Blauwkapelseweg 25

Johanna de Hes-Drukker was born in Amsterdam in the year 1880. She was single and apart from her parents I have not found any other relatives and I have not been able to find out what her profession was. On 11 November 1936, at the age of 56, she married the widower Leonard de Hes. For him this is a second marriage, his first wife Davida van Embden, died in 1933 in Zeist. On August 13, 1938, the Hes-Drukker couple from Zeist were the first residents to live at 25 Blauwkapelseweg in De Bilt. Leonard de Hes died on 13 Oct 1939 at the age of 65.

In 1941 the Jews in the Netherlands were increasingly restricted in their freedoms. A poignant and bizarre example of this can be found in the archive of our municipality. On April 22, 1942, a letter arrived from the secretariat of the Province to the municipal council. The letter reads: (I quote)

The German authorities inform me of the following. Then follows a text in German that I hereby translate

“ There is a park in the municipality of De Bilt, the so-called “Boetzelaarspark”.

At one entrance there is a sign saying “forbidden for Jews” at the other entrance no.

Jews are always walking in this park, including the Jodin de Hes-Drukker daily, who lives in De Bilt, Blauwkapelseweg 25. I will be very grateful if you would let the municipal council of De Bilt know that they too have to comply with the German regulations”

The letter then continues in Dutch with:

I will appreciate your opinion on the above. Signed by the Commissioner of the Province. When you read this, you also get a picture of snatchers who must have been walking around.

In mid-1942, the Jewish residents of the municipality of De Bilt were forced to move to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam they had to deal with more far-reaching freedom-restricting measures. After a call to report, after a house search or after a raid, Kamp Westerbork became the next station for them on the road to destruction.

That is how it went for Johanna de Hes-Drukker. On September 15, 1942 she moved to Amsterdam, Zuider Amstellaan 101. Zuider Amstellaan 101 was a pension where many Jews had their last address. The liberal Israelite family Wouthuijzen offered a pension there.

On February 10, 1943 she arrived in Westerbork and soon afterwards on February 16, 1943 she was deported to Auschwitz. Probably immediately after arrival on February 19, 1943, Johanna de Hes Drukker was murdered there in the gas chamber, aged 62.

The houses Blauwkapelseweg 23 and 25 were both in her possession and are being sold as forfeited property. Number 23 is sold on November 8, 1942 for 11,000 guilders and number 25 on April 30, 1943 for the same amount.

By laying this stumbling block and by telling the story, we want to contribute to ensuring that Joanna de Hes Drukker and the unimaginably great injustice that was done to her do not fade into oblivion.

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