![\"Trouwfoto](\"https:\/\/orgelzolders.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Trouwfoto-Rebecca-Maurice-184x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMeijer and Ida<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Meijer and Ida Kool, Maurice\u2019s parents, owned a textile shop on the Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam. Because they, as Jews, were not allowed to run a business anymore, they also decided to go into hiding. After an unsuccessful attempt elsewhere, they also ended up in the organ attic. During the day the refugees were sometimes downstairs, but for most of the time they were in the attic, where it was very cold in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chaim and Fifi<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Six months after the arrival of Meijer and Ida, two more people were sheltered in the attic on the other side of the organ: the pharmacist Chaim and his wife Fifi de Zoete. Their three daughters were placed in other safe houses. Hadassah, one of the girls, was placed with the Van der Leer family, who attended the Breeplein Church services every Sunday. The Brillenburg Wurth family (Reverend and his wife) ensured that Fifi and Chaim could see their daughter after the service, without Hadassah realising that this was happening. They all hoped there would be a reunion, some day in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to the Resistance in Rotterdam, there was enough to eat for all the refugees as also for all the people helping and protecting them. Rebecca was pregnant and in the beginning of January 1944 she delivered a son. The Surinamese ophthalmologist Dr. Leo Lashley, de reverend\u2019s wife Gerda Brillenburg Wurth and the nurse Riet Dekkers assisted Rebecca during the childbirth. The baby son was named after his grandfather and the sexton but was generally called Emile. To protect everyone\u2019s safety, the baby spent most of the time in the sexton\u2019s house, where his mother came as often as she could to be with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Annie, the sexton\u2019s daughter, came with her husband and their seven-month-old baby to live with her parents after the razzia of the 10th and 11th of November 1944, as a front for the young Emile. Should the neighbours hear a baby cry or crown with pleasure, it would be a normal sound; not anything especially remarkable. In 2015, inspired by the story of the refugees in the Breeplein Church, the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, wrote an essay titled Dreams and Deeds (Droom en Daad in Dutch). He wrote it for \u201cthe Month of History\u201d. In it he makes a case for the need for trust and tolerance. He writes: \u201cTo nurture trust and tolerance, it is necessary to have perseverance, discipline and heroic courage. As also have tolerance and trust in others. One needs to this because one cannot do it alone.\u201d The essay was published on 1 October 2015 and costs \u20ac 7,50. The proceeds go fully towards the establishment of the Organ Attics museum. The book can be bought after completing the guided tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Chaim](\"https:\/\/orgelzolders.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/chaim-fifi-1927-218x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEnough to eat and\u2026 a baby<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/orgelzolders.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/oude_foto_retouche_A4-2-200x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSurvived!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There was a raid on the 14th of April 1945, in which the sexton was arrested there was a real threat of the refugees being discovered. \u2018Even if they beat him to death, my husband would never betray you\u2019 said the sexton\u2019s wife determinedly; and indeed, he did not. The Netherlands was liberated three weeks later and all of the people in hiding were safe and free\u2026 everyone survived the War.
The story of the Organ Attics is one of wonder and lucky coincidences, courage and hope, a story with a happy ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDreams and Deeds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Boek](\"https:\/\/orgelzolders.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ahmed-aboutaleb-droom-en-daad-164x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWho knows more about the War years?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n