Trijntje Reinders (Tine) Sieswerda

Honored as a "Righteous Among The Nations" at the Yad Vashem in Israel.

See story in Tine's mothers profile.

Sieswerda FAMILY Sieswerda Afke (1886 - 1968)    Sieswerda Tine (1913 - 1944 ), DAUGHTER  

Rescue Story

Sieswerda, Afke & Tine The newly married couple Levie and Adelheid (van der Heijden) de Swaan hid with Afke Sieswerda and her daughter, Tine, from November 13, 1943, until the liberation on April 16, 1945. It was Harry Asscher who found this hiding place through his contact Bouke Koning* of the Westerweel* group. On the Sieswerdas’ remote vegetable farm in Witmarsum, Friesland, the de Swaan couple met Irmgard (Ida) Schlabowski (later Mirjam Krämer-Schlabowski). Ida had arrived from Loosdrecht in 1942, where she had been preparing for aliyah. Despite the isolation of the farm, the Germans were always mounting house searches, on the lookout for young Dutch farmers to send to work in Germany. Tine Sieswerda, an anthroposophist, motivated by her liberal beliefs and an innate humanism, rescued many Jews. In addition to Ida and the de Swaan couple, she gave temporary shelter to others. Sometimes there were as many as five Jews crammed into her tiny house. She received no remuneration other than small sums of money and ration cards from the Resistance. In 1944, Tine Sieswerda fell ill and had to undergo an operation. She died in 1944. After her death, the de Swaans said that they would look for another hiding address but Afke said that after losing her only daughter and despite the terrible risk, “What Tine and I started, I want to finish right.” After the war, the de Swaans maintained a warm friendship with Afke, as did Ida. On March 19, 1968, Yad Vashem recognized Afke Sieswerda and her daughter, Tine Sieswerda, as Righteous Among the Nations