STUNNING RESCUE STORY SENT TO ME BY MY FRIEND GENE IN TEXAS

A reunion was held at Scheveningen, Holland on May 14, 2015.

The occasion was in memory of 46 men and women who some 75 years ago sought safety from the Nazi using a small boat named ZEEMANSHOOP. 

 

This is an amazing story.  My friend KAREL DAHMEN (a Dutchman) was one of the four students who helped those folks (Jewish) to safety.

Karel was also a novice officer in the Dutch Navy at the time.  They literally stole the boat on which they escaped Holland to go to England. 

 

Karel and I worked together at CONTINENTAL CARBON COMPANY in Houston for many, many years.  I count him as one of my closest friends today.  As you can see, I still am in touch with Karel.  At present, he is vacationing  in the Colorado Rocky Mountains where he has a second home.

His primary home is here in the Austin, TX area not far from me. 

 

If you have some time, take a gander through the following and read this very interesting event by clicking on the various links.

 

From: Karel Dahmen [mailto:karelrdahmen@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2015 5:20 PM

Subject: Reunion at Scheveningen on the 14 May 2015

If you were at the reunion of the families of the 46 men and women on the ZEEMANSHOOP in Scheveningen on the 14 May you will know what a wonderful day it was.  

 

Karel Dahmen and Loet Velmans recalled their memories of the day the ZEEMANSHOOP left for England 75 years ago and what it meant to them and were photographed aboard the restored lifeboat. We made brief trips round the harbour and Karel Dahmen took the helm just as he did on the 14 May 1940. The Mayor of The Hague and the British Ambassador spoke and Danny Verbaan signed copies of his book (in Dutch) about the voyage. 

 

The Royal Navy was represented by HMS TRUMPETER, the training ship of Cambridge University's Royal Navy Unit, and Radboud Hack, son of Harry Hack, the Captain of the ZEEMANSHOOP, thanked the Royal Navy for coming to their aid. Lt Chris Chew RN,  the CO of HMS TRUMPETER, was presented with a plaque recording the rescue of the passengers by HMS VENOMOUS. 

 

And if you were not able to be there you can read about it and see the photographs of Amke de Wiet, Michelle Henning and others - including myself - on this page: http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/anniversary2.html

 

A video of the event is being edited and details will be posted on the web page as soon as I receive them.

 

And if you have photographs complementing those on the web page please send them to me by e-mail.

 

 

The reunion was widely covered by the national press and television in the Netherlands and this led to me being contacted by a Dr Jenny Goldschmidt whose family were on the ZEEMANSHOOP.

 

Her aunt is still alive and you can read their stories on this page: http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/Engelandvaarders.html

 

 

This leaves only eight passengers untraced and the Association of Jewish Refugees in London will publish an appeal in the AJR Journal  for information about them:  

 

Jacob Meier ("a koopman in London"), Singer, the Arnheim family, the Czech P. Zajíček (P. Bunny in English) and Van Wezel.

 

See: http://www.ajr.org.uk/about

 

But perhaps you know of other organisations which might help trace their families?

 

 

Bill Forster

http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/Zeemanshoop.html


editor's note: please excuse extra yellow lines, formatting this was difficult!