitants. Loosdrecht consists of two small villages: Nieuw-Loosdrecht and Oud-Loosdrecht. Nieuw Loosdrecht covers a ...

. In the fall of 1942, Boeke-Cadbury and her husband began hiding nine-year-old Norman Magnus and his six-year-old sister Anita; the children had false papers with false identities; they, and later, two of their sisters, remained with the Boeke family until 1944, when they rejoined their parents in hiding in Limburg. During the time the children were staying with them, Boeke and other members of the school were arrested and questioned; two of their employees were murdered by the regime, but no one gave away the children.

Postwar life

Dutch princesses

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "bles ...

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United Stat ...

and Margriet attended the ''Werkplaats'' after the war.^:5, In the 1950s, the couple moved to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

to set up an international organization for the education of Arab refugees, but they quickly returned to the Netherlands when Boeke-Cadbury fell ill.^:5,

Honours

In June 1991, a portrait bust of Boeke-Cadbury by Fokke de Hoog was created for a reunion of the ''Werkplaats''. On July 4, 1991,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

recognized Boeke-Cadbury and her husband as

. They are commemorated on the Wall of Honor.

Works

* Kees Boeke and Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury, ''Staat of gemeenschapsleiding: een persoonlijke brief aan onze vrienden, om te verklaren hoe wij er toe zijn gekomen, ons te onttrekken aan den staat'' 'State or community leadership: a personal letter to our friends, explaining how we came to withdraw from the state''(1922). * Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury, ''Het leven van Kees Boeke'' 'The Life of Kees Boeke''(Purmerend: Muuses, 1971). ** Republished with the same title: ''Het leven van Kees Boeke'' (Bilthoven: De Bron, 2003).

References

External links

Archive of the Archief Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap (Bilthoven)
at the

Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figur ...

*
Inventory to their archive
** 1972 oral histor
record
(not digitized) {{DEFAULTSORT:Boeke-Cadbury, Beatrice English Quakers Dutch Quakers Dutch anti-war activists Dutch educators Dutch women educators Dutch women activists Quaker socialists Dutch Christian pacifists 1884 births 1976 deaths British Righteous Among the Nations Dutch Righteous Among the Nations