- Oil and the allied forces
- Arrival of French, British and American troops
- Attack by German U-boats
- Hazardous Shell-tankers, strikers shot
- Atlantic Charter
- Internment camps
- Visit by the House of Orange
- KNIL-military
- Aid campaigns
- Antillean musicians in the Netherlands
- War monuments in the Antilles
- Segundo Jorge Adelberto (Boy) Ecury
- George John Lionel Maduro
- Military victims (Van den Belt, Debrot, Gandelman, Haayen, De Haseth, Henar, Van Meeteren, Veeris)
- Non-military victims (Beaujon, De Castro Yohai, Cohen Henriquez, Debrot, De Haseth Möller, De Lannoy, Navarro, Sprockel, Winkel)
- Antillean Jews in Westerbork (Alvares Correa, van Lissa-van Lissa, Santcroos, Ster)
The Netherlands Antilles in WW II
Flag: www.robkoster.nl
Oil and the allied forces
Drilling rigs in the Maracaibo laguna
Picture: Ewing Galloway (Bos & Van Palen Illustrated Atlas)
Few people are aware of the special role Aruba and Curaçao played during the war. Aruba and Curaçao had oil refineries which supplied English, French and American airplanes.
For the crude oil, coming from Lake Maracaibo (1914), the oil companies needed harbours and depots. Venezuela and the oil companies decided on the neighbouring islands of Aruba and Curaçao, where they were assured of good harbours and political stability. In 1918 Royal Oil (KNPM)/Shell established a large refinery in Curaçao; it was given the name of its location, the Isla peninsula in Willemstad harbour. In 1928 the company started a small installation on Aruba, Eagle, near Oranjestad. More important were the Pan American Petroleum activities with its Lago Oil & Transport Co. From 1924 on they had an oil transfer site on the island (via a pier near Oranjestad) and they dredged the natural harbour of Sint Nicolaas. In 1929 the Lago refinery was built there, which would grow into one of the largest in the world. The company changed owners several times and from 1933 on it was owned by Esso (Exxon). As early as 1939 the refineries on the two islands supplied 43% of the British and French oil requirements, and about 80% of those of the British Royal Air Force (kerosene). The American invasion in Northern Africa (1942-1943) was fuelled for 100%, and the battle in the Pacific (1944-1945) for 75%, by oil from the Antillles.
Sources:
http://www.historiadiaruba.aw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=42
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_Oil_&_Transport_Co._Ltd.
Liesbeth van der Horst, Wereldoorlog in de West (p. 29)
Arrival of French, British and American troops
Map: www2.mw.nl
Because of the great military and economical interests it was only logical that, after the German attack on The Netherlands, English and French troops were stationed on the Antilles (1940). By 11 May 1940, 180 French marines were in Aruba; on 13 May 800 British troops came to Curaçao and Sint Maarten. After France capitulated in July 1940, British troops took over the French positions. The French part of Sint Maarten never became pro-German. These reinforcements were needed badly. German submarines attacked transport ships carrying oil and bauxite, and even attacked the refineries directly (1941-1942).
The US military did not come into action until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941), when the United States officially joined the allies. For Panama and the Caribbean this was done under the flag of the Rainbow-5 plan. The supreme command was American but, in the same way as in Jamaica and Trinidad, command was shared with British colonial and military powers. In Aruba and Curaçao and the other Dutch islands it was shared with the Dutch. On 26 January 1942 the pact between the US Ministry of War and the Dutch government in London became a fact. By mid January six A-20 bombers were stationed in Aruba and Curaçao. On 11 February about 2,300 ground forces arrived from New Orleans: a large contingent for Curaçao, a smaller one for Aruba. Three days later the British garrison, which had grown to 1,400 men, left the Antilles. It was not until the end of March that the American and Dutch governments agreed on the command structure. Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf became the chief of all forces in the area, including the Dutch. Captain van Asbeck, the Dutch commander of the islands, became his chief of staff. Formally the orders of Oldendorf fell under the authority of governor Kasteel. This unambiguous structure of command was not achieved by the US army in Surinam, although from early 1942 on American forces were present in that country. This difference was due to the serious threat to the leeward islands beginning in 1942.
Attack by German U-boats
The island of Aruba (Source: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org)
During the night of 15 to 16 February 1942 the island of Aruba took the first attack from a German U-boat in the western hemisphere. It was aimed at the oil transport between Venezuela and the Antilles. The first hit was on the tanker Pedernales in the Sint Nicolaas harbour. It burnt down completely. This is how the 'Paukenschlag' campaign began. During the attack of the German U-156, four other tankers near Sint Nicolaas were hit. The smallest, the 'Oranjestad', sank as well(personal communication with Gerrit Walters, December 2006). Most of the stokers on the torpedoed oil tankers were ethnic Chinese. Almost all of them drowned. After this attack, the submarine surfaced and fired some grenades at the Lagos refinery. Little damage was done, though one of the German sailors lost his life because of an explosion in the gun. The Bernhard School in Sint Nicolaas took a lot of damage.
Tanker Pedernales (Source: www.aruba-carribean-beaches.com)
The islands' defence was not well organised. The first reports only mentioned fire on ships and in the refinery. It took an hour and a half for it to sink in that a German submarine attack was taking place. The German submarine also emerged in the harbour of the capital Oranjestad. It severely damaged an American tanker near the Eagle refinery and was even able to threaten the nearby airport. At the end of 1942 the German U-boat fleet had destroyed 280 tankers and other vessels in the western and eastern Caribbean, a total tonnage of 1,300,000. It became clear that central organisation of the allied forces was necessary. The seriousness of the situation was made clear to the population as well. After the first attack all men between 18 and 20 years of age were ordered into service to defend the islands.
Hazardous Shell tankers, strikers shot
Eight days after the German attack the Curacao Steamship Company (CSM), daughter of what later was to become Shell Curacao, wanted to send out another convoy of tankers to re-establish the connection between the Antillean refineries and Maracaibo. A Royal Decree issued in 1940 made it mandatory for the personnel to sail. However, the crews were afraid of U-boat attacks. In addition, the fleet of oil tankers was in poor condition, without rescue equipment, and Curaçao did not have things like shipping inspections, accident legislation, or survivors' pensions. On 24 February 1942, the major part of the crew, officers and stokers, refused to work. The officers withdrew their refusal, probably because their demands were met, but 450 stokers, many from Rotterdam, persisted in their strike. They did the heavy, hot work in the engine rooms and were trapped during a torpedo attack. They wanted a raise, payment of their legal war bonuses, and the promise that they would be repatriated to China after the war (Jean Mentens, Volkskrant 21 April 2008). On 12 and 13 March they refused to work once again - Chinese spokesmen were ordered to police headquarters at Wilhelmina Square - and the strikers now were detained at the Shell compound, near the American Suffisant base. Two days later the officers declared their solidarity with the strikers; then they were detained as well. Governor Wouters mediated, with the result that the tanker traffic started again on 27 March. The Chinese stokers however, were still imprisoned. When on 20 April unrest broke out about this treatment, police and company security interfered. Shots were fired and 44 Chinese were wounded. Twelve died immediately, three died later on. Their bodies were buried anonymously in the non-consecrated soil of the Colebra Berde cemetery, among non-baptized children, unmarried mothers, criminals and others considered to be sinners by the Catholic Church. The newspaper Amigoe wrote about the events and was prohibited from publishing for two days. Since 2000 the Foundation for Rehabilitation of Prisoners of War from Curacao (SEOC) has advocated for a memorial plaque and a worthy commemoration, in Curaçao as well as in the Netherlands. "Preferably at the Dam, with apologies afterwards." (Junnes Sint Jago, Volkskrant 21 april 2008).
Monsignor Luis Secco and members of the board of the SEOC at the first consecration of Kolebra Berde to Honorary Cemetary and National Monument in April 2003 (picture: www.solidariteitzo.nl/pages/actueel-2007)
In April 2003 Kolebra Berde was consecrated for the first time by Monsignor Amado Römer, Bishop of Curaçao. The place where the bodies of 15 Chinese strikers were buried, was declared an Honorary Cemetery and National Monument in the presence of the SEOC, union chairman Wim van Lamoen, Monsignor Luis Secco, bishop of the Antilles and Aruba, and other prominent guests.
Atlantic Charter
The US presence had a liberating effect, both economically and culturally. Usually the black community was treated in traditional colonial custom. The Netherlands still had to get used to the Atlantic Charter (August 9, 1941), which stipulated (amongst other things) abolishment of colonialism after the war.
During the war, on 6 December 1942 (in Asia on 7 December), Queen Wilhelmina held a speech in London, during which - in vague terms - she promised a form of self-government to the Dutch East-Indies, Surinam and Curaçao.
Internment camps
Immediately after the German invasion in Holland, 41 suspected Dutch nazi-sympathizers (NSB) and over 200 Germans were rounded up and imprisoned on Bonaire. But, among the German captives there were also Jews and other anti-fascists. Many had fled from Germany and Austria. One of them was the family of the Austrian Otto Engelbert Sechtlerberger. Since 1929 Otto worked at Shell on Curaçao. The circumstances in the camp were very difficult. Provision of food was not regulated and at first a priest had to deliver bread. Men and women were separated by barbed wire, children did not receive any education.
In September 1942 the notables Maduro and Cohen Henriquez filed a petition to Queen Wilhelmina. They asked for an exchange of their sons George and Ernest, who were in a dangerous position in Holland, for Germans internees on Bonaire. The government did not agree. Two exchange-projects in 1943 failed as well.
After a while the Jewish men were shifted to a camp on plantation Guatemala, but not liberated. In September 1942 the Jews were allowed to return to Curaçao and Aruba, with restricted freedom of movement, and in March 1944 the Jewish Antillean community took over the care for the internees. In 1947 some of the internees were expelled on a one way trip to Germany. The camp in Bonaire was rebuilt as Hotel Zeebad and later on as the Flamingo Beach Club Hotel.
Visit by the House of Orange
Prince Bernhard (Picture: www2.telegraaf.nl/bernhard/bernhard3/)
The colonies of Surinam and the Antilles were the only parts of the Dutch Kingdom unoccupied by either Germany or Japan.
On 22 October 1942 Prince Bernhard, the husband of crown princess Juliana, flew from London for a visit to Curaçao, Aruba and Surinam, the first member of the Royal Family in a hundred years to do so. As the prince's plane approached, American artillery fired a shot. What happened was that the prince arrived in Curaçao a bit early and assumed that the reception committee would not be there yet. Therefore he decided to fly a circle around the island. One of the two American posts on the refinery grounds then fired a warning shot. The prince quickly flew off, landed at Hato airport and waited in the bar for governor Kasteel to arrive (Dr. J. Hartog, The fortressess, defence works and artillery works of Curaçao and Bonaire. Zaltbommel 1997 - in Dutch). Once the governor arrived, the Royal representative again, this time officially, disembarked from the plane. Press Chief and censor Mr. Eduard M. Elias, who arrived at the airport early, immediately forbid the press to report the incident; later he even called the head editors to make sure everyone complied with the ban. On October 24 the prince visited the oil refinery of Aruba and flew on to Surinam.
In 1943, princess Juliana, who was then living in Canada, followed. Her plane flew over Sint Eustatius and Saba, where school children formed in big letters the O (Orange) and the V (Victory). Pamphlets were strewn with ‘best wishes for our common battle’. In February and March 1944 the crown princess visited Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and (half-French, half Dutch) Sint Maarten.
KNIL-military
KNIL recruitment pamphlet (Picture: www.engelfriet.net)
In 1944 about 200 KNIL (Royal Netherlands-Indies Army) troops from Surinam and the Antilles were stationed in Australia and deployed against Japan. Their numbers were complemented by 200 volunteers from 'The West', mobilised Dutch from non-occupied areas and Papuans from New Guinea. Australia was not exactly a paradise for non-whites. At that time it very much resembled South Africa with it's 'apartheid' system.
Aid campaigns
During and towards the end of the war collections were held for the Netherlands. One of the collections, well known in both the East and the West-Indies, was the so-called Spitfire Fund, meant to acquire fighter planes for the allies. The Curaçaoan Ladies' Spitfire Fund managed in a short time to raise 5,200 English pounds, about 50,000 Dutch guilders at that time, as reported by philatelist Paul Daverschot. The book 'The Second World War in the West' also mentions the Ladies' Committee Princess Irene. It's fund raising efforts, also included a revue. According to Zita Moreno, who danced in the revue, special Spitfire songs were sung, like 'Spitfire in the air'. Spitfires acquired through this fundraising were given names of towns in the Netherlands-Indies, or named 'Suriname'. Along that same line the Spitfire bought with Aruban money was named 'Aruba'.
Stamp Prince Bernhard Committee (Source: Filatelie, October 2007).
On 11 December 1941, following the Netherlands-Indies and Surinam, the Antilles published a series of stamps with a surcharge. The proceeds went to the Prince Bernhard Fund, and was used to buy Spitfires, tanks etc. (source: Filatelie, October 2007). The Antilles also had an ABC-Baby Fund for undernourished Dutch children; warm clothes were sent to London and money was raised to buy six mobile kitchens.
Antillean musicians in The Netherlands
During the thirties a few Antillean musicians worked in Holland, especially in 'Negro Clubs' in the three big cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague). At the start of the war the Germans were not aware that there were non-Arians among the musicians. They had a Dutch passport and had registered with the 'Kulturkammer'. Later on this changed and the Germans also had a film made that spread a negative image of jazz: 'Barbarism', in which especially negro-musicians were targeted. Still, most black musicians could continue, not in the least because jazz was also very popular with many Germans.
The famous African-American pianist Freddy Johnson (New York City, 1904-1961) was playing in Holland during the mid-thirties. Herman Openneer writes: 'It is said that Johnson taught the Dutch how to play the piano'. The 'Quartet' named after him, included Mike Hidalgo from Surinam, Kid Dynamite, and the drummer Arthur Pay. Another drummer in the Freddy Johnson Quartet was the Antillean Martin Sterman. He was born in Amsterdam as the son of a white mother and an Antillean father from Curaçao. His brother Otto was an actor and recitor, his sister Annie a well known vocalist. They did not experience any problems. On 20 July 1944 Annie Sterman appeared under the name of 'Topsy', the 'West-Indian singer, tap and rumba dancer' in the 'Waakzaamheid' in Koog aan de Zaan, together with well known orchestra's and soloists from the Zaan area and West-Friesland. It was the day of the assassination attempt on Hitler.
War monuments in the Antilles
 Monument in Bonaire (picture: M.v.d.Veur) |  Plaquette (picture: M.v.d.Veur) - (click to enlarge) |
M.R. Anthony, J.W. van den Belt, A.H.G. Bernabela, H.P. Bernabela, L.E. Bernabela, J.P. Boekhoudt, U. Boom, F.L. Capello, M.Th. Charlouis, C.B. Cicilia, N.A. Clarinda, A.C.P. Coffi, J.C. Coffi, T.M. Constancia, J.S. Cornett, J. Daanchi, Ch.M. Debrot, J.O. Dembrooke, P. Dijkhoff, G.L. Doran, J.L. Dortalina, J.W. Dunlock, S.J.R. Ecury, L.N. Emerenciana, G.L. Emnes, H.J.H. Forbes, L.H. Fridael, P.V. Goedgedrag, J.D. Goeloe, M.C.B. Corsira-Corsira, A.D. Granger, J.F. Haayen, J.A. Hart, T. Hartlief, M.C.B. de Haseth-Corsira, A.C. ten Have, G. ten Have, K. ten Have, N. ten Have, G. Hecker, C. van der Hoeven, M.A. van der Hoeven, W.O. Hooker, A.G. Hommerson,
M.B. Isijk, D.G. Janga, N.Th. Janga, E.J. Jansen, H.G. Jansen, K. de Jong, P. Joosse, A.M.W. Knevel, L. Kooyman, B.C. Kraal, J. Landenga, U. Landenga, E.E. Laveist, J.M. Layto, B.F. Leito, J. Lepelaars, L.W. Lepelaars, J. van der Linde, E.N. Linzey, H.L. Lodrigo, M.M. Lourens, D.K. Lynch, D.A.C. de Maagd, F.A. Maas, J.E.W. Maasdamme, G.J.L. (R.M.W.O.) Maduro, G.A. Manuela, R.C. Marchena, C.R. Martes, D. Martijn, H.B. Martijn, O.D. Martijn, Th.F. Martijn, A.B. Martina, P.A. Martina, H.N. Martis, E.A. Matrona, M.R. Matrona, J.A. Maxwell, C.A. van Mechelen, J.J. Mol, G.A.L. Muller, J.A. Statius-Muller, W. Neeleman, A. Nijdam, A.J. de Palm, H. de Palm,
F.M. Panneflek, A.G. Pieter, J.S.R. Pietersz, D.H.P. Pourier, J.C. van Putten, Ch.B. Rafael, G.R. Richardson, J.B. Rosalina, W.F. Rosaria, S. Rozeboom, A.H. Scheelbeek, L.B. Scherptong, S.M. Serberie, L.E. Smiet, C. Smit, E.A.J. Stelk, A.Th. Stoel, J.G. Thielman, A.F. Thode, S. Thode, P.B. Tjie Tjie, B. Tromp, J. Verhey, A.F. Verhoeks, J. Vogelenzang, J. de Vries, H. Wensing, M.G. Wensing-Hesseling, M.T.H. Wensing, J.V. Wessels, M.D.J. Wijngang, W.A. Winfield, A.C. Winklaar, C.A. Wilson, J. Wilson, A.D. Woods, en H.S. Woods.
Some names are not listed at the monument, but are mentioned further on at this page. It concerns the military M.C. Gandelman and H.Veeris and four Curaçao born Jewish victims.
Aruba and Curaçao have a Second World War monument as well, listing the same 128 names, all people with the Dutch nationality.
 War monument in Aruba |  War monument in Curaçao (picture: J.Kooyman) |
- www.4en5mei.nl/oorlogsmonumenten
- www.lago-colony.com
Antillean victims of war
Segundo Jorge Adelberto (Boy) Ecury
Picture: www.museenkoeln.de
Boy Ecury was born the 23rd of April, 1922 in Oranjestad, Aruba. He was the seventh child in a catholic family of thirteen children. His father was a well-established businessman. Boy first went to the Christian Brothers school on the island, but his parents took him out because they thought he was too rebellious. Together with his brother Nicky he was sent to the St. Augustin Military Academy in Puerto Rico. Because of their black skin the boys were not welcome there. Their parents then registered them in Holland, at the Brothers of St. Louis in Oudenbosch, a famous institute, which did not keep people in the streets from calling them 'niggers' sometimes. Boy obtained a commerce diploma.
Both brothers witnessed the May-days of 1940 and saw the ruins of Rotterdam. Boy came in contact with a fellow student from the Antilles, Luís de Lannoy, who lived in Tilburg and was a member of the student resistance. They wrote each other letters in Papiamentu on stationary with a portrait of William of Orange on it. Boy was athletic and a man of action. He often helped Luís in underground operations and set German trucks on fire. He joined the Oisterwijk Resistance Council. Boy made phosphorus bombs and used them to sabotage German trucks, destroyed a railroad track and offered help to downed allied pilots. When Luís de Lannoy was betrayed and arrested on February 10 1944, Boy tried to free him from the Utrecht prison, but the attempt failed.
Hans P. Gerritsen (Oisterwijk) recounts that, around the time of ‘Mad Tuesday’ (5 September 1944), he became a member of the Resistance Council. Before that he had been in camp Amersfoort and he felt as though his life was over. He recognised the same feeling in Boy Ecury. There was nothing to lose. For a couple of days they were together in the attic of a barn and in a hut behind the farm 'De Rozep Hoeve'. Because of his dark looks Boy Ecury drew quite some attention in Oisterwijk. And it was dangerous enough as it was for people in the resistance. From the beginning of October 1944 allied troops moved to the area around Tilburg. After consultation with commander 'Bim' van der Klei, Ecury moved to a hiding place in Tilburg. He made the impression of being very militant. On October 26 Oisterwijk was liberated by Scottish units. [With thanks to H. Gerritsen, February 2008].
Despite the chance of liberation, Boy Ecury did not stay in the province of Brabant. He came in contact with the 'Knokploegen' (commando groups) in The Hague. They prepared underground-actions in Rotterdam, including the attempted murder of a member of the Dutch Nazi movement (NSB). On Sunday the fifth of November 1944, after attending high mass, Boy Ecury was betrayed and arrested in Rotterdam, right in front of the building of the Sicherheitsdienst (German security police). He was transported to the Scheveningen prison and on the sixth of November executed on the Plain of Waalsdorp in The Hague, the place where many members of the resistance were shot. In 1947 he was reburied in Aruba and in 1949 a statue was erected. In 1984 Boy Ecury posthumously received the Dutch Resistance Remembrance Cross.
Source: Allochtonen van nu en de oorlog van toen, p. 63-64
Picture: www.onderscheidingen.nl
What inspired Boy Ecury, as a young black man, to join the Dutch resistance?
His nephew Ted Schouten: “We tend to look at the war with today's eyes. When Boy Ecury went to Holland for advanced education in 1937, there were not many people of colour there. He was an exception, an attraction. The wave of de-colonisation had not swept the world yet. As yet there was no need in the Antilles for a 'status aparte' (separate but not completely independent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands). And Holland was still untouched by criminal immigrants. Boy, descending from a wealthy family, thought of himself as a Dutch citizen. He had a rebellious character. Confronted with scarcity, misery, domination, discrimination and violence, he took an aggressive, even provocative stance against the occupiers."
In the early eighties, Ted Schouten, half-Dutch, half-Aruban (his mother was a younger sister of Boy Ecury) made a television documentary (for TeleAruba) about his uncle, the Aruban hero of the resistance in the Netherlands. In 1985 he wrote a book that was released in a limited edition of only 1,500 copies (see below).
The bust of Boy Ecury in Oranjestad
Boy gets attention in Aruba
Whatever possessed a young black man in Holland during the Second World War to join the resistance? This question, in particular, inspired Schouten to start an in-depth investigation. He found a treasure of historic material in his grandmother's camphor chest. He found out that his grandfather had done an extensive investigation into the death of his son. He even managed to obtain names and pictures from German soldiers.
Since November 1949 there is a statue of Boy Ecury at the Lloyd G. Smith Boulevard in Oranjestad. Occasionally, around the fourth of May, the documentary was played again in Aruba, but little attention was actually paid to the local war hero. The Second World War seemed a long time ago. In 2000 Ted Schouten, now living in Holland, received a phone call from the Antillean government to say that his book was going to be reprinted.
Museum, book and film
Today Boy Ecury has a central part in the new museum of war, where on the 20th of April 2005, crown prince Willem Alexander unveiled a memorial plaque. The National Committee May 4 and 5 called it a 'real revival of the Second World War in Aruba'.
The permanent exposition in the new museum of war in Oranjestad shows some of that history. The exposition is housed in a former bunker. The life of Boy Ecury also gets a great deal of attention.
Schouten: "The most important motivation for the museum probably is not the revived interest in the Second World War, but rather the interest from the tourism industry. Tourism now provides the main source of income for Aruba.
The government wants to offer its guests more than just sun and palm beaches. I don't mind, as long as there is room for Boy's story."
With co-operation from Ted Schouten a film was made about the life of Boy Ecury. The film, called ‘Boy Ecury’, was shot in the Beemster polder in Holland and was released in 2003. Director: Frans Weisz. Scenario: Arthur Japin. Cast: Felix de Rooy, Steve Hooi, Johnny de Mol, Gaby Milder, Sylvia Poorta. In 2003 the film won a 'Golden Calf' award and in 2004 an American Columbine Award as ‘best feature film’. (for a summary and pictures from the film see below)
Sources
Ted Schouten, ‘Boy Ecury, an Antillean boy in the resistance’ (ISBN 90-5730-242-X), Walburg Press.
Web: www.4en5mei.nl
George John Lionel Maduro
Picture: www.residentie.net
Officer George John Lionel Maduro was born in the capital of Curaçao, Willemstad (July 15, 1916), grandson of the founder of an influential Jewish firm S.E.L. Maduro & Sons. He was a law student at the University of Leiden when the Germans invaded The Netherlands on the 10th of May 1940. His last known adress was Frederik Hendriklaan 111, The Hague. At the time he was living there his profession was private tutor (www.joodsmonument.nl).
As reserve-officer (2nd lieutenant) of the Hussars he was put into action in the area surrounding The Hague, at the Old Toll bridge over the Vliet river amongst other places. He distinguished himself in the attack on German paratroopers in the villa Leeuwenberg in Rijswijk.
The explanation of why he was posthumously awarded the Military Order of William reads:
"Distinguished himself in battle on May 10, 1940 by superior acts of courage, ingenuity, and loyalty. As Commander of a platoon of young soldiers, he planned and prepared, with great skill and on his own initiative, the attack on the enemy-occupied villa 'Leeuwenburg' behind the Vliet in RIJSWIJK. With great courage, leading two groups of soldiers, he crossed the bridge over the Vliet while under enemy machine-gun fire, personally led the attack on the fortified base (Villa 'Leeuwenburg'), and in the assault was the first to force his way in, breaking the resistance and taking the occupants prisoner."
In March 1942 the German occupiers forced all reserve-officers to report them. Maduro did not comply and went underground at the house of relatives of a fellow student. He joined the resistance and helped allied pilots escape via a southern route to Spain and Portugal. At the end of June 1943 he himself also left for Spain. He was betrayed and apprehended by the Germans near the Belgian-French border (Charlesville) and, since he was in the military, interned as prisoner of war in Saarbrücken.
In September 1942 George's father, Jossy M.L. Maduro, filed a petition to Queen Wilhelmina asking for an exchange of his son for Germans interned on Bonaire. A similar petition was filed by the father of Ernst Cohen Henriquez. However, the government did not agree. More than a year later, in November 1944, because of the allied advance, George was transferred to the concentration camp Dachau, where he died of typhoid on Februari 9, 1945.
The Dutch military who fell in the battle for The Hague received a statue at Sorgvliet. George Maduro received a special monument. In 1952 his parents, Jossy and Rebecca, with support from business contacts and an architect, founded Madurodam in his memory. In this miniature city the finest buildings in Holland are rebuilt on a scale of 1:25. George's house of birth can also be found in Madurodam. It was built in 1895 in a Palladian style, marked by harmony and simplicity.
At the entrance of Madurodam there is a special memorial to George Maduro, the only Antillean to receive Holland's highest decoration, the Military Order of William.
In 1991, during their annual reunion, former Dachau prisoners unveiled a bronze plaque with the inscription:
In memory of our fellow-campmate
George J.L.Maduro R.M.W.O
born July 15, 1916 in Curaçao,
died on Februari 9, 1945
in concentration camp Dachau.
Circle of friends, former-Dachau prisoners.
April 27, 1991
Picture: www.dachau.nl
On a wall of the firm S.E.L. Maduro & Sons in Curaçao, a bronze plaque is mounted explaining why he was posthumously given the Military Order of William (see above). In addition, there is a line from a letter by Queen Wilhelmina to his parents: "with pride I'll remember his actions".
Sources:
www.onderscheidingen.nl
homepage.residentie.net
weblog.donamaro.nl
www.dachau.nl
Allochtonen van nu en de oorlog van toen p. 62
Isaac S. and Suzanne A. Emmanuel, History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles. Cincinnati 1970 (p. 501, 1103)
Other Antillean Victims of War
Military victims
Grave of J.W. van den Belt (Picture: www.ogs.nl)
Jan Willem van den Belt, born in Willemstad, Curaçao, on August 14, 1913, died at Tarakan on January 12, 1942. During this period this island north-east of Borneo (now Kalimantan), was the stage of battles between units of the Royal Dutch-Indies Army (KNIL) and the Japanese attackers. The oilfields of Tarakan produced 6 million barrels a year. According to the English Wikipedia there were 700 oil wells on and around the island. There was a refinery and an airfield. The Japanese attack was specifically aimed at the oil resources of Tarakan and Balikpapan, 700 kilometres south of Tarakan. The Netherlands-Indies troops in Tarakan, about 1,300 men, comprised two platoons of engineers. Jan Willem van den Belt was a first lieutenant here. After fierce resistance against a superior force of about 6,600 Japanese, the garrison surrendered. During the days before the submarine K-X had escaped (see www.dutchsubmarines.com; also see Jan Frederik Haayen*); the minelayer Prince of Orange was torpedoed. The son of J.W. Jongkind, drilling master trainee in the Netherlands-Indies (1939-1942), tells the following story about the defence of Tarakan:
Burning oilwells at Tarakan (picture: www.voeks.nl)
"A destruction unit trained for this purpose entered the oil fields and destroyed all installations. One of the Dutch men later said: "The noise of the battle was lost in the noise of the fire. The air filled with smoke with flames flashing through. Thirty years of work out the window. And commander De Waal, who tried his best to keep up the morale, shouted: "Who would ever have thought that a poor officer would spend 30 million guilders in one night." The Dutch kept the Japs at bay until the second part of the destruction plan could be completed. That was the destruction of the large oil tanks which carried about 100,000 tons of petroleum. These were also set on fire. The fierce noise of the flames drowned out all other sounds, a witness reported. "It was an awful sight; burning oil flowing slowly towards the coast through the canals we made. Everything in the vicinity was lost, the tarmac roads, the houses, the harbour installations - and the burning oil flowed quite far into the sea", he said. Two days after the Japanese landing the destruction was finished and commander De Waal and his battered troops surrendered. Among them were 40 women, the wives of Dutch and Indonesian soldiers and nurses. They refused to leave Tarakan when it became a battle ground because they wanted to take care of the wounded". As punishment for the destruction of the oil installations, all prisoners were executed by the Japanese forces. Two survivors had to bring the message to Balikpapan as a warning.
Borneo 1945 (picture: www.ibiblio.org)
Brunei (upper arrow), Tarakan (middle), Balikpapan (lower arrow)
As lieutenant of the engineers Van den Belt was probably mainly responsible for the destruction of the installations. Posthumously Van den Belt received the distinction of the Bronze Lion. This second highest military distinction is given for acts of great bravery and ingenuity. Jan Willem van den Belt is buried at the large field of honour in Leuwigajah near Bandoeng (Java).
Additional sources:
www.onderscheidingen.nl
English Wikipedia
www.voeks.nl
www.geocities.com
Grave C.M. Debrot (picture: www.ogs.nl)
Charles Marius Debrot, born in Curaçao, March 17, 1920, died May 10 1940 in the battle for the airport Ockenburg in Loosduinen/The Hague (for this battle see also Maduro). He was reserve sergeant of the Regiment Jagers (1-I), and was reburied after the war on the military field of honour the Grebbeberg near Rhenen.
Additonal source: vliegveld-ockenburg.net
Mordechai ('Marco') Chaim Gandelman
Marco Gandelman (Picture: Gandelman family)
Marco Gandelman was born in 1919 in Rumania. Around 1930 his parents emigrated to Curaçao. In the late thirties his father Haim sent him to a Jewish religious school, a ‘yeshiva’, in Amsterdam. This probably was the Dutch-Israelic Seminary. The orthodox-Jewish Seminary trained students to become leading singer, rabbi or religious teacher. The seminary's archives were lost during the war. In November 1945 the Red Cross reported that Mordechai had been held prisoner in Germany, Stammlager VIII (nr. 46030), which means he was being treated as a military prisoner. This Stammlager is called Cieszyn (Teschen) and is situated 30 km south-west of Auschwitz, on the Polish-Czech border. According to family members in Curaçao and Peru, Mordechai died in this prisoner-of-war camp. After the war, an Antillean who was also held prisoner there, Isac Yohai, reported that Mordechai died of typhoid.
Sources: The Gandelman family; Isaac S. and suzanne A. Emmanuel, 'History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles'. Cincinatti 1970 (p.501, 1103).
Jan Frederik Haayen, born in Willemstad, Curaçao, April 3, 1919, a lieutenant at sea 2nd class, died on the 15th of December 1941 in the South Chinese Sea, together with almost the entire crew of the submarine O16. It is unknown when Haayen became a crew member.
Submarine O16, the bridge (picture: www.dutchsubmarines.com)
Her Majesty's submarine O16 was built between the end of 1933 and early 1936 at the Schelde shipyard in Flushing, The Netherlands, and was the first one made of steel (see wikipedia.org). In 1939 the O16 was attached to the Netherlands-Indies fleet. It left Den Helder on the 24th of April and arrived on the 5th of June. Stock harbours were Tandjong Priok and Surabaja. At the end of 1941 the O16 was assigned to the first division of the submarine flotilla, which consisted of a total of 15 operational ships. Despite many losses, the flotilla would become very successful (see www.dutchsubmarines.com). Lieutenant at sea 1st class A.J. Bussemaker was the commander and the O16 was his flagship. Home port was Sambas in Borneo, near the border with the British part of the island and across from Singapore.
On December 1, 1941, the first and second divisions of the flotilla were placed under British command. The Japanese threat on Netherlands-Indies oil resources was to be repelled with British(-East Indian) and Australian help (see Van den Belt at Tarakan). Singapore became the home port. The O16 and the K XVII had to patrol the eastern coast of Malakka (now Malaysia) in the South-Chinese Sea. The first patrol took place on 6 December. A day later Japan started the surprise attack on Thailand, Malakka, Shanghai, Hongkong and Singapore, and destroyed the American fleet in Pearl Harbour. The exiled Dutch government followed the United States and declared war on Japan. Now it had become a straight wartime patrol. The O16 and other Dutch submarines in Singapore were ordered to disrupt the expected Japanese invasion in Malakka and Thailand. The Japanese started on 8 December with bombardments and landing troops near the Malaysian coastal town of Khota Baru and the nearby Thai harbours of Pattani and Songkla. The British cruisers Prince of Wales and Repulse were destroyed by Japanese bombers on the 10th of December. Despite the enormous success of the Japanese blitzkrieg, the O16 managed to damage the troop transport ship Ayatosan Maru (9788 tons) and/or the Sakura Maru (7170 tons). The soldiers landed in Khota Baru on the 8th of December. Two days later the O16 attacked several Japanese ships in the shallow bay of Pattani on the east coast of Thailand; by that time they also had finished landing the troops. The Tosan Maru (8666 tons), Asosan Maru (8812 tons) and Kinka Maru (9306) partly sank. Later they would be repared. Cornelis de Wolf later reported: "On the 10th of December we observed a Japanese merchant ship which carried a light on the rear stern. This blunder made it easy for us to follow the ship to the bay of Patani. Commander Bussemaker decided to enter the bay... There were four Japanese ships which formed a crescent. First we took a shot at the bow and then at the stern. We used six torpedoes which all were full hits! The ships sank only partially though, because the bay was not deep enough, 8-10 meters... We managed to leave the bay unseen and set course to Singapore." (www.dutchsubmarines.com)
On the 13th of December the O16 returned with one torpedo left. Two days later, at 2.30 hours, the submarine hit a Japanese mine near the island of Tioman. On the 7th of December the Japanese had laid a line of seamines near the entrance of the Gulf of Siam (now Gulf of Thailand). Around the 21st of December the K XVIII would hit the line, with fatal consequences. The O16 almost split in two and sank. All but one of the 42 crew members died. Most of them, including Jan Frederik Haayen, died or drowned immediately. A little more is known about five of the men. Bosun Cor de Wolf reports:
Location wreck O16, 200 km above Singapore (picture: www.dutchsubmarines.com)
"On Sunday the 14th of December, around midnight, I took over the watch on the bridge as a helmsman. There were six of us. We were all focused on flashes of light in the distance. There was probably a battle going on. At about two o'clock in the morning we saw a search light just above the horizon. The commander changed course ... and went straight for the light, somewhere near the island before the coast of Malaysia. It happened around 2.30 hours. A thunderclap smashed me against the wall. Within a minute our dear O16 disappeared in the waves. I saw the commander and an officer trying to close the hatch from the gun dome, and I myself was desperately trying to free my jacket from the debris of the mine in which it was stuck. The jacket tore and I landed in the water, alone." Cor found four more men alive and they started swimming towards the island of Tioman: lieutenant at sea 2nd class Jeekel, engineer corporal Bos and seamen Van Tol en Kruijdenhof. One after the other they had to give up and drowned, after 18 hours Bos drowned as well. De Wolf persevered and after another 20 hours of swimming he managed to reach an uninhabited island off the coast. A boy with a boat who accidentally happened to pass by rescued him. The villagers came to his aid. A number of them fleed from the Japanese and after a long journey through the jungle they found an Australian reconnaissance scout who brought Cor de Wolf to Singapore. The Japanese attack moved on and Singapore fell on the 15th of February 1942. The submarine flotilla stayed in action operating from Java and later on from Australia.
Plaque at the naval base in Den Helder (picture: www.ogs.nl)
Additonal sources:
www.unithistories.com/units_index/default.asp?file=../units_dutch/navy_gunboats.asp)
www.dutchsubmarines.com/men/men_dodenherdenking_2003.htm
www.wikipedia.org
Carel Zacharias de Haseth (Curaçao, 1908-1979) obtained his first mate's diploma in naval college and worked as a pilot in Curaçao. During the mobilization in 1939 he joined the Dutch army. He witnessed the capitulation and subsequently joined the resistance. De Haseth was arrested and deported to a Polish labour camp. He was liberated by the Russian army.
George R. Henar (Aruba/Surinam, 1902-1978). Major engineer of the Royal Navy aboard HMS 'Flores'. During the May-days of 1940 the Flores was anchored near Flushing. On the 14th of May it assisted the stronghold in Zuid Beveland with artillery fire. On the 17th of May 1940 the Flores (together with the Van Meerlant) managed to escape to Dover in England. During the first years of war the Flores served mainly in convoys. In total the Flores escorted 3,070 ships, 2,690 of them along the eastern coast of England. On the 4th of June 1943 the Flores left for the Mediterranean to join Operation Husky, the landings on Sicily. Here she joined HMS Soemba. Both ships distinguished themselves by cold-blooded firing at various targets. The allies called the two gunboats the 'Terrible Twins'. IN January 1944 the naval ships assisted with the landings at Anzio and Formia. In March they returned to England to prepare for the invasion of Normandy. Meanwhile, on the 9th of March 1944 in London, the crew members were given the Bronze Cross by Queen Wilhelmina. During the invasion of Normandy the Flores started in the Gold-sector. They disabled a German battery near Arromanches.
HMS Flores off the coast of Normandy (picture: www.strijdbewijs.nl)
From 12 to 30 June the Flores assisted in the Sword-sector. On the 7th of August the gunboat returned to England, where it was laid up in Shadwell Basin until March 29, 1946. On the first of April 1946 HMS Flores returned to the Netherlands. George Henar stayed in the Navy and served as a lieutenant at sea. He also received the War Remembrance Cross.
Additional sources: www.onderscheidingen.nl, www.wikipedia.org, www.strijdbewijs.nl
Wilhelmus Siegfried van Meeteren from Curaçao (1918), like George Maduro also in the military in May 1940, was taken prisoner of war. After his release he studied economics at the Rotterdam Economic Academy. In order to keep the family of his sister, where he stayed, out of harms way, he reported for the ‘Arbeitseinsatz’ and via camp Ommen landed in Berlin (compare Hugo van Win, paragraph Gays in war and resistance). In the factory he worked together with Polish, Russians, Italians and French. He also worked as an interpreter. There he developed a different view of colour and racial prejudice which was also widespread in the Antilles.
Henny Veeris (Curaçao - Netherlands May 1940). Henny died while serving in the Dutch army during the German invasion.
Non-military victims
Oscar Beaujon (Curaçao 1923) was a student in Utrecht during the war. In December 1942 the occupiers demanded from the universities a list of students in order to have them sent to Germany for 'forced labour'. The universities refused. The occupiers then gave the students a so-called 'loyalty declaration' to sign. Those who did not sign had to report for 'Arbeitseinsatz' (forced labour). Eighty-five percent of the students refused to sign. Beaujon went into hiding and survived.
Isaac ('Sjakie') de Castro Yohai (Curaçao) studied law in Holland. He was a descendant of a well-known Jewish family. In 1942 he fled via France to Spain, together with Ernest Cohen Henriquez*. After the war he returned to the Antilles where he became attorney general. (www.sefarad.org/publication/lm/042/2.html)
Ernest ('Onchi') Cohen Henriquez (Curaçao 1917-2004). During the years 1940-1942 Ernest completed his law study in the Netherlands. Like Isaac de Castro he descended from a well-known Jewish family. Together they fled to France. There he was arrested twice. His father, together with the father of Ernest's colleague George Maduro*, suggested to Queen Wilhelmina to exchange both imprisoned sons for Germans interned in Bonaire. The London gouvernment felt that this was too risky. Ernest was released through mediation of a Spanish friend of the family - Maduro was not. From Cadiz Henriquez managed to get to Curaçao. For a long time he worked there as notary at law. In 1969 mr. Cohen Henriquez established himself in the Netherlands. In 1974 he became professor of notarial law at the University of Groningen (www.madurolibrary.org/html/library/books/). Prof. mr. Cohen Henriquez was one of the most important advisors of OcaN (Consultative Body for Caribbean Dutch) (www.ocan.nl/management/).
Cola Debrot, Utrecht 1936 (picture: www.dbnl.org) Cola Debrot at a later age (picture: www.debezigebij.nl)
Nicolaas ('Cola') Debrot (Kralendijk, Bonaire, 4 May 1902 - Amsterdam, 3 December 1981). Writer, doctor, diplomat and governor. As a child Nicolaas moved with his parents to Curaçao and Caracas. His father owned a plantation in Bonaire, his mother came from Venezuela. Cola attended highschool ('gymnasium') in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in 1921 he started his study of law in Utrecht. There Cola befriended the poets Martinus Nijhoff and Jan Engelman and the painter Pyke Koch. Between 1928 and 1931 Debrot lived and worked in Paris where he was a ghostwriter. There he met his future wife, the American singer Estelle Reed. Back in Holland Cola studied medicine. The year 1935 was his debut as a writer with the short story 'My Sister the Negro', which later on was considered the beginning of Dutch-Antillean literature. Debrot became a doctor and practiced in Amsterdam during the war. From his home he stencilled and spread underground pamphlets and also committed other acts of resistance. Early in 1945 he was visited regularly by the writer W.F. Hermans. He took him to his patients under the name of 'Doctor Klondike', which Hermans later reworked into a short story. After the war Cola Debrot set up a medical practice in Curaçao. He also became active in politics, and in 1952 he came to The Hague as minister with full powers of the Netherlands Antilles. Between 1962 and 1970 he was governor of the Antilles. After this period he went back to Holland. The last years of his life he stayed in the Rosa Spier house in Laren, sometimes suffering from severe depression.
Extra source: www.wikipedia.org
Antonie Joseph Philip de Haseth Möller (Curaçao 1916-1979). Like many boys from the Antillean upper class, Antonie went to Holland to attend university. He studied law in Leiden and worked in business until 1941. During the war he was part of the student resistance. He tried to get to England but, during one of these attempts, in August 1943, was arrested in Southern France and sent to the German concentration camp Buchenwald. De Haseth Möller survived the camp and after the war he worked as a secretary to the Court-Martial in Britain. In 1948 he became clerk of the court in Curaçao, and two years later substitute public prosecutor. Between October 1955 and October 1957 de Haseth Möller was substitute-judge in Rotterdam. During that time he also was a member of the Netherlands Antilles court of justice (1957-1961). In June 1962 he became substitute-judge with the Court in Amsterdam and short time later judge of the Court in Haarlem.
Additional source: http://66.197.141.254/burhoven/recht-h.htm
Luís de Lannoy (Curaçao 1919-1971) as mentioned earlier, was a friend and mentor of Boy Ecury. Luís was the son of a pharmacist in Curaçao and was a student in Tilburg at the beginning of the Second World War. He joined the student resistance and for some time worked at a distribution office, in order to obtain food coupons for people who went underground. He also distributed underground pamphlets and made plans to sabotage German trucks with factory-goods. Ecury executed the assaults with firebombs. Lannoy was betrayed and arrested on the 12th of February 1944, and transported to Utrecht prison. During an interrogation the German guards pushed him through a window, causing glass splinters to enter his head. An attempt by Boy Ecury to liberate him failed. On September 5, 1944, ‘Mad Tuesday’, he managed to escape on his own.
Delfincio Navarro studied law in Holland during the war. Through Antillean student friends he became a member of the resistance (see Boy Ecury and Tirso Sprockel). Their communications were often in Papiamentu. After the war Navarro went back to the Antilles and worked there as a jurist (see also www.wikipedia.org).
Tirso (Pedro Tirso Maria) Sprockel (Curaçao, 28 January 1916 - 23 September 2007) was another Antillean student in Holland. He made his house into an underground refuge for Jews and allied pilots. It formed a chain in the escape route via Spain to England. George Maduro* was also involved in this, and would try himself (unsuccessfully) to escape to England in June 1943. Sprockel was arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst (German Security Police) af few times, but set free because of lack of evidence.
Also see wikipedia.org
After the war he married Wilhelmina (Minette) G.M. Dudar (Tilburg, 11 August 1913 - Curaçao, 20 July 1997). Sprockel, a linguist, would later dedicate himself to the study of Papiamentu (www.papiamentu.nl). Together with his cousin Aminta da Costa Gomez he was actively involved with disabled youngsters on Curaçao. In 1986 a training centre for mentally disabled youngsters was named after him. Tirso Sprockel was highly decorated. He died on 23 September 2007, at the age of 91.
The Future of the Antilles
Tirso Sprockel and some fellow-students, among them Delfincio Navarro* and Boy Ecury*, had many discussions about the future of the Antilles. They were critical about the position of influential Jewish businessmen and bankers like Maduro, Curiel, Henriquez and Cohen. They wanted more opportunities for ‘the real Curaçaoan’ – which ofcourse included themselves. The brave students were not free of anti-semitism but did help Jews go into hiding and escape.
Plantage Bloemhof, Tirso Sprockel 5th (Source: www.bloemhof.an>
Carlos Alberto Winkel (Curaçao 1914). Winkel studied medicine in Leiden, where he obtained his doctors degree with a thesis on rheumatism in children. Like Oscar Beaujon* he refused to sign the loyalty declaration and joined the resistance. After the war he became a pediatrician on his island of birth. In 1975 he was appointed adjunct professor in pediatrics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Antillean Jews in Camp Westerbork
The various memorial sites list four Curaçaoan victims of the genocide on the Jewish people, as well as a woman who was born in 1920 on the island of Saba (Indonesia), but came from a Surinam family: Thelma Polak (see Surinam). Finally, two Jewish students can be named who lost their lives in a nazi-camp because of their service in the Dutch Army and/or their role in the resistance: Mordechai Gandelman and George John Lionel Maduro (see above).
- Edgard Alvares Correa. Born in Curaçao, November 22, 1880. Since 31 March 1917 Edgar Alvares was a patient in the psychiatric hospital Willem Arentszhoeve in Den Dolder, Zeist. The website 'Joods Monument' lists 14 patients and 2 staff at the W.A.-hoeve. On 2 February 1943 the first raid took place. On 27 November the raid vans returned. Because of fierce resistance by the staff, the occupiers were forced to retreat. They returned on 13 December. Twelve patients were captured and deported via camp Westerbork to Auschwitz. Edgar Alvares Correa died there on March 26, 1944, at the age of 63.
Additional source: www.rhoen.nl/oorlogsmonumenten/OorlogsmonumentenZeist.pdf
- Carolina van Lissa-van Lissa. Born in Curaçao, February 13, 1864. Last known address: Stadhouderslaan 4, The Hague. She died in Auschwitz December 15, 1942, at the age of 78. Mrs. Van Lissa was a widow. She lived together with a relative, Renette Victorine van Lissa (Kampen, December 8, 1886), who was also killed in Auschwitz on the same day.
- Abigaël Santcroos. Born in Curaçao, December 29, 1865. Last known adress: Central Israeli Jewish Psychiatric Hospital ‘Het Apeldoornse Bos’, Zutphensestraat 106, Apeldoorn. From the site of the Jewish Monument: ‘In the night of 21 to 22 January 1943, the Apeldoornse Bos was 'emptied'. The name of Mrs. Santcroos is number 33 on the list along with patients and other victims from the Shoah. She was among to the eldest inhabitants.
The young woman Thelma Polak is also on the list from ‘Het Apeldoornse Bos’. She may have been a nurse.
picture: www.oudapeldoorn.nl
What happened?
The following fragments are from 'Ondergang: De vervolging en verdelging van het Nederlandse Jodendom 1940-1945') by Dr. J. Presser (Aspekt, Soesterberg, I p.322-330, 2005) (www.dbnl.org/tekst). "Some figures? On the 31st of December 1942 there were almost 1,100 male and female patients in ‘Het Apeldoornse Bos’ (Apeldoorn Woods), which number was likely the same on the day of the catastrophe; the nursing, household and technical staff consisted of 400 to 500 persons; about a hundred of them must have gone underground. Only a dozen of them returned from deportation. There were 74 boys and 20 girls, according to some other sources a few more in the 'Achisomog' Institute; what became of these children, with severe behavioural and mental deficiencies, does not need further explanation.
The decisive order to clear the institute was given to Harster via Zöpf from Berlin, in this case from Eichmann, who sent a train of 25 wagons to deport the patients …. On Januari 19, Wielek states, ‘the Apeldoorn chief of police in talks with the residents and the medical superintendent declares that the institute will be 'freed of Jews'."
But from more than one document from that time it can be derived, that there were also people in the institution, who stayed there sort of 'undercover' … which was almost certain for a number of so-called student nurses; with a few other people who had gone underground. But many of the healthy left with the patients and shared their fate…
As soon as the loading of the trucks began, things got completely out of hand. Often the people were beaten and kicked to get them into the trucks; children were no exception. A lot of them were only half dressed. ‘I saw myself that patients, mostly elderly women, were placed on matrasses into a truck with the next human load on top’, reports an eyewitness…
Early next morning, Aus der Fünten called upon volunteers among the nursing staff, to join the trip. Twenty came foreward and he himself picked out 30 more; they were assembled in a separate wagon, which was hooked onto the back of the others. They were given assurance they could return afterwards or work voluntarily in a modern hospital. None of them survived. Neither did the patients…
Except for the fifty already mentioned, the Germans transported the staff to Westerbork. Or the first 300, who according to an eyewitness arrived singing... only half a dozen survived. The administrative staff stayed in the institution with the superintendent until the first of February. Only two of these 30 people survived; the super intendant also died…
‘After the SS-men did their jobs, they went for their pay; they looted every building. Nothing was spared. What all these buildings looked like after this looting is indescribable…’
Abigaël Santcroos died in Auschwitz, on the 25th of Januari 1943, at the age of 77. Surinam born Thelma Polak (22) was gassed six weeks later, on March 5, 1943, in Sobibor.
On April 23, 1990 former Queen Juliana unveiled a monument at the main entrance of the complex. ‘The tragic end of Het Apeldoornsche Bosch (Apeldoorn Forest), popularly called the 'Jewish Forest', is symbolised in a modest but moving monument in the Prinsenpark, with the inscription ‘Never have I loved so bitterly what was taken from us’, a quote from a poem by Ida Gerhardt (article by Wim Nijhof, ‘Schuylenburg looks like a small town’, www.sheerenloo.nl - Spectrum 2005).
- Guillermito Aniceto Ster. Born in Curaçao, April 17, 1888. Last adress Oranje Nassaustraat 8a in Hillegersberg (Rotterdam). Guillermito was married to Rebecca Sanders (Rotterdam, 1 April 1900). He died in camp Oranienburg (Sachsenhausen) on the 13th of January 1943, at the age of 54. Three months earlier, on 22 October 1942, Rebecca was killed in Auschwitz, at the age of 42.
A JOKOS-file (number 7588) of this household is present at the Council Archives of Amsterdam. The existence of this file indicates that after the war a claim was filed with the German Government because of the stolen inventory. - Guillermito Aniceto Ster. Born in Curaçao, April 17, 1888. Last adress Oranje Nassaustraat 8a in Hillegersberg (Rotterdam). Guillermito was married to Rebecca Sanders (Rotterdam, 1 April 1900). He died in camp Oranienburg (Sachsenhausen) on the 13th of January 1943, at the age of 54. Three months earlier, on 22 October 1942, Rebecca was killed in Auschwitz, at the age of 42.
Sources / Additional reading
See also Verhalen (Stories):
Abigaël Santcroos and Thelma Polak in 'Het Apeldoornse Bos'
Ad van den Oord: Allochtonen van nu en de oorlog van toen (Todays Immigrants and Yesteryear's War)
Isaac S. and Suzanne A. Emmanuel, History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles. Cincinnati 1970, p. 501.
weblog.donamaro.nl
www.veteranen-online.nl
www.fleetairarmarchive.net
www.geocities.com/Athens
www.geocities.com/Pentagon
www.nik.nl
Overall sources / Additional reading
Todays Immigrants and Yesteryear's War - Marocco, the Netherlands Antilles, Surinam and Turkey in the Second World War (in Dutch)
Ad van den Oord, SDU/Forum 2003, isbn 90-5409-420-6
Moroccans fighting in the clay of Zeeland. Antillean students in the Dutch resistance. Surinam volunteers to the East Indies, Jewish refugees (not) to the West Indies. Turkey as the only bridge to Palestine…
The Second World War turned everything upside down. Human masses were set adrift by military service, deportation, invasion, or flight. Usually this meant suffering but it was also a challenge to think about one's own loyalty and identity. How were Dutch immigrants involved in the war and how are they experiencing this today? Every group has its own story, that much is clear. But if we really want to understand each other, we also have to share each others' past.
'Todays Immigrants and Yesteryear's War' is a first step. The Dutch Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) investigated on behalf of FORUM, Institute for Multicultural Development, the military, economical and political involvement of Morocco, Turkey, Surinam, and the Netherlands Antilles during the Second World War. This publication puts the mutual past of Dutch and several immigrant groups in the Netherlands in the spotlight.
World War in the West - Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba 1940-1945 (in Dutch).
Publication in connection with the exposition of the same name in the Resistance Museum Amsterdam, from 29 June 2004 - 28 November 2004. Liesbeth van der Horst - Publisher: Verloren in co-operation with the Resistance Museum Amsterdam, ISBN 90-6550-794-9
History of the Jews of the Netherlands Antilles - Isaac S. and Suzanne A. Emmanuel, Cincinnati 1970
Data private collection John T.S. Brouwer de Koning v. 5.3
Gandelman family
Anne Frank Stichting
www.engelfriet.net
www.verzet.org
www.verzetsmuseum.org/west
www.verzetsmuseum.org/go-west
DutchJewry
Joods Monument
Lo Tisjkach
Oorlogsgravenstichting