Tag Archives: KNIL

Wim Kan’s World War 2 years.

WIM

Anyone living outside the Netherlands or the Flemish speaking part of Belgium will probably have never heard of Wim Kan.

It is actually not that easy to describe what he was, his title was cabaretier ,which is French for Cabaret performer. But I think the term ‘stand up comedian’ would be more relevant nowadays, even though that doesn’t really describe it accurately either.Because he cracked jokes, sang songs he had written himself, told stories.

He was one of the ‘Great 3’ cabaret acts of the Netherlamds, together with Win Sonneveld and Toon Hermans.

3

In 1936, he established the ABC Cabaret, which soon became one of the most successful Dutch cabaret groups, in which several artists debuted who later became famous.Wim Kan’s wife,Corry Vonk, was also a member of the group.

In 1940, the ABC Cabaret was touring the Dutch East Indies.(Now called Indonesia)While they were on tour in Indonesia, which was a Dutch Colony at the time, Germany invaded the Netherlands therefor Wim Kan and his Cabaret company could not return to the Netherlands.

POSTER

On 8 December 1941, the Dutch government-in-exile declared war on Japan. Wim Kan was called as a conscript with the KNIL. The Royal Dutch Indies army. He was assigned to  the Department of War as a radio broadcaster.By March 1942 all of Indonesia was occupied by Japan.On Friday the 13th of March, Wim Kan was made a prisoner of war, with POW number 71502.

He survived 13 Japanese camps. Probably because of his fame he ,did enjoy some protection of hard physical labour, but he was not completely exempt from working on the Burma railway.

railway

While he was in the camps he did do what he always done, entertain. He continued doing shows albeit in adapted form, and he continued writing songs. He also kept a diary of his years under captivity. These diaries were only released relatively recently.

Mt Dros, who was one of the 15,170 Dutchmen who survived the Burma Railway, said in an interview with a Dutch newspaper” The performances of Wim Kan were like small rays of light, and made us feel like we were home in the Netherlands again albeit for a short time.”

Shortly after the war ,on November 6,1945 Wim Kan staged a benefit show in Bangkok  for former prisoners of war. The show was called ‘Mystery in Budapest’

AFFICHE

Wim Kan and his wife returned to the Netherlands in 1948, where he became an even bigger star as when he was before the war.

When the Japanese Emperor Hirohito came for a state visit to the Netherlands October 1971, Wim Kan strongly protested and urged the Dutch government to get the Emperor tried for war crimes.

Wim Kan died age 72 on September 8, 1983.

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Sources

Trouw.nl

NIOD.nl

New York Times

Dutch Wikipedia

 

 

 

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The Tulp brothers-Evil and Good.

Februari staking

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

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.

star
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

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.

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.

$2.00

Sources

Verzetsmuseum

Yad Vashem