The Jewish Woman Who Fought the Nazis: Bep Schaap-Bedak’s life during the Holocaust in Holland

The story of Riwka (Bep) Schaap-Bedak follows unexpected twists and turns during the Nazi occupation of Holland and the annihilation of Dutch Jewry. Bep graduated with a law degree from Leiden University in 1940. Being Jewish herself, and supported by her classmates, she was instrumental in helping more than 100 Jews go into hiding.

Her family’s Turkish nationality allowed them to escape persecution until October 1943, as the Nazis were anxious not to offend the Turkish government. Bep successfully used her legal knowledge to prevent the Nazis from obtaining control of her father’s movie theater in The Hague. After the confiscation in 1941 of movie theaters operated by Jews, the Bedak-run theater was the only one to remain under Jewish control until October 1943. Ultimately, Bep’s campaign to save Turkish Jews from deportation failed, resulting in the murder in Auschwitz of Bep’s parents at the direct instruction of Adolf Eichmann.

The book, quoting letters written to Bep during WWII, explores the emotional, psychological, and religious feelings of the persecuted Jews while hiding or imprisoned in Westerbork. The author, Bep’s son, puts the letters in the broader context of Jewish history.