1938- 1940
Gerhard Wilhelmus Hospel was at an age of 40 years
The War had started, the Jews were evacuated to safety
Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
WW II started in Germany in 1939. The eradication of Jewish people had been going on prior to the start of the war. The Jews in the small city of Kleve had been fleeing the city and Germany at a rapid pace. It was a dangerous undertaking because the Nazis wanted to eradicate them rather than let them escape.
The citizens in Kleve were well aware of all the dangerous outcome if they were caught helping the Jews escape.
Anton Elshoff and Gerhard Hospel were friends from a long time ago, first in Germany then in the USA, and later back in Germany. Gerhard's farm was very close to the Dutch border and there was no rigid fence to go into Holland. So it was feasible to move people during the night into Holland. Anton and Gerhard knew that. They also trusted each other. So Anton had some contacts with the Jewish people in Kleve and during a discussion the proposal was made to smuggle the group across the border into Holland. It was a very clandestine plan to coordinate this and put the plan into action. Anton was a German, Gerhard was a Dutch citizen, he also spoke Dutch and the two worked it out in detail and with the best methods (hauling loads of hay and hiding people under it or some variation) that they had at hand. The details were never talked about with others. Not even I, at that time about 6 years old, knew about it. It was told to me by relatives of Anton Elshoff, during the a visit to Kleve, Germany.
The smuggling was so successful at the time that many other requests were made to do this again and again. It is not known how often the border was crossed to get the Jewish families into Holland. The Jews would move into Holland and hide or find ways to get into England.
The border became more patrolled and the operation became dangerous.
Since Gerhard was a Dutch Citizen, living in Germany, he was subject to severe penalties if caught. He asked Anton not to send anymore Jewish families because of the severe danger of getting caught in this smuggling operation. The borders were also patrolled more and the danger was too much. Life went on for both men and nobody ever talked or whispered about it. Only about 50 plus years later did the story come to my ears when visiting Anton Elshoff's daughter, Maria Elshoff. She told me and my wife, Barbara Brunhart-Hospel the moving of Jewish families across the German-Dutch border.
Johannes G Hospel
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