Jan and Boukje Jeninga
Holland

The home of Jan and Boukje was one of several select houses of refuge for Jewish children established by the Dutch Resistance. Amsterdam was the gathering point for Jews before they were sent to concentration camps. With parental approval and by various ruses, children were separated from their families to be sheltered and cared for in places such as the Jenninga household. It is difficult to imagine the enormous amount of trust parents must have had to give up their children under such circumstances and the pain suffered by all upon separation.

One of the children sent to the Jeninga home was five-year-old Stella Lenz-Barendse. In addition to Stella there was a teen-age boy, a two-year-old girl and an infant. The remarkable thing about this was that Jan and Boukje already had 10 children of their own. Stella remained with the Jeninga family for four years after the end of WWII. She then moved to the house of a family that had rescued her sister. The other members of her family did not survive the ordeal of the concentration camp.

Except for one son, all members of the Jeninga family immigrated to the United States.