Executions by the Dutch resistance, and the aftermath.

There is no denying that the Dutch should have done more, to protect their Jewish neighbours during World War 2. But I am looking at this from a retrospective point of view, hindsight always comes with a 20/20 vision. That’s why I am not able to judge because I really don’t know what I would or would not have done.

However there were some brave men and women who defied the Nazi regime, often at the cost of their own lives.

On October 2, 1944, two Waffen-SS men were shot dead by a resistance group of Baarlo, in the North of Limburg. The SS men had volunteered for the resistance group[ because they were tired of the war. They were exposed by betrayal and killed by the resistance for security reasons.

The execution of Derk Jan Jonker took place on October 2, 1943 in Epe. Jonker was a member of the NSB and was suspected of treason. He was shot dead behind De Koekenberg farm. Jonker was buried with much NSB and WA ceremonial in Epe. No reprisals followed, which was a surprise.

On September 27, 1944, resistance members from Baarlo got into a firefight with German soldiers who wanted to investigate the Boekenderhof ,which was the base of the resistance group.. Three soldiers were shot but the fourth escaped. The farm was immediately evacuated and the resistance hid in the woods. Shortly afterwards, a group of SS men burned the farm to the ground.

In the summer of 1944, Hitler decreed that criminal trials against illegal workers could no longer take place. From then on terror had to be answered with counter-terror. From now on, resistance fighters who turned out to be armed when they were arrested had to be shot on the spot or handed over to the Sicherheitspolizei. They then decided which detainees were eligible for firing. The executions were usually linked to acts of sabotage and attacks by illegal immigrants. From the autumn of 1944, the shootings no longer took place in remote places, such as the dunes, but in public, along the roads and in squares. Passers-by were forced to witness the macabre display.
After Major Tetenburg, a major of the Ordnungpolizei was liquidated in Rotterdam, on 31-3-1945 at 11.15 am, by the resistance. It was followed up on the Tuesday after Easter. with the execution of 20 civilians by the Nazis.