Yvonne Feyerick Nèvejean (1900 - 1987) was one of the leaders of an organisation that helped hide Jewish children in

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

-occupied

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

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 opposing ...

. She was instrumental in hiding about 4000 children, many with Catholic families and institutions. After the war she was honoured inside and outside Belgium. In 1965, she was designated as

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 sa ...

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 ...

, 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; ...

Remembrance Authority in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, and in 1996 a stamp was issued in Belgium bearing her image. Born on November 15, 1900, in Gentbrugge, Nèvejean studied at the University of Ghent (Gand) and then in the USA where she was awarded a Master of Arts in Social and Political sciences at New York State University . After her return to Belgium in 1928, she started to work at the National Agency for Children (''Oeuvre Nationale de l'Enfance; ONE''), an organization that operated a network of children's homes throughout Belgium. She subsequently rose to head this organisation. The

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

began to deport Belgian Jews in the summer of 1942. At that time Nèvejean was approached by the ''Comité de Défence des Juifs en Belgique'', Belgium's main Jewish underground organization (founded in 1942 by :fr:Hertz Jospa), and asked to rescue Jewish children separated from their parents. Acting essentially on her own, Nèvejean agreed to have ''ONE'' place children with families and in institutions in order to protect them. Ultimately, she saved the lives of some 4,000 Jewish children. The Jewish underground financed Nèvejean's extensive rescue operation, but when their funds were not sufficient, Nèvejean found funding from banks and from the London-based Belgian government in exile and the Joint (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee). The

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

tried to stop Nevejean's operations, and arrested some rescuers and rescuees, but they were generally unsuccessful due to the brave stand made by Nèvejean and other Belgians, such as the Queen Mother Elizabeth and Leon Platteau of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, also designated "Righteous Among The Nations" by Yad Vashem. A Belgian priest, Father Joseph André, of Namur was also prominent in this movement.

References

* Mordechai Paldiel, ''

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust The ''Encyclopedia of the Holocaust'' (1990) has been called "the most recognized reference book on the Holocaust". It was published in an English-language translated edition by Macmillan in tandem with the Hebrew language original edition pu ...

'', New York: Macmillan, vol. 3, pp. 1059–1060. Photo * Maxime Steinberg
''L'Etoile et le Fusil''
(1986) Bruxelles: Vie Ouvrière, tome 3, pp. 103–105

External links

– her activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

website 1987 deaths Belgian Righteous Among the Nations 1900 births People from Ghent Belgian women {{Jewish-hist-stub