What did rescuers do if a fugitive they were sheltering needed medical attention? After all, people were in hiding for years. Someone had to have developed an abscessed tooth or appendicitis.
The rescuers in Dutch-Paris, who helped thousands of fugitives, developed relationships with doctors and nurses for exactly such eventualities. In Brussels, the Comité was caring for over 400 Jews hiding in and around the city at the time of the Liberation in September 1944. Not surprisingly, they had the most formally organized system of clandestine medical care in the entire Dutch-Paris network.

The wife of one of the leaders of the Comité in Brussels had been the director of the Protestant clinic in Brussels until her marriage in 1939. During the war, the clinic treated Germans. But it also treated a Canadian aviator and Jews. Obviously, the protocols were a little different for a German than for a Canadian.

Doctors would sometimes perform clandestine operations after hours. Or a hospital might admit a patient under a false name. Because Nazis were notoriously afraid of contagious diseases, a patient might also be in an isolation room under a false diagnosis to discourage any close inspection of the patient. This was dangerous for the doctors and nurses who helped fugitives and for the entire hospital or clinic. Treating fugitives and keeping their presence a secret were considered to be serious crimes under occupation law.

Surgery or staying in the hospital were for medical emergencies. What about less serious cases? The Comité had a solution for that as well. Starting in late 1943 they gave a Dutch woman in her 30s who was herself a fugitive in Brussels, responsibility for the medical care of the hundreds of fugitives under the Comité’s protection. We’ll call her Martha. They also made it a line item in their budget. This was after they started receiving regular funds from the Dutch government-in-exile in London, so they could have an expansive budget.

Martha made arrangements with doctors and dentists in Brussels who were willing to take the risk of treating people illegally. If a fugitive did not speak French well or was too anxious to be out on the city streets on his or her own, Martha escorted the fugitive to the medical appointment. She also acted as a translator if necessary.