Dutch musician, conductor and activist Frieda Belinfante was BOTD in 1904. Born in Amsterdam to a family of prominent musicians, she began studying cello from the age of 10. She went on to study at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, making her professional concert debut at 17. In 1937, she became the artistic director of the Het Klein Orkest chamber music ensemble, making her the first woman in Europe to lead a professional orchestral group. Following the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940, Belinfante joined the Dutch Resistance, befriending and collaborating with resistance leader Willem Arondeus. She and Arondeus organised all-night “forgery parties”, fuelled by alcohol and amphetamines, creating fake identity documents for Jews and other fugitives to allow them to leave the Netherlands. In 1943, she participated in the bombing of the Amsterdam civil registry office, hindering the Nazis’ attempts to verify forged documents. Under scrutiny following the bombing, she disguised herself as a man and went into hiding. With the help of the Dutch and French resistance, she eventually escaped into Belgium, crossing through Nazi-occupied France and crossing the Alps on foot, arriving in Switzerland in 1944. She was given refugee status and worked as a farm labourer, returning to Amsterdam when the war ended. She emigrated to America in 1947, settling in Laguna Beach, California and teaching music at the University of California Los Angeles. In 1954, she was appointed artistic director and conductor of the inaugural Orange County Philharmonic Society, a non-profit organisation providing free classical music concerts to the public. Despite several years of success, her contract was not renewed, as board members considered a male director would attract more funding. Undaunted, she opened a private music studio and worked for the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Society for 20 years. In 1987, the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the City of Laguna Beach declared 19th February “Frieda Belinfante Day”, honouring her contributions to musical culture in the region. Her life story and war experiences were profiled in the 1998 documentary But I Was a Girl, and cited by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Belinfante moved to Sante Fe, dying in 1995 aged 90.

Willem and Frieda – Defying the Nazis