History of Sorts

On 9th July 1942, nine members of the resistance group De Oranjewacht, [The Orange Guard], (Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands and the name of the Royal family) were shot in the Fort near Rijnauwen, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Two trials were conducted against the resistance group, and nine members were sentenced to death. On the same day, two so-called Engelandvaarders, (England sailors) Jan Stam and Petrus Antonius Ravelli, were also executed.

The group, De Oranjewacht consisted of nine members. It was one of the first resistance groups captured by the Nazis during World War II (in December 1940). They were imprisoned until that terrible day, 9 July 1942—they were executed. One of the members of this group was Arnhemmer Piet Hoefsloot.

After Arnhemmer Piet Hoefsloot was arrested, tried, convicted and executed at age 49—he left behind his wife and eleven children. The youngest was so small that she never knew her father. Only now, decades later, is she learning and understanding him through stories. Several of his children at the time of this writing are still alive, all well into their eighties and nineties. Nevertheless, they were all in attendance at Fort bij Rijnauwen to commemorate their father with family members. The youngest daughter and two of the other daughters spoke. One read the farewell letter that Father Piet wrote to his wife and children a few hours before his execution from his cell in the prison on Gansstraat. The other daughter read (the poem), “Saying Goodbye.” A beautiful flower arrangement was laid (see photo), and this intimate ceremony was concluded with a moment of silence and the common prayer of the Our Father aloud. A photograph of the eleven children was left on the memorial stone as if Father had been reunited with his children. Piet Hoefsloot is buried at Moscowa Cemetery in Arnhem.

The Other Victims

Frans Heinekamp was born on 13 October 1898 in Arnhem. He was executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

Johan Dons was born on 26 February 1915 in Utrecht and executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

Evert van den Berg was born on 20 September 1915 in Hengelo. He was executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen

Hendrik Marinus Emanuel Pieter Maertens was born on 20 July 1908 in Rotterdam. They executed him on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

Leonardus Lambertus Twijnstra was born on 18 March 1904 in Leeuwarderadeel. He was executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

Petrus Walter Gerardus van de Weijer was born on 9 October 1889 in Utrecht. He was executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

George Hendrik van der Ploeg was born on 26 October 1889 in Vlissingen. He was executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

Johan Herman Jacobus Boerrigter was born on 13 February 1906, in Djokjakarta, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and executed on 9 July 1942 in Utrecht, Fort Rijnauwen.

During the war, approximately 1700 Dutch men and women who tried to reach freedom in England, over land or by sea, were given the honorary name, Engelandvaarders (Lit. England-farers).

Jan Stam, born in 1916 in the Dutch East Indies, had been a 2nd lieutenant in the artillery during May 1940. He was married and father of one child. In March 1942, the Ravelli couple moved in with them. Peter Antonius Ravelli (1918) was a 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army. For unknown reasons, he was in the Netherlands.

Together, the men decided to make an attempt to go to England. They reached France and were arrested to be brought back to the Netherlands. First, they were imprisoned in the House of Detention in Scheveningen and then in the prison in Utrecht.

They were tried by the Feldgericht des Kommandierenden Generals und Befehlshabers im Luftgau VI (Field court of the commanding general and commander in the air district VI) in Holland, and sentenced to death. The death penalty by shooting was carried out on 9 July 1942 in Fort Rijnauwen. Ravelli’s widow gave birth to their child a few months later.

These men make me proud to be Dutch. Many looked away and did nothing, yet these men decided to stand up against an evil regime and paid the ultimate price.

sources

https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/thema/Fusillade%20in%20Fort%20bij%20Rijnauwen%20op%209%20juli%201942

Stam, Jan