Date of birth:

May 9th, 1924 (Dordrecht/Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

April 3rd, 2015 (Elden/Gelderland, the Netherlands)

Nationality:

Dutch

Dina “Diet or Doesjka” Barendregt lived at La Reystraat 6 in Dordrecht and was already active in the resistance in Dordrecht as a pupil at the Johan de Witt Gymnasium.

As soon as the German occupiers announced anti-Jewish measures, Diet and her brother helped organise “illegal” house concerts at the home of Jewish doctor Oscar Cahen. Diet was a gifted singer and her brother Wout accompanied her on the piano. The proceeds from these concerts went to Jewish musicians who were no longer allowed to perform. Through Oscar Cahen, Diet became increasingly involved in the resistance, delivering messages and illegal newspapers. She also sought out hiding places for Jews who wanted to go into hiding.

In 1944, she met Jan Kloos in resistance circles, whom she had seen from a distance as a classmate of her brother Wout. They fell in love and married on 22 November 1944. The marriage did not last long. There was talk of betrayal and on 8 December of the same year, they were arrested by the SD. They were imprisoned in the Wolvenplein prison in Utrecht, where Jan Kloos was severely beaten in front of her. Diet was released, but Jan Kloos was shot by the Nazis on 30 January 1945 on the Amsteldijk, on suspicion of espionage and in retaliation.

Diet was devastated but continued her resistance work. After the war, she pursued a career as a singer and never remarried. In this excerpt from a report about her made by the NOS in 2015, she talks about Jan's last weeks: - https://nos.nl/video/2028436-zestien-dagen-na-haar-bruiloft-werd-ze-door-de-duitsers-opgepakt

The Jan Kloos and Diet Kloos-Barendregtpad at the Essenhof cemetery in Dordrecht is named after them.

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• Photo 1: Museum 1940-1945 Dordrecht
• - https://wwv.yadvashem.org/yv/pdf-drupal/netherlands.pdf - https://stolpersteine-dordrecht.nl/het_voorbije_joodse_dordrecht_dordtse_verzetsstrijdster.html