Jacob (Jaap) Nunes Vaz (20 September 1906 – 13 March 1943) was a Dutch journalist, writer, and editor. He was one of the main editors of ''

Het Parool ''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...

'', an illegal Dutch newspaper founded during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life

Jaap Nunes Vaz was born in Amsterdam on 20 September 1906 to Isaac Nunes Vaz and Daatje Kinsbergen. Isaac's father was of

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

ancestry and both of his parents were of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

ancestry. Jaap became a journalist once he graduated from school and joined the Onafhankelijke Socialistische Partij, a

revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the Netherlands. He held multiple jobs at different press agencies including Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau where he was a star reporter at the time of the German invasion. He was fired from his job in the fall of 1940 after the "Aryan Declaration".

Het Parool

Nunes Vaz hosted the first meeting of the Het Parool editorial board in his room on the Keizersgracht. He worked on the editorial board until he became the 5th executive editor, writing lead articles for the paper.

Death

On 25 October 1942, Nunes Vaz was arrested by the Gestapo after his hiding place was discovered in

Wageningen Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many t ...

. He was first sent to a convict prison in

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

nicknamed "Orange Hotel" but was eventually transferred to Sobibór extermination camp via

Westerbork Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, ...

where he was killed on 13 March 1943.

References

Dutch Ashkenazi Jews Dutch male writers Journalists from Amsterdam Resistance members from Amsterdam Dutch Sephardi Jews World War II resistance press activists Dutch Jews who died in the Holocaust Dutch civilians killed in World War II 1906 births 1943 deaths 20th-century Dutch journalists {{Netherlands-bio-stub