Henk Drogt, Righteous Among the Nations from the Netherlands, will be posthumously honored at Yad Vashem on Monday September 22, 2008 for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

On March 9, 1943 the military police, Marechaussee, in Grootegast, Holland and its neighboring villages, received the order to arrest the remaining Jews of the area. At first, the policemen tried to argue with their superiors, but their commanders insisted and put pressure on their subordinates to comply with the order. The policemen stood firm and were subsequently arrested and taken to the Vught concentration camp. In 1988, all of them except one were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

Henk Drogt’s name was missing from the list submitted to the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous, because he had managed to escape arrest. It took another twenty years and the unexpected help of an EL AL pilot, Mark Bergman, in order to be able to complete the picture. The stories he heard from Drogt’s son, Henk Brink (Drogt), whom he met on one of his flights to South Africa, prompted Bergman to turn to Yad Vashem. Bergman along with El Al President and Chief Executive Haim Romano will attend the ceremony.

Following his escape, Henk Drogt joined one of the Dutch resistance groups. He was caught in the beginning of August 1943 and executed on 14 April 1944. Henk Drogt was a young man of 23 years old at the time of his arrest.

Over 22,000 individuals have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, including more than 4,800 people from Holland. For more information about the Righteous Among the Nations program click here.

(YWN Desk – NYC)