Ribbon pin

Hilda Zomer (1914-2002, later Hilda Sietsema) was born on 16 February 1914 to a Christian family in Kollum, the Netherlands. Her father had three children with his first wife, who passed away. He remarried in 1906. He worked as a jeweler and watchmaker. Her older sister immigrated to the United States with her husband in 1922. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, Hilda worked as a midwife and nurse. Her parents likely helped hide some Jewish students in their home. After the war, she worked in Indonesia with the Dutch Red Cross from 1948-1950. In October 1950 she travelled to Delevan, Wisconsin to visit her sister and work in a hospital. During her trip, she met and befriended Henrietta Sietsema, whom she visited in California. In California, she met Henrietta’s brother Gerrit, and they married in July 1951.

The pin was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2019 by Anna Margaret Binder, the paternal granddaughter of Pieterdina Sietsema.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Anna Margaret Binder