TRAGEDY AND BETRAYAL IN THE DUTCH RESISTANCE
Dedicated to the women of the Meppelerstraatweg.
Motto: Dont forget us.
TRAGEDY AND BETRAYAL IN THE DUTCH RESISTANCE
SAMUEL DE KORTE
Originally published in 2019 by Brave New Books as Executie aan de Meppelerstraatweg: Zwolle 31 maart 1945
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by
PEN AND SWORD MILITARY
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Limited
Yorkshire Philadelphia
Copyright Samuel de Korte, 2020
ISBN 978 1 52678 498 8
eISBN 978 1 52678 499 5
Mobi ISBN 978 1 52678 501 5
The right of Samuel de Korte to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Foreword
In the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe the Second World War is always close by. Everywhere there are monuments that commemorate the period of 1939/1940-1945. We pass these memorials while we are on our way to work, to school or the supermarket, or when we take a relaxing afternoon stroll or ride a bike. How often do we walk, cycle or drive by such a monument without paying attention to it? And even if we stop our everyday thoughts and briefly pause at the monument, do we know the dramatic story that hides behind it? No matter how magnificent or creatively they have been designed, they remain objects of stone, glass or metal, more capable of conveying emotion than a statement of fact.
Between the two lanes of the Meppelerstraatweg in the Dutch city of Zwolle is such a monument. The traffic roars by irreverently one hour after another, day by day. A simple, stone cross and five cut-off pillars, its not very remarkable. At the slab there are five names recorded in black letters: H. Bosch, W.A. van Dijk, J.A. Muller, W. Sebel and B.J. IJzerman. Gefusilleerd 31 maart 1945 (Shot 31 March 1945) is written above these names. On the basis of the given dates of birth and birthplace, we can conclude that the oldest victim would have been 55 on 24 May 1945, while the youngest was 31 on 5 January 1945. More cannot be deduced from the text on the plaque.
Every year on 31 March flowers and wreaths are placed at the monument, among others by children from a local school, so these names are not forgotten. Here five men are remembered who were executed in retaliation by the German occupiers just before the Liberation. The victims were captured on suspicion of anti-German activities and on that tragic day taken by their executioners to this place where a firing squad ended their lives. They were just five victims from the Nazis many times larger total throughout the Netherlands; merely a footnote in the history of the German occupation, but an event that for the descendants of the victims must have seemed as if their world had collapsed.
One of these five men, Wilhelmus van Dijk, is a family member of the Dutch history student Samuel de Korte, the author of this book. He decided to look into the fate of Wilhelmus and the four others. Using the skills mastered during his studies, he researched archive material, spoke with descendants and finally wrote this book. Here he turns the five names into people of flesh and blood, men that went to school, worked, were mobilized in the Battle of the Netherlands in 1940, and, above all, had family lives. Their deaths left an emptiness in the lives of their loved ones. Thanks to this research they will not be forgotten, and their entire lives will not just be remembered as names on a monument.
Actually, everyone during the Second World War who was killed without a fair trial by the occupying forces deserves, besides a monument, a book like this.
Kevin Prenger
Chief Editor Articles TracesOfWar.com
Stichting Informatie Wereldoorlog Twee (STIWOT)
Maps of Europe Viu Wikimedia Commons.
Introduction
During Christmas 2017 my mother told me we had a family member who was executed during the Second World War. His name was Wilhelmus van Dijk and he had lived in Zwolle, a town approximately 80 kilometres away. He was the brother of my maternal great grandmother, Wilhelmina van Dijk. Wilhelmus was mentioned at a monument placed at the Meppelerstraatweg.
According to the stories that had been passed down in the family, Wilhelmus was part of the Resistance movement and had blown up a railway bridge. As a result, he and others were captured by the Germans and executed. I was immediately interested. The Resistance, the Second World War and blowing up a railway bridge! It sounded exciting and with enthusiasm I started the research.
There was some information available about the monument at the Meppelerstraatweg, as well as of the five men that died there, but it wasnt much. Another execution that took place in the vicinity two days before, on 29 March 1945 in Wierden, was the subject of a book, while the executions in Zwolle in April 1945 were dealt with in another book. For this reason, the focus is on the execution of 31 March 1945.
The reality turned out to be different than I assumed. Besides the previously mentioned story, I was also told that Wilhelmus van Dijk was betrayed by a jealous nurse who was in love with him. When he rejected her, she reported him to the German occupying forces to take revenge. Together with his wife, Hendrica Verhoeven, Wilhelmus van Dijk was transported to Westerbork, a local concentration camp. After spending some time there, he was transferred to Germany. When the vehicle was on the Meppelerstraatweg, Wilhelmus and several others tried to escape by jumping from the truck and were shot down. While it is, again, a fascinating story, its not what happened in the early morning of 31 March 1945, and the story has been clouded by many retellings.
Wilhelmus van Dijk hadnt blown up the railway bridge. Others did that. He was not shot while trying to escape, but was lined up at the Meppelerstraatweg. He and the four others were shot during a reprisal, because other members of the Resistance had blown up the railway bridge. Because the truth turned out to be different than what I had been told, my aim has been to discover what really happened. Information about the five executed men wasnt easy to find, but I wanted to share what we have discovered. Its important to share knowledge and an article about the men and their lives would have been appropriate.