Joop Westerweel

Joop Westerweel (25 January 1899, Zutphen – 11 August 1944, Vught) was a schoolteacher, a non-conformist socialist and a Christian anarchist who became a Dutch World War II resistance leader, the head of the Westerweel Group.

Westerweel, along with Joachim Simon and other Jewish colleagues, helped save around 200 to 300 Jews by organizing an escape route, smuggling Jews through Belgium, France and on into neutral Switzerland and Spain. He was arrested on 10 March 1944, after leading a group of Jewish children to safety in Spain, whilst on his way back to the Netherlands at the Dutch/Belgian border. He was executed at Herzogenbusch concentration camp in August 1944.

Legacy The Joop Westerweel Park in Israel was named in memory of Westerweel. Several streets in the Netherlands are named after Westerweel, in Heemskerk, Montfoort, Rotterdam, and Vlaardingen. In Amsterdam, a public primary school is named after Westerweel. Along with his wife, in 1964 Joop received the Yad-Vashem award.

Family The Dutch television presenter Bas Westerweel is Joop Westerweel's grandchild.