Group 2000

We are now standing in front of the statue of Jacoba van Tongeren, a resistance woman who, with unwavering determination, saved hundreds of lives. During the war she founded Group 2000, a network of about 140 resistance members that helped thousands of people in hiding in Amsterdam.

Jacoba devised an ingenious code system to protect the safety of her group and those in hiding. Everyone in the organisation had only a number, never a name. She herself was number 2000, which gave the group its name. Thanks to this system, even if the Germans seized the records, they could not trace anyone. Group 2000 arranged hiding places, food coupons, forged identity papers, and medical care. In her specially made vest, Jacoba smuggled thousands of coupons at a time—so many that she looked like a pregnant woman. That’s why she was nicknamed the Coupon Queen.

When the Sicherheitsdienst discovered the group’s headquarters in 1945, they found the coded lists, but they could not decipher them. This kept the identities of more than 4,500 people in hiding safe until the end of the war.

Only decades later did her story come to light. Today, Jacoba is honoured as one of the silent heroes of the resistance. Look closely at this monument: on the statue, you can see the secret codes she used to protect so many lives.