Peter Termaat and Jacob Balder
Holland

Peter and Jacob belonged to a thirteen-member Dutch resistance unit during WWII. By definition, their activities were marked by stealth and secrecy. Piecing together bits of available information gives us a story about this unusually brief relationship between rescuers and the rescued. In October of 1943, Peter and Jacob were given an assignment to find and bring to safety a young Jewish couple. The couple's confinement-was in a place known as the closed province of Gelderland. Ten hours after their rescue journey began they were safely hidden in Amsterdam.

At the end of WWII the couple was drawn back to the place of their dramatic rescue. They especially wanted to locate the two men who had successfully taken them to safety. Above all, they wished to thank them for getting them past the German sentries and the curious bystanders who might have compromised the rescue operation. They were able to express their gratitude to Peter. Unfortunately, Jacob and eleven other Dutch resistance fighters had been executed by the occupying forces on July 14, 1944. This latter day encounter between rescued and rescuer filled an identity gap. Peter had never been told the names of the people he had helped to rescue.

When WWII ended, Peter chose not to live in Holland. He and his wife, Adrianna, moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan.