A Sporting Hell During World War II

When I say sporting hell, I don’t mean a hell caused by war violence, but caused by a sporting event during extreme weather conditions. The Dutch always loved their sports, especially ice skating is very popular, Something like a war would not even stop that.

The Elfstedentocht (English: Eleven Cities Tour) is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost 200 kilometres (120 mi) long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a leisure tour (with 16,000 skaters). The Elfstedentocht is the ice-skating tour in the world. The event is in the province of Friesland in the Northeast part of the Netherlands. The scheduling is only after a prolonged period of severe frost.

After the Sixth Eleven Cities Tour in 1940 and the Seventh Eleven Cities Tour in 1941, virtually no one expected two years in a row organization again. However, in the winter of 1941/42—the frost was even more severe than in the previous two years. Objections that the German occupation would not make the race possible were, as in 1941, put aside. Taking part in sports was not made impossible for political reasons. After all, it fitted in with the German philosophy that physically strong boys could later be useful for the Arbeitseinsatz.

On 22 January 1942, after a long spell of frost, the Elfstedentocht was held again. As many as 4,800 skaters signed up. The atmosphere was extraordinary. Being together in Friesland, free from the Germans with their rules and bans, gave the participants a feeling of solidarity. The Germans could barely comprehend the Dutch fervency for the skating marathon. Given they had little control over the crowded event, they chose not to interfere. In 1942, Sietze de Groot of Weidum won the race. He skated the 200 kilometres in a record time: 8 hours and 44 minutes. Like all the others since 1912—the names—Auke Adema and Sietze de Groot—were engraved on the coveted silver trophy cup that passes from winner to winner, which is still the custom today.

In contrast to the year before and the first five editions of the Eleven Cities Tour, the route raced in the opposite direction and would always return that way afterwards. The route was not well marked everywhere, which meant that entire groups took a wrong course in the darkness of night—eliminating many favourites. Sietze de Groot, an excellent short track rider from Weidum, Netherlands, knew the way. De Groot, with Dirk de Jong from Huizum and Jan van der Bij from Julianadorp in North Holland, sprinted for victory in Leeuwarden. De Groot was by far the fastest.

It took them nearly 9 hours to finish the race—9 hours in severe frost.

Sources

Elfstedentocht Challenge Cup

https://www.noordhollandsdagblad.nl/cnt/dmf20210117_58796059?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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The Leeuwarden Beer Riots

In the Middle Ages, beer was the drink of the people. ‘Ordinary’ rain and canal water was not safe to drink. Because the drink had to be heated during the production process, the barley juice contained fewer harmful bacteria than water and was therefore healthier. It is estimated that the average Frisian drank as much as 275 to 300 litres per year by the end of the Middle Ages, an average of just under a litre per day. This beer was often brewed at home and contained only a very low alcohol percentage.

The reason why I mentioned Frisian in the previous paragraph is because Leeuwarden is the Frisian capital. Friesland is a Northwestern province in the Netherlands.

In keeping with the divided nature between their external rulers and their internal governance, the provinces of the Netherlands developed from traditional tribal areas, maintaining their own customs and often their own languages. Even today, the Netherlands recognizes Dutch, Frisian, and Limburgish as official and distinct languages.

On 21 January 1435, the city of Leeuwarden became one of the villages of Aldehou and Hoek. Before that time, Leeuwarden consisted only of Nijehou, which lay on the terp of the Middelzee. This amalgamation was subject to a few conditions:

• No citizen of Holland should ever be allowed
  civil rights in the new city.

This condition was probably directed against the powerful lord of Hoek, Pieter van Cammingha. Previously, Pieter had negotiated with the Holland count. The Camminghas had a lot of money and power. They owned no less than six stinzen (the first stone houses were called stone houses and later shortened to stinzen).

• In the city of Leeuwarden, no beer other than
  Leeuwarden beer was allowed to be served,
  so only beer was brewed in the city.

The mighty beer brewers’ guild must have tried everything to make this obligation valid for the whole year, but they never quite succeeded. Because much more beer was drunk in the summer than in the winter, it was agreed that other beer could also be sold in Leeuwarden in the summer. For a few years, this rule was deviated from and it was therefore also forbidden to drink ‘beer from outside’ in Leeuwarden in the summer.

Thus it came to pass in the early summer of 1487 that the town leaders of Leeufwarden determined that to protect the business interest of the local brewers (and the city’s tax revenue from brewing), it would be necessary to ban the importation of all beers not brewed within the city. They further banned the selling of any existing stocks of foreign beers — a move that did not sit well with the local tavern owners.

Matters came to a head on July 24, a market day, when a large number of farmers were in the city to sell their produce who desired to quench their thirst before heading home, prevailed upon a local tavernkeeper to open his stock of Haarlem Beer. When the incident was reported to the authorities, an attempt was made to arrest the tavernkeeper and expel his patrons, who were now well fortified with the strong brew. A general riot ensued, and in the following days, citizens from neighbouring towns, estimated to number more than 8,000, besieged the city hall demanding that the ban on imported beer end.

On Monday 25 July, the army of 8,000 set out for Leeuwarden. At three o’clock in the afternoon, an attack was launched in the vicinity of the Gardens with explosive violence. However, the Leeuwarders were on edge and braced themselves. They fought back, but soon a second attack followed. The Leeuwarders also managed to repel that attack. Then there was a third wave of attacks. With deafening noise, a hurricane of violence pounds on the Leeuwarden defence line, which was weakened at this stage. The people of Leeuwarden were forced to withdraw, and the attackers entered the city en masse. There were many deaths.

While today, the Netherlands is recognized as a unified country, through much of its history the country has been more often divided than not.

sources

https://www.dekroonopleeuwarden.frl/het-bloedstollende-liwwadder-bieroproer-uit-1487/?age-verified=9b0011ed6b

https://www.thecenterforruleoflaw.org/rule-of-law-blog/july-24-1487-the-leeuwarden-beer-strike-begins

Escape to Victory

I wasn’t sure what to call this post. I had considered the title “Mission Impossible” but I did go with “Escape to Victory.”

On 8 December 1944, the KP (Knok Ploeg-boxing crew) resistance group in Friesland managed to liberate 51 members of the resistance from the Blokhuispoort, the detention centre in Leeuwarden, without any escalation or any shots. The event is also known as ‘de Kraak’.(the raid The BS in Friesland had already indicated that a plan had to be made for a robbery, but there had not yet been any reason to carry it out. Piet Oberman took the lead here. The plan was well prepared with the help of intelligence from guards about the prison and information about the (reliability of) the guards themselves.

The plan was drawn up by Piet Oberman (resistance name Piet Kramer), Willem Stegenga and Egbert Bultsma. It had to be carried out in such a way that the Germans and their accomplices would not notice. The head office of the Landwacht (a Dutch Nazi paramilitary organization) was a stone’s throw away. The headquarters of the SD was quite a distance away and the Wehrmacht was stationed at Leeuwarden airfield. That is why there were no shots should be fired.

The immediate reason for the operation was the arrest of several resistance fighters in November 1944. One of them was Klaas Leijenaar, who was closely involved in the resistance newspaper De Koerier and had a large network. It was precisely because of that network that the resistance fighter was interesting to the Germans. If they got Leijenaar to talk, a large part of the Frisian resistance could be rounded up.

On the nights of 18-19 November 1944, Jurjen Dreeuws, a police inspector who played a major role in the Frisian resistance, was also arrested. It was clear to the Knokploeg (KP), the armed branch of the resistance, that something had to be done. It was known that the arrested resistance members would be tortured in the Blokhuispoort. It soon became apparent that Dreeuws had gone crazy during his first weekend in captivity and had called names. This in turn led to new arrests. The chance that more resistance members would ‘break ‘ under great pressure, which would put the occupier on the trail of other resistance members, was by no means inconceivable.

On December 8, 1944, at a quarter to six, two policemen with three prisoners and a warrant for confinement presented themselves at the prison. The guard of the House of Detention received a phone call shortly before that three black marketeers would be delivered. The policemen and the three prisoners were in reality members of the Frisian gang. Inside the gate, they overpowered the guards and let in other members of the gang. During the raid, 51 people, including many members of the resistance, were freed from their cells. Not a single shot was fired.

Remarkably the Germans were not able to find any of the escaped prisoners. Raids are held, but due to a well-organized network of resistance fighters, the liberated prisoners were never found. There were no reprisals either. Why that did not happen is unclear.

In 1962 the story was made into a movie, titled “De Overval” (the raid) which became one of the most successful movies in Dutch cinemas, with close to 1.5 million visitors.

Dutch actor Hans Culeman who played the German officer Grundmann in the movie was born in Germany and spoke fluent German. He was surprised by this movie. Till then nobody knew of his German descent. Both Hans Tiemeijer ( the doctor) and Rob de Vries (Piet Kramer) had been in the resistance in the Netherlands during World War II.

Although my Mother’s family is from Friesland, I actually was not aware of this story.

sources

https://friesland.75jaarvrijheid.nl/1944/2429566/overval-op-huis-van-bewaring-leeuwarden

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056321/?ref_=tt_mv_close

https://oorlogsverhalen.com/themas/overval-huis-van-bewaring-leeuwarden/

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=8%20december&rows=1&page=1

http://www.spanvis.nl/Bevrijding%20gevangenis%20Leeuwarden/index.html

https://www.jaarvanverzet.nl/verzetsactie/overval-op-huis-bewaring-leeuwarden/

Overval op de Blokhuispoort in Leeuwarden (1944)

Murdered Children

Eva and Bram, born in 1932 and 1934, were the children of Hartog Beem and Retje Kannewasser in Leeuwarden. At the end of 1942, and at least until May 1943, Eva and Bram were still in-hiding in the Veluwe, at ‘De Zwarte Boer’ near Elspeet. The children were arrested in February 1944 and 6 March 1944, murdered at Auschwitz.

Bram and Eva’s parents, Hartog Beem and Retje Kannewasser survived the war by going into hiding.

Jansje and Benjamin Pais from Harlingen. The picture was taken shortly before deportation in 1942. Jansje was born in Harlingen on 31 March 1933. Benjamin was born in Harlingen on 8 November 1934. Both children were murdered on 23 November 1943 in Auschwitz.

Frits and Helen Sophie Reindorp, the photograph was saved by neighbours after the family was deported. They were hoping they could return the picture after the war. Unfortunately, no one of the family returned.

Frits Reindorp was born in Leeuwarden on 16 October 1934 and murdered in Auschwitz on 2 November 1942. Helen Sophie Reindorp was born in Leeuwarden on 11 May 1936 and murdered in Auschwitz on 2 November 1942.

Only after I put the photographs together did I realise that all these sets of siblings were from Friesland, in the Northwest of the Netherlands. It is the province my maternal grandparents were from. They moved to Limburg in the Southeast of the Netherlands in the late 1920s. All of those children could have easily been related to me.

Sources

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Jansje-Pais/01/27964

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Benjamin-Rapha%c3%abl-Pais/02/114517

https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/131714/frits-reindorp

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/b746191c-025a-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464/media/6bdfb1a8-8361-5d60-e28d-918488be1daa?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=Auschwitz&rows=1&page=63

Who is an immigrant? I am one.

The buzzword nowadays is “immigrants” and in hardly any context it is used in a positive way. Here is the thing though, who is an immigrant?

This is just a micro snapshot in history. It is basically a background of my family well at least from my Mother’s side.

The picture at the start of the blog is a picture of the marriage certificate of my maternal grandparents. They got married on December 28,1915.

The groom Durk Jager, the bride Tetje Hoekstra. They lived and were married in a small village in Friesland, in the Northwest of the Netherlands. The village Harkema-opeinde was part of the wider municipality of Achtkarspelen.

It was a rural place and there was not much work to be got. In Limburg, in the Southeast of the Netherlands, there was plenty  of work though. This was because of the ‘black gold’, coal . In the early part of the 20th century. Between 1906 and 1926 coal mines were opened in the most southern province bringing with it job opportunities, not just only in the coal industry but also in the wider economy.

The biggest and the last one to be opened was States mine Maurits in Geleen, which opened in 1926.

That was the call for my grand parents to pack up things and uproot the family for a journey southward to Geleen. Even though the Netherlands is just a small country, in the 1920s a journey like that was the equivalent of emigrating to the US or Canada nowadays.

I used the term emigrating because that is what they were doing. The place they were going to was alien to them. Coming from Friesland they had their own language, a different culture and also a different religion, Friesland being a predominantly Protestant province where Limburg was a predominantly Catholic province. Even the landscape was different.

The new immigrants arrived in Limburg and had to adapt to a new way of life.My Grandparents weren’t the only ones to leave Friesland, because of the lack of work in Friesland a great number of Frisians chanced their luck in the hilly area of the Southern part of Limburg.

I am an immigrant too, because I left that same hilly area of southern Limburg for the emerald isle, Ireland. I emigrated because of my wife, who had emigrated from Ireland to the Netherlands 6 years prior.

In 1997 we decided to move to Limerick in Ireland.

So many people have immigrated over the centuries, when you go back far enough in history you will discover that most of us come from an immigrant background.

So next time someone talks in a disparaging manner about immigrants , just remember they maybe talking about you or your family.

(originally posted on January 15, 2019. Reposted with minor amendments January 10,2022)

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2 ,however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thanks To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the paypal link. Many thanks

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Risking life to save lives. The brave Dutch who saved Jewish children.

There is a lot of rightful criticism about how the Dutch dealt with the Jews during WWII. A lot more could have been done, there is no question about that. But, it is easy to say these things in retrospect. If you are faced getting killed for a simple act of defiance , you might just think twice before you take action.

The noble thing is always to do the right thing, but the right thing can sometimes cost you your life.

However despite that there were men and women who looked past that, and even at risk of losing their own life they still did the noble thing and saved as many lives as they could.

The above picture is of Jaap (Jacobus) Musch, he and his brother set up a resistance group named NV(Nameless Partnership-It also is used in business as Company) Jaap Musch was a dedicated and religious man who came from a family of strictly Calvinist Christian in Amsterdam, When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, he worked as Lab technician. In July 1942 when he and his brother Gerardus saw what was happening to their Jewish neighbours they decided to take action and set up NV  the group dedicated to helping Jewish children find hiding places.  Not only nearby but all over the country, they had to journey sometimes to Friesland , at the Northwest to the Limburg in the south east of the Netherlands, it was especially in the south of Limburg where they managed to save the children, Often hiding in plain sight.

Jaap was captured in September 1944 and was executed. His brother Gerard was arrested on May 9,1944  in Amsterdam while in possession of five ration cards. He was tortured and sent to a concentration camp, but survived the war, and married Wilhelmina Vermeer another NV member who also had survived.

In total the group saved 231 children who all survived the war and the Holocaust.

Rather then write a lengthy essay on the group. I will be posting pictures of some members of the group and some children they have saved below. In this week of remembrances of Liberation and Victory, lets not forget the remember the oft forgotten heroes, the Nameless ones .

The group was awarded Righteous among the nations by Yad Vashem

 

Ida  Groenewegen van Wijk member since 1943

Willem en Truus Vermeer members since 1943

Stella en Beccie Hamerslag, 2 sisters saved by NV

Leo Vogel, saved by the NV

Dick Groenewegen van Wijk, member of the NV since 1943

Marianne Braun, Jewish member of the NV , since 1943

Members and ‘hidden’ children saved by the NV in the garden of the Vermeer family, in Brunssum. Limburg the Netherlands.

Gerard Musch Co Founder of the NV group

Joop Woortman aka Theo de Bruin, co founder of the NV group

Semmy de Bruin, member of the NV group since 1943

Some of the saved children defiantly spelling out the letters NV in a field in 1943.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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sources

https://righteous.yadvashem.org/?search=musch&searchType=righteous_only&language=en

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&rows=1&page=1&fq%5B%5D=search_s_keywords_poolparty:%22NV-groep%22&sort=random%7B1589012139021%7D%20asc

https://www.verzetsmuseum.org/museum/en/tweede-wereldoorlog/digiexpo/byedad/byedad,resistance_groups

 

 

The Tulp brothers-Evil and Good.

The story of the two Tulp brothers is bizarre and yet intriguing in more way than one. They were half brothers, the older brother took the path of evil although he was a police officer, Where the younger one risked his life by resisting the evil his brother was part of.

Sybren Tulp was born on March 29,1891 in Leeuwarden, Friesland, in the Northwest of the Netherlands. When he was 14 his parents divorced and his Father re-married a year later.

In 1912 he graduated from the Royal Military academy and  in 1916 he was commissioned as an officer with the KNIL-Royal Dutch Indonesian Army and served in Indonesia.

In 1932 he took command of the Dutch colonial Army  in Surinam, a Dutch colony in South America. In 1938 he returned to Europe, spending 8 months in Germany and Italy. In 1939 he settled in The Hague,the Netherlands, and joined the NSB (Dutch Nazi Party)). In late February 1941, after the February strike, in Amsterdam, the German occupying authorities appointed him Inspector-General of the municipal police in Amsterdam. He organized the force along Nazi operational lines and set up an Office for Jewish affairs (Bureau Joodse Zaken) which took action against Jews whenever they ‘violated’ various prohibitions, like the not wearing the Yellow star of David.

When the deportations began in the summer of 1942, Sybren Tulp personally supervised the eviction of Jews from their homes and their transfer to assembly points en route to camps like Westerbork and Vught. He convinced the Nazi authorities that it would be better to have Dutch police  be in charge of this rather  than to entrust it to German police because the Dutch police had a better understanding of the city.

From September 1942 onward there were also nightly raids on Jewish houses and properties, Sybke Tulip would also often supervise those raids.

On October 3rd 1942, he got very sick and died less then 3 weeks later on October 22nd.

Haring Tulp was the younger half brother of Sybren. He was born on May 26,1909.

Haring was involved with the communist resistance in the Netherlands, He distributed illegal newspapers and magazines like . “Het Noorderlicht”(Northern Light) and “de Waarheid” (the Truth). On May 28th,1941 he was caught and arrested by the SD and locked up in PDL Amersfoort.

I don’t know this for certain and am working on an assumption but I am certain since his brother had such a high position in the Police, he must have known about his younger brother’s arrest, and most have ignored it.

From Amersfoort, Haring got transported to Buchenwald ,where he arrived on February 24,1942 and was designated prisoner number 1127. A few months later on the 6th of July, he was deported to Dachau where he was assigned prisoner number 31169.

He only stayed in Dachau for a few months because by the 19th of September,1942 he was back in Buchenwald.

He died in Buchenwald on October 19th,1942, three days before his brother Sybren died.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Sources

Verzetsmuseum

Yad Vashem

 

Who is an immigrant?

The buzzword nowadays is “immigrants” and in hardly any context it is used in a positive way.Here is the thing though, who is an immigrant?

This is just a micro snapshot in history. It is basically a background of my family well at least from my Mother’s side.

The picture at the start of the blog is a picture of the marriage certificate of my maternal grandparents. They got married on December 28,1915.

The groom Durk Jager, the bride Tetje Hoekstra. They lived and were married in a small village in the Friesland, inthe Northwest of the Netherlands. The village Harkema-opeinde was part of the wider municipality of Achtkarspelen.

It was a rural place and there was not much work to be got. In Limburg, in the Southeast of the Netherlands, there was plenty  of work though. This was because of the ‘black gold’, coal . In the early part of the 20th century.Between 1906 and 1926 coal mines were opened in the most southern province bringing with it job opportunities, not just only in the coal industry but also in the wider economy.

The biggest and the last one to be opened was States mine Maurits in Geleen, which opened in 1926.

That was the call for my grand parents to pack up things and uproot the family for a journey southward to Geleen. Even though the Netherlands is just a small country, in the 1920s a journey like that was the equivalent of emigrating to the US or Canada nowadays.

I used the term emigrating because that is what they were doing. The place they were going to was alien to them. Coming from Friesland they had their own language, a different culture and also a different religion,Friesland being a predominantly Protestant province where Limburg was a predominantly Catholic province. Even the landscape was different.

The new immigrants arrived in Limburg and had to adapt to a new way of life.My Grandparents weren’t the only ones to leave Friesland, because of the lack of work in Friesland a great number of Frisians chanced their luck in the hilly area of the Southern part of Limburg.

I am an immigrant too, because I left that same hilly area of southern Limburg for the emerald isle, Ireland.

So many people have immigrated over the centuries, when you go back far enough in history you will discover that most of us come from an immigrant background.

So next time someone talks in a disparaging manner about immigrants , just remember they maybe talking about you or your family.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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A sports challenge during WWII

The Dutch take their sports serious, despite what happens in the world. It is part of the Dutch psyche to not give up,keep going regardless(although looking at the recent performance of the Dutch National football team, you might be forgiven for thinking differently)

Despite being occupied by the Germans the Dutch felt compelled to organize the skating marathon called “De elfsteden tocht” (Eleven cities tour)

A skating marathon, almost 200 KM (120 mi) long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a leisure tour (up to 16,000 skaters). It is held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, leading past all eleven historical cities of the province.

The tour is held  only when the natural ice along the entire course is at least 15 centimetres (6 in) thick.When the ice is suitable, the tour is announced and starts within 48 hours. In 1941 and 1942 it was felt the Marathon skating event had to be held because of the harsh winters which made the ice perfect.The Germans did allow it but did put severe restrictions in place.

In the early morning hours of 6 February 1941, 1900 people fastened on their skates. The race of all races was about to begin: the Elfstedentocht The weather was relatively mild (0.0 °C/32 °F)and the ice looked inviting. But there were also some concerns. An imposed blackout meant a large part of the race would have to be skated in the dark, making it very difficult for many participants. The Frisian skater Auke Adema finished first.

On 22 January 1942, after a long spell of frost, the Elfstedentocht was held again. As many as 4,800 skaters signed up.

The atmosphere was very special. Being together in Friesland, free from the Germans with their rules and bans, gave the participants a feeling of solidarity. The Germans could barely comprehend the nation’s fervour for this skating marathon. Given they had little control over the crowded event, they chose not to interfere. In 1942, Sietze de Groot of Weidum won the race. He skated the 200 kilometres in a record time of 8 hours and 44 minutes. The temperature was significantly lower in 1942 (-11.7 °C/10.94°F)

Ironically during this grueling sporting event  the contestants felt humanity again, a sense of freedom despite occupation.

Like all the others since 1912 the names of Auke Adema and Sietze de Groot’s names were engraved on the coveted silver trophy cup that is passed from winner to winner, which is still the custom today.

The last time this race was held was on 4 January 1997. Although in 2012 the conditions were ideal, at the last minute it was decided not to go ahead with the race.

An “alternative Elfstedentocht” has been held every year in January since 1989 on the Weissensee in Carinthia, Austria.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Schiermonnikoog-The Forgotten Island

 

Although the Netherlands was liberated on the 5th of May and VE day was on the 8th of May. It took more then a month after the official liberation of Europe for this Island at the north of the country to be liberated.

It was on the 11th of June 1945 before Schiermonnikoog was freed from German occupation, making it the last place in Europe to be liberated.

Schiemonnikoog is an Island situated in the “Waddenzee”-Wadden Sea,which is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands

Ironically another Island in the Wadden Sea,Texel, was considered the last battle field in Western Europe.

Forgotten History-Europe’s last battle

Schiermonnikoog was the last place in the Netherlands to be liberated from the Germans after WWII. It took until June 11 to free the Dutch island. Why? The Canadians simply didn’t have time to free the island before that.

During the War, the German Army heavily fortified the island as part of the Atlantic Wall defence line, and the number of German troops came to equal the island’s native population of 600. Towards the end of the war, hundreds of SS troops, along with members of the SD, fled to the island, reinforcing the German contingent already there.

After the German surrender, the Germans on the island failed to accept the surrender, but the Canadian forces responsible for the sector that included the island did not attack them to force their surrender. After several months of negotiations the German commander did agree to respect the surrender and the German soldiers were evacuated to Wilhelmshaven in Germany. On 11 June 1945 the island became the last part of Europe to be liberated from Axis occupation by the Allies

Several RAF planes had been brought down during the war on the Island, the German occupiers did pay respect to the airmen who died on the island. Below are pictures of  a military funeral of 3 RAF men by the Germans in 1942. The funeral was for The crew of 415 Squadron’s Hampden AT245 – 28th of June 1942.

 

 

Schiermonnikoog also encountered another big problem. A group of 125 dangerous SS and SD commanders took refuge on the island after the liberation of the City of Groningen in April. This in an attempt to escape from there by boat back to Germany. This group, among them Robert Lehnhoff,  reigned the Scholtenhuis in Groningen during the war with their terror and were widely feared.

Needles to say that the 650 islanders were not pleased with the situation. Even the 600 German soldiers who were encamped on the island during the war were scared of this group.They were given the name “Beulen van Groningen”-Torturers of Groningen.

The German commander on the island decided to house the group on a farm (the Kooiplaats) outside of the town on the island. The Talsma family who owned the farm had to flee the farm without taking anything

The German reinforcements on the island made Allied plans to disarm these troops risky at best. With the war over for weeks already, the Canadians did not want to spill more blood. A member of the Dutch resistance ended the impasse however when he, disguised as an Allied negotiator, approached the German commander with surrender instructions. The Germans fortunately took the bait, allowing for their peaceful evacuation to Wilhelmshaven in Germany, they were however sent to the jail in Zoutkamp on the 31st of May.

It took till June 11 before the liberation was official with the transportation of the 600 other German soldiers from the island.

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