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Bep Voskuijl

Bep Voskuijl was an office worker at Opekta and one of the helpers of the people in hiding in the Secret Annex.

Person

Fotocollectie: Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam
  • Elisabeth Voskuijl
  • Born on: July 5, 1919
  • Born in: Amsterdam, Nederland
  • Died on: May 6, 1983
  • Died in: Amsterdam, Nederland

Bep Voskuijl, rond 1937

Fotocollectie: Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam

Status onduidelijk

Elisabeth (Bep) Voskuijl was born on 5 July 1919 in Amsterdam.[1] She is the eldest child of Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl and Christina Sodenkamp. After her, seven more children were born in the family: Johanna Christina, Wilhelmina Hendrika, Hendrika Petronella, Cornelia Margaretha, Johannes Hendrik, Gerda and Dina.[2]

At the time of Bep's birth, the Voskuijl family lived at 50 III Reinwardtstraat. In 1924 the family moved to Hilversum and returned to Amsterdam shortly before Bep's seventh birthday. During the war years Bep lived at Lumeijstraat 18 II, except for the period July '41 — May '43. Then she went to live with an aunt at Da Costakade 77 I.

After several other jobs, Bep joined Opekta in 1937 as Isa Cauvern's successor. She did all kinds of office work and, according to the reference letters 'OF/BV', typed Otto Frank's letters to the Dutch authorities about grandmother Holländer's admission. During the hiding period Bep was one of the helpers. Her father was also aware of the situation and built the bookcase that hid the entrance to the Secret Annex. Bep mainly arranged the delivery of milk through a delivery man of the Onderlinge Vereeniging van Veehouders. She also ate lunch with the people in hiding. Of all the helpers, she was the closest in age to the children in the Secret Annex. This was one of the reasons she had such good contact with Anne.

During those years, Bep was concerned about various things: her fiancé Bertus was verging on illegality and had to go to Germany for work. Her youngest sister Nelly worked at a German air base near Laon in the north of France. Both the fact that she was working for the Germans and the heavy bombing of this airfield caused the family great concern.

During the raid on 4 August 1944, Kleiman sent Bep with his wallet to Kollen's drugstore on Leliegracht. She managed to get away and did not show up at work for the rest of the day. After the war she worked at Opekta until she got married in 1946. After that, she kept her role in the hiding period as secret as possible. In 1972 Otto Frank applied for the Yad Vashem decoration for all the helpers, including Bep.[3]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Stadsarchief Amsterdam (SAA), Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Archiefkaarten (toegangsnummer 30238): Archiefkaart E. Voskuijl.
  2. ^ SAA, Dienst Bevolkingsregister, Gezinskaarten (toegangsnummer 5421): Gezinskaart J.H. Voskuijl.
  3. ^ Literature: Dineke Stam, 'Bep Voskuijl, the silent helper', in: Anne Frank Magazine 2001, p. 14-21; Aukje Vergeest, Anne Frank in the Secret Annexe: who was who?, Amsterdam: Anne Frank House, 2015; Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl & Jeroen De Bruyn, The last secret of the Secret Annex: the untold story of Anne Frank, her silent protector, and a family betrayal, New York, NY & London: Simon & Schuster, 2023; David Barnouw, Voskuijl, Elisabeth, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland, https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Voskuijl [09/01/2018]