Cardinal Jan de Jong

You might recognize the name from the street sign nearby, but the story behind it is worth knowing. Jan de Jong was Archbishop of Utrecht during the German occupation, and one of the most outspoken church leaders in the Netherlands when it came to resisting Nazi rule. Even before the war, from the moment he became archbishop in 1936, De Jong publicly condemned the NSB, the Dutch fascist movement, and any Catholics who supported it. 

When the Germans occupied the Netherlands in May 1940, he made it clear that he would not stay quiet. He wrote protest letters that were distributed among his congregation, urging people to hold firm and resist morally. In 1941 he spoke out against forcing Catholic organizations to join the Nazi-controlled Kultuurkamer, a cultural body designed to bring Dutch society under German influence. 

In July 1942, he helped lead a church protest against the deportation of Jewish people, fully aware of what the consequences might be. The German response was swift and brutal. Catholic Jews and people of mixed Jewish descent were now included in deportations. Among them was Edith Stein, a philosopher and Carmelite nun, who was murdered shortly afterward. De Jong received his cardinal's title after the war, but his courage had already made its mark long before.