News
British woman honoured by Yad Vashem for saving her Jewish friends from the Nazis
April 22, 2016 10:37
By, Rosa Doherty
1 min read
ByRosa Doherty, Rosa Doherty
A British woman who risked her life to save her Jewish friend from the Nazis during the Second World War has been honoured by Yad Vashem.
Dorothea Weber hid her friend Hedwig Bercu from German soldiers on Nazi-occupied Jersey for 18 months.
Hedwig, 24 at the time, had attempted to fake her own death to escape Nazi capture by leaving a suicide note and piled of clothes on a beach.
However, the Germans – who occupied the Channel Islands from June 1940 until May 1945 and required Jews to register with authorities – saw through the ruse and warned islanders that they would be “liable to punishment” if they were caught hiding her.
Cambridge University academic Gilly Carr launched her campaign to get Dorothea recognised last October and said she was “thrilled” to find out that Yad Vashem had named her Righteous Among the Nations.
Dr Carr said the news was "great for Jersey because her story is so unusual.”
Ms Weber is the second Channel Islander to receive the honour - Albert Bedane was awarded it in 2000 for sheltering Dutch Jew Mary Richardson.
Dr Carr said: “I thought I would have to wait for ages to get an answer and I would have to fight to get her recognised.
“I’m not the kind of person to give up I was prepared to keep going till it happened but I didn’t have to do anything apart from submit the evidence I’d gathered together.”
She said: “If Dorothea had been caught, it is likely that she would have been sent to a concentration camp – as would Hedwig.”
She added: "'It is quite possible that Dorothea could have been outcast by friends and family. In 1941 she married Anton Weber, an Austrian baker who was forcibly drafted into the German army.
"Dorothea could have been seen as a 'jerry bag', the derogatory name for women who consorted with German soldiers.
"Her reputation would not have been helped by the occasional presence at her house of Kurt Ruemmele, a German soldier who was sweet on Hedwig Bercu, and who smuggled food to the two women after Hedwig went into hiding."
Karen Pollock, Chief executive of The Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “We are delighted to hear that Dorothea Weber is to be recognised as Righteous Among the Nations.
“Dorothea’s actions in Nazi-occupied Jersey saved a Jewish life – she is a powerful reminder not only of the importance of standing up in the face of adversity but also of the direct connection this country has to the Holocaust.
“This is well deserved recognition of a courageous woman.”
