View source for Jaap Penraat

{{Short description|Dutch resistance fighter (1918–2006)}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Jaap Penraat
|image       = Jaap_Penraat.jpg
|alt         = 
|caption     = 
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|1918|04|11}}<ref name="nyt"/> 
|birth_place = [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands<ref name="nyt"/> 
|death_date  = {{Death date and age|2006|06|25|1918|04|11}}<ref name="nyt"/> 
|death_place = [[Catskill (town), New York|Catskill, New York]], US<ref name="nyt"/> 
|other_names = 
|known_for   = World War II [[resistance fighter]], helped Jews to safety
|occupation  = 
|nationality = 
}}
{{Righteous Among the Nations}}
'''Jaap Penraat''' (April 11, 1918 &ndash; June 25, 2006) was a Dutch [[Dutch resistance|resistance]] fighter during the [[Second World War]].<ref name="nyt">[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/nyregion/02penraat.html?ex=1151985600&en=a4353f3e47911b9e&ei=5087%0A ''New York Times'' "Jaap Penraat Dies at 88; Saved Hundreds in Holocaust" July 2, 2006]</ref>
== Life ==
Penraat was born in [[Amsterdam]], [[Netherlands]]. As a child, he helped Jewish neighbors by switching lights for them on ''[[Shabbat]]'', which they were forbidden to do. When the [[Nazis]] occupied The Netherlands and began acting against the Jews, Penraat was an [[interior designer]], [[architect]] and [[sculptor]] of tiles and statues. He started his resistance activities by forging identity papers for Jews, but was discovered and jailed for several months. Later he made over 20 trips smuggling a total of 406 Jewish people to safety from the Netherlands to [[Spain]] via [[France]] by using his forgery skills to convince the Nazis they were slave laborers for the [[Atlantic Wall]] on [[France]]'s coast. He lost only one man, who was hit by a train. Penraat was tortured by the Nazis, but revealed nothing about his operations. After his release, he continued his activities until 1944, when it became too risky to continue, and he spent the rest of the war hiding in a village, living on [[sugar beet]]s.<ref name="nyt"/>

After the war, Penraat became a noted designer in Amsterdam, until in 1958 he moved to the United States. In 1964, he designed the Dutch mill cafe, for the [[1964 New York World's Fair|New York World's Fair]].<ref name="nyt"/>

He remained silent about his wartime activities until his daughters convinced him that his grandchildren should know about them. He went on to describe his experiences to school groups. In subsequent interviews, he insisted he had only "done the decent thing". [[Yad Vashem]], the official Israeli memorial to victims of the Holocaust, awarded him the designation of [[Righteous Among the Nations]] and put him on its honor roll on June 11, 1988.<ref name="nyt"/>

A longtime friend of Penraat's, [[Hudson Talbott]], authored a children's book about Penraat's activities entitled ''Forging Freedom: A True Story of Heroism During the Holocaust''. Talbott said in an interview that Penraat "just loved the idea of putting one over on the Nazis".<ref name="nyt"/>

Penraat died at his home in [[Catskill (town), New York|Catskill, New York]] at the age of 88, three years following the death of his wife, Jettie. He is survived by his three daughters, Marjolijn, Mir, and Noelle.<ref name="nyt"/>

==References==
* ''Forging Freedom - A true story of heroism during the Holocaust'', by [[Hudson Talbott]]. New York, 2000.
<references/>

==External links==
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/nyregion/02penraat.html?ex=1151985600&en=a4353f3e47911b9e&ei=5087%0A ''New York Times'' "Jaap Penraat Dies at 88; Saved Hundreds in Holocaust" July 2, 2006] (registration may be required)
*[https://archive.today/20130706010246/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885897898&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull Jerusalem Post]
*[http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/righteousName.html?language=en&itemId=4016841 Jaap Penraat] at [[Yad Vashem]] website

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Penraat, Jaap}}
[[Category:Dutch resistance members]]
[[Category:Dutch architects]]
[[Category:Architects from Amsterdam]]
[[Category:Dutch Righteous Among the Nations]]
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Catskill, New York]]