Old St Victor’s Church
Ies and Miriam Spangenthal, a Jewish couple from Amsterdam, went into hiding in the Protestant St Victor’s Church in 1943 and 1944. The couple had fled Amsterdam and found shelter in this church in Batenburg. The church verger, Hendrik van de Bovenkamp, and his wife Hermina provided them with food and clean clothes. Ies and Miriam slept on the church pews. In case of emergency, they could take refuge in a hiding place beneath the church floor, which Hendrik had built. In October 1944, following the liberation of Batenburg, the Spangenthal couple left the church after a year and a half.