Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer

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Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer, known as Truus, was a Dutch social worker and resistance fighter who helped save thousands of Jewish children before and during World War II. She was born on April 21, 1896, in Alkmaar, Netherlands, and died on August 30, 1978, in Amsterdam. She married Joop Wijsmuller in 1922 and devoted much of her life to helping people in need.

As antisemitism grew in Europe, Truus began organizing transports to bring Jewish children to safety. In 1938, after Kristallnacht, she helped move children from Germany and Austria to the Netherlands or Britain. On December 10, 1938, she evacuated 600 children from Vienna to the Dutch coast, with many of them eventually going to Britain. Over the following years she organized many more transports, mainly to Britain, and she played a key role in the broader Kindertransport effort. In total, she helped about 10,000 Jewish children reach safety.

Truus worked with a wide network of volunteers and organizations across several countries, coordinating travel documents, sending supplies, and arranging places to stay. She carried essential items and always prepared for last‑minute travel, earning a reputation as a fearless organizer who could get things done.

During the war, she also helped other refugees and worked with the Amsterdam orphanage Burgerweeshuis to shelter children. She built up strong connections with aid groups, Red Cross ambulances, and resistance networks, and she continued to assist people even as the war became dangerous. She was briefly imprisoned by the Nazis in 1942 but was released.

After the war, Truus served on the Amsterdam city council from 1945 to 1966 and worked on many social projects. She helped found the Anne Frank House in 1957 and played a major role in converting a sanatorium into a general hospital. For her lifesaving work, she was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

Truus Wijsmuller-Meijer is remembered as a brave, practical woman with a big heart for children. In Amsterdam she was affectionately called Tante Truus (Auntie Truus) and a “steamroller” for her determination. She kept in touch with many of the children she saved for the rest of her life. She passed away in 1978, leaving a legacy of courage, compassion, and tireless humanitarian work.