Netherlands – On September 2, Amsterdam officials will name and dedicate Bridge 234 as the Pieter Meerburg Bridge in tribute to Pieter Meerburg who heroically saved 350 Dutch children from certain death during the Holocaust. The bridge is located about 200 yards from the Portuguese Synagogue and the Jewish Historical Museum.
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Historiek.net reports (http://bit.ly/OgqXcH) that Meerburg was a student in Amsterdam when the Nazis occupied the city in 1942. He directed the Amsterdam Student Group, a network of students who worked secretly to smuggle Jewish babies to safety across the Netherlands by adopting the babies out to foster parents. Female volunteers working with the group told prospective foster parents that the babies belonged to them, but that they wished to give their babies up for adoption because they were born out of wedlock.
In 1974, Yad Vashem recognized Meerburg as Righteous Among the Nations. Meerburg died in 2010.
Now that the mainstream Dutch are willing to honor a Holocaust hero among them, maybe they’ll take the next step and acknowledge the massive collaboration that made the annihilation of 85% of the Dutch Jews possible.