Gebruiker:Acitol/Kladblok

Petronella (Nel) Ketel (1890 - 1 januari 1972) was een Nederlands advocaat en verzetsstrijder. Zij was tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog voornamelijk actief de stad Utrecht, waar ze betrokken was bij het Utrechts Kindercomité.

1890-1 januari 1972

protestants

Utrechts Kindercomité: ongehuwde Utrechtse studenten van de door de bezetter gesloten universiteit

zij was natuurlijk geen student, want ze was al 50 tegen die tijd

Aan het begin van de bezetting richtte Ketel de kelder van haar huis in als werkplaats, waar ze samen met vrienden die in het verzet zaten identiteitskaarten vervalste. Daarnaast begon ze met het inzamelen van geld om in het onderhoud van ondergedoken Joden te voorzien. In de zomer van 1942 verraste ze Ger Kempe[link] met een grote donatie van 1600 gulden. Dit bedrag kon vele weken de kosten dekken van alle Joodse kinderen die het Utrechts Kindercomité hielp onderduiken.

In november 1942 konden Judith Allegro-Swelheim en haar echtgenoot na bezoek aan een ziek familielid in Utrecht niet terug naar hun woonplaats Almelo. Ketel verwees het echtpaar door naar Regina en Nim Landzaat, die niet twijfelden om ze in huis te nemen.

Het echtpaar bleef vijf maanden bij de zussen Landzaat, ze vertrokken alleen omdat de zussen een andere Joodse familie hadden beloofd om hun onderdak te bieden mocht dat nodig zijn. Deze familie bleef tot het einde van de oorlog bij de zussen Landzaat.

Judith Allegro-Swelheim

Utrecht, 23 oktober 1984, weduwe van Maurits Allegro

In November 1942, when Judith Allegro-Swelheim and her husband had visited a sick relative in the city of Utrecht and could not return to their home in Almelo, Overijssel, Nel Ketel* referred them to the Landzaat sisters, who did not hesitate to take them in. Regina and Nim Landzaat took very good care of the illegal guests, who remained with them for five months. Judith and her husband only left the sisters’ care because Nim and Regina had previously promised another Jewish family that they would shelter them if the need arose. This family remained with the Landzaat sisters until the end of the war.

Aan het einde van 1942 kreeg Ketel van Ger Kempe het verzoek om een onderduikplek te vinden voor Max Drukker, een Utrechtse student psychologie. Ketel overtuigde de zussen Korver

When the Germans invaded Holland, Max Drukker, a Jewish student of psychology, was working as a student assistant at the Criminological Institute of the University of Utrecht. During the occupation the secretary of the institute was a leading figure of the Utrecht Children’s Committee. Towards the end of October 1942, Max Drukker felt compelled to go into hiding. At first he stayed with various friends but eventually he was taken in by the Korver sisters. Clasina and Elisabeth (Lies) Korver ran a guesthouse while their other sister, Cathrina, was a head nurse living at the hospital in which she was employed. The Korvers refused to accept payment from Max, but as the guesthouse was their living he eventually persuaded them to accept a modest monthly payment. When the fugitives’ money ran out a monthly payment was arranged to the sisters via the underground. On one occasion, Lies was visiting a woman when the Germans unexpectedly appeared to search the place. With great presence of mind, she managed to telephone Clasina, who told Max to run to their neighbor’s house. Fifteen minutes later, the Germans arrived at the sisters’ guesthouse and carried out a thorough search, but found nothing. Max returned later that day. During the last two years of the war, Clasina, Lies, and Cathrina also took care of a number of other Jews temporarily. Among them was the Allegro family, who had stayed mostly with “Aunt Nel” but enjoyed the Korvers’ optimistic company once in a while.

Petronella Ketel, a lawyer and a key member of a Protestant Resistance group based in the city of Utrecht, concentrated her efforts on saving Jews from the Germans. Early on in the occupation, she turned the cellar of her two-story house into a workshop for forging identity cards together with her friends in the Resistance. In addition, she began to raise money for the maintenance of Jews in hiding. In the summer of 1942, she surprised Dr. Ger Kempe, a member of the Utrechts Kindercomité (UKC*, Utrecht Children's Committee), with a gift of the enormous amount of 1,600 guilders. This money covered the expenses of all the Jewish children hidden by the UKC for many weeks. In November 1942, when the Allegro-Swelheim family, who were visiting relatives in Utrecht, were unable to return home to Almelo, Petronella found them a hiding place with the Landzaat sisters (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations). At the end of 1942, Ger Kempe asked her also to find a hiding place for Max Drukker, a psychology student from Utrecht. Petronella convinced the Korver sisters (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations) to take him in, assuring them that she would provide false identity papers, ration cards, and whatever else was needed. Max would come and stay with Petronella whenever a house search was imminent and when the sisters went on holiday. In 1942, Petronella made contact with a number of Jewish women who were all being treated in the same ward of a Utrecht hospital, including Rosa Klausner.

She promised them that if it ever became necessary she would protect them. When, in the spring of 1943, they heard that the Germans intended to deport all Jewish hospital patients to the east, they immediately contacted Petronella. Despite the curfew, under cover of night, she took all seven women to her home, where they stayed with “Aunt Nel” for two years, until the end of the war. Rosa Klausner told Yad Vashem that in order to boost their morale, “Aunt Nel” made them dress up for meals, provided them with books and had them take English and French lessons. Klausner also described how their rescuer sold her jewelry and other valuables to buy food for her wards. The Germans became suspicious of Petronella’s activities and, as a result, there was often the threat of a house search. Each time, the women were taken temporarily to other addresses and then returned when the danger had passed. During the war, Petronella also provided temporary shelter to Jews searching for a more permanent place to hide, and she kept on searching for people who would shelter fugitives, finding, among others, the Haitsma family (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations), who took in Rosa Klausner’s children. On liberation, Petronella, who was very pious, gathered all the Jews that she had saved and organized a religious ceremony, thanking God for their salvation. She gave each person an envelope with money to help them re-establish their lives. On January 27, 1977, Yad Vashem recognized Petronella Ketel as Righteous Among the Nations.

Op 27 januari 1977 kreeg ze postuum

advoaat, financier van het Utrechts Kindercomité, Rechtvaardige onder de Volkeren (Yad Vashem)