Holocaust world war 2 Survivor Henry van den Boogard testimony coupled with real time historical testimony from Gaza holocaust world war 3

 

Henry van den Boogard holocaust survivor of Netherlands, Holland. The son of a newspaper printer I wanted to be a priest, I convinced my father to let me go to the seminary when I was 13 years old. I was ordained to priesthood during world war two, 1942 and I said my first mass in church when the mayor came secretly warning all the Jews to go into hiding. The priests and nuns of the church were helping all the Jewish people go into hiding, finding host families, getting travel and money, bringing food to the hiding places, getting false identifications. I brought many people to the border with Belgium where Father Fonse was working with a group to lead people over the border to escape. The leader of the resistance in the area was a Chaplin, not a Jew. Relatives of mine sought to escape the draft into the army service came to me for helping to go into hiding. I rode my bicycle only at night to bring everything which was needed for all of the people in hiding at different locations. We once rescued a ship filled with families which was waiting on the river to escape and had not any food. I led them to the border safe house and obtained the food needed. I got a few people, another couple, more and more and more. I never knew if they were Jewish or not. The Protestant church minister supplied us with ration cards for the people. We never travelled on train. We had a group of strong young boys who can ride the bicycle across the long distances all day and night. I had no more places to hide the people then I asked the pastor if I can use the parish hall, he relented and let me use it for the people. Very many people came to us in Netherlands because we were 1 mile from the German border and the townspeople knew of our workings, they formed a human network to help the people escape the holocaust. Many people escaped nearby factories and sought anyone nearby to help escape the plight in an area foreign to them. I never got caught. I never lost anybody. Families were living in holes so they couldn't be found. People knew their life was in danger for helping the escapees. Sometimes the Nazis came into the church, arrested all the men and deported them to concentration camps. The parishes working in the underground were always arrested in big groups. Many priests were arrested, many priests were sent to concentration camps. One priest I knew personally he was Polish, he is canonized and now considered a saint. His ashes reside now in the cathedral. I got to know many protestant ministers everyone was brought closer together.

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