William Arnold Eggers
Born
William Arnold Eggers

24 February 1900
Paramaribo, Suriname
Died2 March 1989(1989-03-02) (aged 89)
Leidschendam, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Occupationclerk

William Arnold Egger (24 February 1900 – 2 March 1989) was a Surinamese resistance fighter in the Netherlands during the Second World War.

Born in Paramaribo, Egger was the grandson of a slave. He moved to the Netherlands to pursue his education, where he married Engelina Jas, a Dutch Jewish woman from Amsterdam.[1] After graduating, they returned to Suriname, however the economy was depressed, and in 1935 the couple decided to go to the Netherlands, and settled in The Hague.[2]

During the Second World War, Engelina's father was arrested.[3] The Eggers hid 12 Jewish people in the cellar of the home, but the couple was betrayed to the Nazis. Egger and his wife were first sent to the prison in Scheveningen, and on to the concentration camps of Amersfoort, and Vught.[3] The couple survived their incarceration, but the Jews they sheltered did not. In 2014, Egger was posthumously by Israel's Yad Vashem awarded with the honor of Righteous among the Nations.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Suriname man honored for trying to save Dutch Jews". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. September 19, 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  2. ↑ "Derde uitgave van Surinaamse Rug Joodse Buik". Werkgroup Caraïbische Letteren (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  3. 1 2 "The Righteous Among the Nations Database". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 13 June 2020.


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