Modest war heroine Kieks was fighter with Dutch Resistance
Dutch women Kieks Scott in Largs, North Ayrshire, 03 FEB 2012 See Full Story Kieks Scott celebrates her 90th Birthday, but she spent her youth as part of an elite fighting force in the Dutch Resistance, dodging bullets, hiding crucial supplies from the Nazis and helping hide fleeing Jewish families from the clutches of the feared Gestapo..
MODEST Bearsden woman Grietje Scott wouldn’t call herself a war heroine - but without a doubt she is one of the bravest people you could ever meet.
Her shy smile hides an incredible past - when she risked her own life to save others during the Second World War.
Grietje (90), who has since raised four children in Westerton with her husband Archie, was a member of an elite fighting force in the Dutch Resistance.
She dodged bullets, took supplies from the Nazis and hid fleeing Jewish families from the dreaded Gestapo in Nazi-occupied Holland.
Despite being recognised for her bravery in 1978 with a medal from the Israeli organisation Yad Vashem, Grietje kept her heroism a secret until her 90th birthday which she celebrated in January this year.
The grandmother of three, known as ‘Kieks’, said: “I just did what I had to do. I wouldn’t call myself a hero.
“It was a very difficult time, I was so traumatised by it that I couldn’t talk about it for 40 years.
“When the Jews arrived on our doorstep we thought the war would end in six months. Once they came we did our best to protect them, sharing our food and doing whatever we had to keep them and us safe.
“I’m just glad I could do something good.”
Kieks Okma was 17 when war broke out in 1939, living in the suburbs of The Hague with her mother Truida, older sisters Truida, Ella, Trientje and Martha and brothers Willem, Ruurd and Douwe. Her dad Dirk had died before the war in what was thought to have been a polio epidemic.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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