Names mentioned in the story:
Jonnie - Marianne (Jonnie) Van Praagh – Van Der Eijk (1923 -2019)
Daughter of Solomon (Sallie) Anthonie van Praagh (1884-1961)
Max - Max van Praagh 1920-1944).
In 2010 I visited Jonnie at her house in The Hague. There, Jonnie told me the heroic stories of her parents and her family who, during the war, found a hiding place for many members of the Van Praagh family. Throughout the war years, the family supported three hiding places: the carpenter in The Hague, the farmer in Vlaardingen, and the greengrocer in Delft. Each hiding place and its story of heroism. Each place and its story of humanity and the tragedies that led to its bitter end.
In 1942, Jonnie and her sisters were taken out of school because they were required to help the family's economy. They worked in different jobs to support the family and the people in the hiding places. Jonnie worked as a secretary. From time to time, she rode her bike to the hiding places to get food stamps and to visit the people she loved very much.
The stories she has told me, lead to the Yad Vashem recognition of Petronella (Nel) Cornelia Blom in 2016: Yadvashem-Petronella Cornelia Blom. A video of her stories in English is available from me.
Jonnie also told me about the ring she got from Max before he and the family went into hiding:
... it turns out that Max liked Jonnie in a special way - sought her nearness – And so before he left for the hiding place in Delft, Max decided to give Jonnie the ring he had bought for her. He intended to give the ring at a more appropriate time, but since such a time was not in sight and even got further and further away, as more laws closed on the Jews. So, he decided to give it to her on the day he went hiding. It was a velvet green box. When Jonnie opened it she could see a very special green onyx ring. The onyx had one little red spot, like a freckle twinkling to her. Max never came back from the war.
From 1942 to 2012, Jonnie kept the ring among her belongings as a memory from the past, from Max. Now that she was about to celebrate her 90th birthday and after 70 years, she decided to give me the ring so that I could continue to treasure that moment. It's not just that, I was very moved by this special gesture. I felt that on that day I was receiving a greeting and דרישת שלום, from Uncle Max, whom I sadly never got to know.
by Diklah Geva (B:1960 Israel)