Tjalling had two brothers, one of whom was theologist and reverend Dr Jan Koopmans, who, in 1940, early during the German occupation of the Netherlands, wrote the widely distributed pamphlet "Bijna te laat" ("Almost too late", 30,000 copies), warning about the Future of the Jews under the Nazi regime. In 1945, towards the end of the war, he witnessed an execution of hostages in Amsterdam from behind a window and was mortally wounded by a stray bullet.