Hanneke Eikema (23 March 1925 – 15 April 2012) was a Dutch woman who, 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 ...

, helped ferry Jewish children to safety and assisted in the financial logistics of the Dutch resistance.

Biography

Eikema, the daughter of a Protestant minister who was himself involved with the resistance, was born in Benningbroek and grew up in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaand ...

. After she saw one of her classmates and the classmate's family get arrested and deported, she began ferrying Jewish children to safety in

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

(by train, and on the , the

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade w ...

- Stavoren ferry), under the nickname "Ellie". She joined the resistance proper in 1944 and, now named "Miep", became the personal courier for

Walraven van Hall Walraven "Wally" van Hall (10 February 1906 – 12 February 1945) was a Dutch banker and resistance leader during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. He founded the bank of the Resistance, which was used to distribute funds to ...

, leader and banker of the movement, entrusted with carrying large amounts of money and arranging meetings of senior resistance members. Following information obtained under torture from , who himself had been betrayed by the Dutch collaborator Johan van Lom, Eikema, along with van Hall and four other senior members of the resistance, was arrested on 27 January 1945 in Amsterdam, on the

Leidsegracht The Leidsegracht () is a canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is a cross-canal in Amsterdam-Center that connects Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht and Lijnbaansgracht and flows into the Singelgracht at Marnixstraat. History The Leid ...

. She was interrogated in the prison on the Amstelveenseweg, by Emil Rühl. Van Hall was executed a few weeks later, but Eikema survived the war. Eikema moved to Sweden, and married Frederick Rappe, a member of the nobility, with whom she emigrated to America. Her husband, a biochemist, got a job at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and they settled in the San Francisco Bay area, where she worked as an art teacher and ran a Dutch restaurant. Later the family (by then with four children) moved to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, and Eikema divorced her Swedish husband and married an American, Les Ippisch. She began a bed and breakfast, and gave lectures and wrote about her war experiences. She also wrote a number of books for children, including ''Sky: a True Story of Courage during World War II''; the title (''Sky'') was derived from the view of the sky from her prison window on the Amstelveenseweg. She died at age 87 of Alzheimer's disease, in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ippisch, Hanneke 1925 births 2012 deaths Dutch emigrants to Sweden Dutch emigrants to the United States Dutch memoirists Dutch resistance members Writers from Missoula, Montana People from Zaanstad Neurological disease deaths in Montana Deaths from Alzheimer's disease