Canadian Forces

Dead Dutch Resistance Fighter

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April 1945, The Canadian army is about to liberate the Dutch city of Deventer, the bridges across the canal nearby are important for the liberators. The Germans were planning to blow up these bridges before they would retreat, a resistance group tried to prevend this. The small armed group would stop the soldiers if they tried to blow up the bridges. Eight members waited in the old oil factory ‘Twentol’, close by the bridge. We should never forget their names; C. (Corry) van Baalen – Bosch (2-8-25) J.W.W. (Jos Wesland) van Baalen (22-9-22) J.J. (Jaap) Bennebroek Evertsz’ (8-9-23) L.H.Z. (Zeger) baron van Boetzelaer (11-9-21)* D.J. (Derk Jan) Bruggeman (28-2-04) H.E.R.O. (Harry) Engels (13-9-19) J.H.L. (Jan) van Gennep Luhrs (14-6-20) M. (Martinus) Woertman (25-7-24) The young comrades in arms knew each other from college, studying in the local school. Here they joined the resistance, as many other students did as well. They risked everything, the Germans killed many people for small acts of resistance and these friends were involved in armed resistance. They were a very close group, hanging out together all the time, Jos and Corry fell in love and married at the end of march 1945, knowing the liberation was nearby. When Canadian troops approached the city the shelling started, canons and tanks fired at the area for many days. On the 8th of april 1945 the resistance group took up position in the Lubrication Oil factory Twentol. They were all armed and nobody was afraid to use their weapons. But because of the shelling and heavy fighting nearby the oiltanks near the factory caught fire. There was a lot of thick black smoke and soon the group discovered the Germans had already blown up one of the bridges nearby. They werent sure what to do next but decided to stay and wait for the Canadians so they could assist the liberators. Gerard, one of the members of the group, went out to see what was happening in the area, a German spotted him and tried to arrest him, but the thick smoke prevented this, Gerard wanted to return to his friends in the factory but the fire nearby made this dangerous and the area was crawling with Germans, his return might betray the whole group. He had no choice and left his friends, it would save his life. On the 11th of april much of Deventer was being shelled by the Canadians, part of the city was already liberated, but the Germans kept fighting back. Nobody knows why but on that day a group of Germans entered the Twentol Factory looking for something, did someone tell them about the students hiding there? Corry, her husband Jos, Jaap, Harry and Marinus were chased out of the building, Jan had died earlier by a stray bullet. The heavily armed soldiers pushed the five towards the road. The officer, according eyewitnesses a tall man with curly hair, told them to stop.by a little playground. Here he told them they were to be executed. From where they were standing they probably could have seen the Canadian tanks on the horizon, how could they stall time, the liberation couldnt have been more then an hour away. The officer pointed out a soldier to be part of the firing squad, the soldier refused, he thought it was senseless, the Canadians were around the corner. Without any hesitation the officer shot his own soldier for refusing this order. They then started shooting the young Dutch students, Corry was the first to die. She was shot in her right temple, the others soon followed. Only Harry survived the execution, the Germans didnt notice him moving and quickly marched away, towards the Canadian lines. The officer was never tracked down. As soon as the Germans left people living nearby rushed forwards to help Harry, but he died later. Within 45 minutes of the execution Deventer was liberated. Six young people, murdered less then an hour before the liberation. They were burried on april 14th. Gerard was there, 23 years old and the only survivor, saying goodbye to his friends and comrades together with thousands of people from Deventer. Derk Jan was found a week later, badly burned by one of the burning oil tanks. The playground is now gone, the area is called ´Twentolplein´, Twentol Square. There is a monument by a busy road, not a very nice quiet place to remember this drama. But its not forgotten, every year on may 4th, national rememberance day, people of Deventer come to this monument. Source: Jo Hedwig Teeuwesse /Facebook