About the residence of Johanna Bloch during the war.

The Address Book for Heerenveen Oranjewoud 't Meer en Terband (1938-1939) indicates that Ms. J. Bloch is without profession and that she lives at the address Schoolsteeg 4. That is indeed the house of Aron Smeer and his wife!

How did she get there? Let's take a source from about 10 years earlier. The Address Book for Heerenveen' het Meer, Nijehaske and Terband (1927).

We find Johanna here as a merchant woman at 'Dracht 364', but we also find an old acquaintance in the same source. Mr. Aron Smeer who still lives 'Achter de Dracht'.

So Aron and Johanna lived not far from each other. Other sources also mention the address Romkessteeg 6 as Johanna's address. Then she lived close to another well-known Salomon van Loon and his wife. We walk from Salomon's house to Johanna's address. Google maps tells me that the distance is 150 meters.

And who was Salomon married to again? With a sister of Aron (Jeltje van Loon-Smeer). A group of Jewish people connected to each other living in the same neighborhood. That district was completely overhauled in 1932 and Johanna Bloch found herself in trouble. She is old, not very rich and perhaps not so healthy anymore, and is at risk of becoming homeless. AOW does not exist yet!
So what should she do? Onto the streets? Into poor relief? Aron and his wife did not let that happen and decided to take her into their home in 1932 as an “emergency solution”. This “emergency solution” ultimately lasted 9 years until her death in 1941, when she was 84 years old!