Tina Strobos, 1920–2012
The woman who saved dozens of Jews in WWII
One of Tina Strobos’s lasting regrets was that she wasn’t able to save Anne Frank. The house in occupied Amsterdam that concealed Frank and her family until they were betrayed to the Germans in 1944 was just blocks from where Strobos hid more than 100 Jews over the course of the war. “If I knew they were there,” she said of the teenage diarist’s family, “I would have gotten them out of the country.”
Strobos was born Tineke Buchter in Amsterdam, said The Washington Post, and studied medicine until war broke out in 1940. She soon began helping the underground resistance obtain guns, explosives, and radios, “hiding them in her bicycle basket” over 50-mile journeys. She and her mother turned their three-story town house into a “stop on the underground railroad,” handing out food, medical care, and forged passports to refugees.
One day a Dutch carpenter turned up at their door, said The New York Times, and built a secret compartment in the house’s attic. “A changing cast of Jews, communists, and other endangered individuals” passed through the hidden room over the following years. The Gestapo searched the house repeatedly, interrogating Strobos nine times. But her fluency in German and her “cool, ingenuous pose” convinced them that she had nothing to hide.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Strobos immigrated to America after the war and settled in Westchester, N.Y., where she worked as a psychiatrist, said the Westchester Journal News. She never regretted her risky wartime exploits. “Your conscience tells you to do it,” she said. “I believe in heroism, and when you’re young you want to do dangerous things.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Crossword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
By The Week US
-
Dame Maggie Smith: an intensely private national treasure
In the Spotlight Her mother told her she didn't have the looks to be an actor, but Smith went on to win awards and capture hearts
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK
-
James Earl Jones: classically trained actor who gave a voice to Darth Vader
In the Spotlight One of the most respected actors of his generation, Jones overcame a childhood stutter to become a 'towering' presence on stage and screen
By The Week UK
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of lives
In the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
By The Week UK
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald's
In the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me
By The Week UK
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
In the Spotlight Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
In the Spotlight The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia