Alida Margaretha Bosshardt (

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

, 8 Jun 1913 –

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, 25 Jun 2007), better known as Major Bosshardt, was a well known officer in

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

, and more or less the public face of this Christian organization in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Bosshardt became a member of the Salvation Army after visiting one of their meetings when she was 18. Before that, she was not religious. Her father was a converted

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

, her mother was

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family ...

. From 1934 she worked in a children's home in Amsterdam. During the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 193 ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Bosshardt took care of the mostly Jewish children who had been brought by their parents to the home. After the war, she worked at the Army's national headquarters in Amsterdam. She noticed that the Army had no activities in Amsterdam's red-light district,

De Wallen De Wallen () or De Walletjes () is the largest and best known red-light district in Amsterdam. It consists of a network of alleys containing approximately 300 one-room cabins rented by prostitutes who offer their sexual services from behind a wi ...

, and obtained permission to start working there. Her work for the prostitutes gained her national fame. In 1965, she accompanied

Princess Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

on a secret visit of the red-light district. In 1978, Bosshardt retired. She had already been promoted to

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the Army, but she was still generally known as "Major Bosshardt". After her retirement, she was still a prominent member of the Army, regularly appearing on television and speaking at conferences and church services. In 2004,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

recognized Bosshardt as a

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to s ...

, for her work in the Second World War.

The Major Bosshardt Prize

The Major Bosshardt Prize, named after Bosshardt, was established in 2006. It consists of a certificate and a miniature bronze statue of Bosshardt and is intended for persons who have been of singular merit for society. The first award was given to psychologist .

Legacy and honors

The , Oudezijds Achterburgwal in Amsterdam, is named after Alida Bosshardt. File:De Wallen, Amsterdam, Netherlands - panoramio (8).jpg, Sculpture of Alida Bosshardt
by File:Büste Majoor Alida M. Bosshardt (Terneuzen).jpg, Bust in Terneuzen

References

External links

Alida Bosshardt
– her activity to save Jews' lives during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bosshardt, Alida 1913 births 2007 deaths Dutch Salvationists Salvation Army officers Dutch resistance members Dutch Righteous Among the Nations Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Amsterdam People from Utrecht (city)