But the Protestant reformer John Calvin—born Jean Cauvin in France in 1509—was extremely influential in the Netherlands during this period, and a band of his staunch followers declared that they would rather die than have a corrupt Christianity forced down their throats. In 1566, Philip II appointed a new regent, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, to bring about law and order in his colonial territory. Destined to become the quintessential villain of Dutch history, this Duke of Alva arrived with an occupying army and demanded that all Dutch sign an oath of loyalty to the Spanish king and the Catholic Church. When several prominent landowners presented him with a petition calling for religious tolerance, he had them beheaded. Such actions, along with the financial damage he inflicted through tariffs and fines, soon led to open revolt.
It was at this time that William of Orange rose up to rally the disgruntled Dutch Calvinists to fight a battle for freedom that would continue for generations. The Spanish Crown sank millions of ducats into this long-distance war of attrition but, in the end, had little to show for it except a ruined economy—their own. After eighty years, Spain finally relented and the Dutch were free to worship as they wished. In the meantime, the identity of the Dutch, and especially that of the Dutch Calvinists, had accreted around that epochal struggle.
In a sense, Heiltje Kooistra is one of the spiritual heirs of the Dutch Calvinists of the sixteenth century who opposed the Duke of Alva. Nearly four centuries later, she and her husband recognized that Hitler represented a threat not only to the Jews, but also to the hard-won freedom from religious persecution that their Calvinist forbears had secured.
As Calvinism moved into modern times, it split into two major sects: the strict Gereformeerden (Dutch Orthodox Church) and the more assimilated Hervormden (Dutch Reformed Church). The Gereformeerden, also known as “blackstockings,” still number as many as 600,000 today, and, as at the time of the war, remain concentrated in the north, especially Zeeland and Friesland. Farmers by tradition, one can often see them on Sunday, dressed in black, walking to church so as to avoid driving on their Sabbath. They are known for their unwavering adherence to their religious principles, which, most noticeably, involve a rejection of worldly pleasures and pursuits.
Though the blackstockings tend not to associate with strangers,during the Nazi occupation they were among those most willing to take in Jewish people. During the occupation, many of them felt that in order to be true Christians, they must help, and such behavior became the norm in their communities. In the words of one blackstocking rescuer, “If you didn’t have an onderduiker in your house, you weren’t a proper peasant farmer.”
But the decision to help may also have been influenced by John Calvin’s high regard for the Jews and Judaism. Unlike Martin Luther, who, especially towards the end of his life, excoriated both Jews and Catholics, Calvin had emphasized that the Jews are God’s chosen people and affirmed that both the Hebrew scriptures and Christian gospels are divinely inspired and seamlessly coterminous. That, combined with his writings that recount a God who, working through men, “broke the bloody scepters of arrogant kings” and “overturned intolerable governments,” may have roused these farmers, as well as other Calvinists such as Heiltje and Wopke, to put their faith into action. Indeed, his exhortations to revolt against iniquitous authority had become inscribed as one of the doctrines of the Calvinist Church.
A third, more subtle, factor may also have come into play: saving Jews was a way to know that you yourself were saved. Calvinism puts its faithful into an interesting theological predicament: God has already predestined who will gain divine favor and fellowship and who will be cut off from it, but mortals are not
It was at this time that William of Orange rose up to rally the disgruntled Dutch Calvinists to fight a battle for freedom that would continue for generations. The Spanish Crown sank millions of ducats into this long-distance war of attrition but, in the end, had little to show for it except a ruined economy—their own. After eighty years, Spain finally relented and the Dutch were free to worship as they wished. In the meantime, the identity of the Dutch, and especially that of the Dutch Calvinists, had accreted around that epochal struggle.
In a sense, Heiltje Kooistra is one of the spiritual heirs of the Dutch Calvinists of the sixteenth century who opposed the Duke of Alva. Nearly four centuries later, she and her husband recognized that Hitler represented a threat not only to the Jews, but also to the hard-won freedom from religious persecution that their Calvinist forbears had secured.
As Calvinism moved into modern times, it split into two major sects: the strict Gereformeerden (Dutch Orthodox Church) and the more assimilated Hervormden (Dutch Reformed Church). The Gereformeerden, also known as “blackstockings,” still number as many as 600,000 today, and, as at the time of the war, remain concentrated in the north, especially Zeeland and Friesland. Farmers by tradition, one can often see them on Sunday, dressed in black, walking to church so as to avoid driving on their Sabbath. They are known for their unwavering adherence to their religious principles, which, most noticeably, involve a rejection of worldly pleasures and pursuits.
Though the blackstockings tend not to associate with strangers,during the Nazi occupation they were among those most willing to take in Jewish people. During the occupation, many of them felt that in order to be true Christians, they must help, and such behavior became the norm in their communities. In the words of one blackstocking rescuer, “If you didn’t have an onderduiker in your house, you weren’t a proper peasant farmer.”
But the decision to help may also have been influenced by John Calvin’s high regard for the Jews and Judaism. Unlike Martin Luther, who, especially towards the end of his life, excoriated both Jews and Catholics, Calvin had emphasized that the Jews are God’s chosen people and affirmed that both the Hebrew scriptures and Christian gospels are divinely inspired and seamlessly coterminous. That, combined with his writings that recount a God who, working through men, “broke the bloody scepters of arrogant kings” and “overturned intolerable governments,” may have roused these farmers, as well as other Calvinists such as Heiltje and Wopke, to put their faith into action. Indeed, his exhortations to revolt against iniquitous authority had become inscribed as one of the doctrines of the Calvinist Church.
A third, more subtle, factor may also have come into play: saving Jews was a way to know that you yourself were saved. Calvinism puts its faithful into an interesting theological predicament: God has already predestined who will gain divine favor and fellowship and who will be cut off from it, but mortals are not
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