Annick (Germaine Mathilde) van Hardeveld
Annick (Germaine Mathilde) van Hardeveld was born in 1923 in Amsterdam. She was the first child of her father, Jan van Hardeveld, and her French mother, Germaine Bertin. A few years later, a baby brother was born: Yann Emile. When the war broke out in May 1940, Annick was sixteen years old and had just begun her training as a nurse with the Red Cross.
The Red Cross
In 1942, Annick received her diploma, and it was finally time: she could begin working as a nurse. She started working at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis, a hospital where political prisoners were also held. Because Annick was a nurse, she had identification from the Red Cross. This document allowed her to be on the streets, even during curfew hours when others were required to stay indoors. This privilege would later prove very useful for her resistance work.
The Real Work
Annick likely started her resistance work in 1943. She worked as a courier for the resistance group C-Max III, led by Ton Schilling. As a courier, Annick had various tasks: she transported ration cards and forged documents, but also weapons and sometimes even people in hiding. Ration cards were essential because they allowed people to buy food, making them highly sought after, especially by those sheltering people in hiding, as they had additional mouths to feed.
After the war, Ton Schilling spoke about Annick’s determination: she had to be involved, she had to help. Although she was very young when she joined Schilling’s resistance group, he knew that if he did not accept her, she would simply join another group. From 1943 onward, Annick worked as a courier, alongside other women performing the same tasks. Couriers were a crucial part of the resistance: in addition to their logistical duties, they facilitated communication between resistance members.
The winter of 1944-1945 was extremely cold, and there was hardly any fuel available. Amsterdam was plagued by freezing temperatures and hunger. Photos from the resistance group The Hidden Camera depict endless lines at food distribution offices and emaciated children wandering the streets in search of food.
Yet, in the early months of 1945, hope grew in Amsterdam. Through the radio, Annick heard that the southern Netherlands had already been liberated and that the Allies were gaining more and more ground. Could liberation finally be near?
The Last Courier
In the first days of May 1945, rumors spread throughout Amsterdam: Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his own bunker. The man responsible for the horrific war was dead—surely, the war could not last much longer?
On the evening of May 4-5, Annick celebrated. Wrapped in a Dutch flag, she drank with her fellow resistance members, toasting to the imminent liberation. But there was still one final obstacle: although the war was practically over, many armed German soldiers remained in the city. Some of them were unwilling to surrender. C-Max III had already made plans in case this happened. If the remaining Germans refused to lay down their arms, the resistance members would attack the German Kommandantur (command headquarters).
That night, as her parents and brother slept, Annick left for the Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam-South. There, she received instructions from Ton Schilling: Annick was to inform fellow resistance members in Amsterdam-North of the plan and summon them to gather at the school. It was a dangerous mission, but Annick was not deterred. She had once told her commander, “I want to do real work, through wind and rain.”
Annick set off for Amsterdam-North on her bicycle with wooden wheels.
She wore her nurse’s uniform and carried her Red Cross identification, which she could use as an excuse if stopped. Excited about the impending liberation, Annick cycled through the dead of night toward the station.
But just before she reached the station, at Hekelveld, Annick was suddenly shot in the back from an ambush vehicle. The attackers were members of the Ordnungspolizei—the so-called Grüne Polizei (Green Police). They fired about 10 to 15 shots at Annick with machine guns.
“A young woman, her face already covered in blood,” eyewitness Jacobus Buijs wrote in his diary, “lies on the sidewalk, and by the light of the patrol car’s searchlights, three Grüne Polizei officers are quickly reloading their pistols. One of them asks, ‘Ist sie tot?’ ‘Is she dead’ and another shines a flashlight on the body, kicks it slightly, and answers, ‘Ja.’ Then they step into the car and drive away.”
After the War
Annick died at the age of 21 in the early morning of May 5, making her likely the last resistance fighter to be killed in the Netherlands during World War II. Just an hour later, the German surrender became official, and the Netherlands erupted in celebration. But Annick’s family and friends were left in deep mourning.
Her grief-stricken fellow resistance members gave her a military burial. A photo taken after her funeral shows Annick’s fellow couriers standing together. Their faces are solemn, and in the center, there is an empty space—where Annick should have been.
But Annick has not been forgotten. Every year, a group of bicycle couriers holds an alleycat race—a competition for bike couriers—that finishes at the monument dedicated to Annick at Hekelveld. After the race, Annick’s memorial stone is covered with roses.
sources
https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Hardeveld
http://www.annickvanhardeveld1923-1945.nl/Home_en.html
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/28350/Memorial-Execution-Annick-van-Hardeveld.htm
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