Interviews by RTV Midden-Brabant with former residents of Waalwijk and surrounding areas.

Eyewitnesses 1940-1945 Remembering Sprang-Capelle, Waalwijk and Waspik in wartime – Waalwijk, Loon op Zand 2011 – local broadcaster RTV-Midden-Brabant

Interviews with eyewitnesses of the war 1940-1945 from the municipality of Waalwijk (including Sprang-Capelle and Waspik) on historical locations and with historical footage.

The February Strike was held during World War II in protest against the many anti-Jewish measures and persecution of Jews. Thousands of workers laid down their work. The strike began on 25 February 1941 in Amsterdam and spread a day later to the Zaanstreek, Haarlem, Velsen, Hilversum and the city of Utrecht and immediate surroundings. It was the first large-scale resistance action against the German occupiers in Europe. Since 1946, the February Strike has been commemorated annually on 25 February on Jonas Daniël Meijerplein in Amsterdam, near Mari Andriessen’s statue “The Dockworker”. The collection includes interviews conducted by Jan Dop, Simon Korper and Gerard Maas, among others, with February strikers.

The Foundation Comité Herdenking Februaristaking 1941 was established in 1990 as a successor to the Februariherdenkingskomité.

The interviews were conducted by Jan Dop (1943), (filmmaker who, together with Kees Hin (1936-2020) and Frans van der Staak (died 2001), made the feature film about the February Strike Soldiers without Guns (1985). Jan Dop made some interviews alone, some in collaboration with Simon Korper (1907-1988) and later most with Gerard Maas (Zaandam, 1913 – Amsterdam, 1988) communist, resistance fighter and politician.

Maas wrote about the February strike, a.o. Kroniek van de Februari-staking 1941, Amsterdam, 1961 en 1941 bloeiden de rozen in februari, een korte historische schets, Amsterdam [1985].

Interviews by Wim Bot with ten members of the revolutionary-socialist and Trotskyist resistance in World War II for the purpose of his study on the Marx-Lenin-Luxembourg Front and the Committee of Revolutionary Marxists. The collection includes the digitised files of 15 cassettes containing interviews conducted by Wim Bot in the 1980s with former members of the MLL Front and the CRM on the left-wing resistance during the war in The Hague.

This volume examines the political ideas and activities of the Marx-Lenin-Luxembourg Front, the illegal continuation of the Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party. The MLL-Front was formed immediately after the beginning of the German occupation of the Netherlands and existed until April 1942, when the organisation’s main leaders were shot. After that, the MLL-Front broke up into two smaller organisations, the Committee of Revolutionary Marxists and the Communist Union Spartacus. It was originally my intention to extend the research to these groups and two other organisations on the left wing of the Dutch labour movement during the occupation period. These were the Trotskyist Group of Bolshevik-Leninists, active under the name Bond van Communisten from the summer of 1940 to the summer of 1941, and the group around the resistance magazine ‘De Vonk’. The latter group, which existed throughout the occupation, originally worked closely with the MLL Front. However, it broke up in the summer of 1941. I chose this original set-up because all these groups (with the exception of ‘De Vonk’ after the summer of 1941) occupied a special minority position within the illegality. Indeed, they refused to side with the democratic Allies in the struggle against fascism and the German occupation and hoped for a revolutionary breakthrough in a socialist direction at the end of the war. They saw the war as a consequence of capitalism, and war, fascism and capitalism, in their view, had to be ended by the international solidarity of the working class.

Interviews with former members of the Arbeiders Jeugd Centrale with as a common thread their personal experiences, and the possible role of the AJC in this, during World War II. The interviews are the basis for the book by Geertje Marianne Naarden (Amsterdam, 1979), 112 audio cassettes of which (as yet) 24 have been digitised. The cassettes mainly feature interviews with former members of the Arbeiders Jeugd Centrale (AJC), with an emphasis on their experiences during World War II and any role the AJC played in it. The interviews are the basis for the book Onze jeugd behoort de morgen…: de geschiedenis van de AJC in oorlogstijd by Geertje Marianne Naarden (Amsterdam, 1989). All interviews were conducted by Geertje Marianne Naarden, accompanied in part by co-interviewer Ad van Moock. Besides the interviews, some cassettes contain a radio broadcast, a work meeting, an AJC reunion, a lecture with discussion afterwards and some group meetings. 1 interview was done by Rie Spanjer for her book De AJC dat waren wij . This interview was also used by Naarden as a source for her book Onze jeugd behoort de morgen…: de geschiedenis van de AJC in oorlogstijd .

During World War II, tens of thousands of Belgians collaborated with the Nazi regime. Their children look back and testify about the war period. What did their parents do, why did they collaborate, and how do their children feel about it now?

For the relatives of collaborators, the consequences of World War II were profound. They shared in the punishment and shame. Children often had an even harder time, as a normal family life was disrupted by facts they had absolutely nothing to do with. These were experiences they spent a lifetime reflecting on. The testimonies from the high-profile Canvas series Children of the Collaboration are now brought together in book form. Compiled by Piet Boncquet, the book is published in collaboration with Canvas. Historian Geert Clerbout, the final editor of the documentary series and the author of Publiek geheim (Public Secret), among others, writes the foreword. Piet Boncquet (1958) is a historian and archaeologist. He was a journalist with the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad and De Tijd for many years.

Extra documentaries by Maurice De Wilde

• De Nieuwe Orde – 5 episodes
• De Verdachten – 4 episodes
• De Tijd der Vergelding – 5 episodes
• De Oostfronters – 5 episodes
• De Repressie – 5 episodes
• De Kollaboratie – 5 episodes
• De Jeugdkollaboratie – 4 episodes

EXTRA-DOCUMENTARIES

The series shows how the events of 75 years ago have left their mark on subsequent generations. It also aims to show how our society has dealt with the memory of the Holocaust since World War II. Interviews with 12 children of Holocaust survivors.

Interviews were also conducted with seven experts from different fields, dissecting the systematics of Nazi extermination politics.

The Holocaust claimed tens of thousands of victims in Belgium. For Jews who survived, the war would never be over. Immense was often the loss they had to give a place to. Their children had a leaden legacy to deal with. They also had to find their way in a society that was only willing to face the full truth about the war years later. These are experiences they have spent a lifetime reflecting on.

The testimonies from the high-profile Canvas series Children of the Holocaust have now been brought together in book form. Compiled by Piet Boncquet, the book is published in collaboration with Canvas. Historian Geert Clerbout, the final editor of the documentary series and the author of Publiek geheim (Public Secret), among others, writes the foreword. Piet Boncquet (1958) is a historian and archaeologist. He was a journalist with the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad and De Tijd for many years. 

During World War II, tens of thousands of Belgians joined the resistance against the Nazis. Their children testify about that war period. What did their parents do, why did they join the resistance and how dangerous was it?

Many resistance fighters were arrested by the Germans. Those arrests are still on the minds of many children 75 years later.

From the moment of the German invasion in May 1940, resistance to the occupation began. It often involved ordinary citizens who, out of conviction or patriotism, actively or passively resisted German soldiers, the German war machine and Belgian collaborators. In the course of the war, resistance organised itself and became more violent, as the occupying forces acted ruthlessly. The deep contrast between ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’, between resistance fighters and collaborators, marked post-war society. Partly because of this, especially in Flanders, the story of the resistance is less known. Unjustly so, as evidenced by the gripping testimonies in Children of the Resistance.

The episodes can be watched online in Belgium on canvas.be.

The book Kinderen van het verzet was compiled by Piet Boncquet and published in collaboration with Canvas. Piet Boncquet (1958) is a historian and archaeologist. He was a journalist for the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad and De Tijd for many years. Since 2013, he has been a freelance journalist and editor and wrote, among others, Lief en leed. Prostitution during World War I and The Last Supper after Leonardo da Vinci. A wondrous history.

On the authority of Reichskommissar Seyss-Inquart, more than 450 Dutch nationals were taken hostage by the German occupation forces on 4 May 1942. Most of these hostages held prominent positions in the Dutch community. The Dutch Union as well as the trade union movement were strongly represented among the first group of hostages. All the detainees were housed in the Roman Catholic minor seminary Beekvliet in the North Brabant municipality of Sint-Michielsgestel.  A second action took place in July 1942. Then, on the orders of the Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber in the Netherlands, General Christiansen, nearly 800 hostages were arrested. They were housed in the major seminary at Haaren, also located in North Brabant. The hostages were to be punished for acts of sabotage. They stood surety with their lives. 
 
There were hostages in Haaren camp before that. They had been interned there in July and October 1940 in retaliation for Germans interned in the Dutch East Indies by the Dutch authorities at the outbreak of war. The group of these so-called Indian hostages consisted of people born in the East, and Dutch nationals who had their jobs there. All spent their leave in the Netherlands, but they were unable to return to their country of origin or field of work due to the outbreak of war. Having first moved from Haaren to Beekvliet in May 1942, they were transferred to the boys’ boarding school De Ruwenberg in Sint-Michielsgestel on 29 October 1942. 
 
To distinguish them from the Indonesian hostages, who were also referred to as reprisal hostages, the Dutch hostages were called preventive hostages. In addition to these internees, groups of hostages were also brought to Beekvliet who had previously been held hostage or arrested elsewhere, such as in the Schoorl, Amersfoort and Buchenwald camps.  Usually these were named after the camp of origin. 
 
Taking Dutch nationals hostage was also sometimes a reaction by the German occupying forces to local events and was then seen as retaliation. For example, during disturbances between colporteurs of the Dutch Union and members of the WA of the NSB in Heerlen, 30 residents of that place were taken hostage. Of these, 26 were Dutch Union members. 
 
On 12 August 1942, all permits and visiting arrangements on behalf of the hostages were revoked. Personal papers had to be handed in and 25 hostages were photographed with a no on their chest. The following 15 August, because of acts of sabotage in Rotterdam, five hostages were put to death on the De Rovert estate in Goirle. On 16 October 1942, three hostages were murdered by the Germans with 12 other Dutch people in the woods near Woudenberg. 
 
In November 1942 and January 1943, the hostages from Haaren were transferred to Beekvliet and the Harineezen were united with the Gestel people.  Some hostages who were discharged and allowed to go home were given reporting duties. They had to report to the local police or another authority daily or several times a week.  The turnover was very high. Hostages were regularly released and new ones replaced them. 
 
On 5 September 1944, the Beekvliet hostage camp ceased to exist. The remaining hostages were transported to the Vught concentration camp. During the transport to Vught, eight hostages managed to escape. The remaining hostages were released after several days. 

Audio interviews hostages

Saskia Janssens

1. 558 interview with P. Bomgaars, d.d. 24-1-1992 
2. 559 interview with T.M. Peet, part I, d.d. 4-2-1992 
3. 560 interview with T.M. Peet, part II, d.d. 4-2-1992 
4. 561 interview with prof. dr. A. Weijnen, part I, d.d. 24-2-1992 
5. 562 interview with prof. dr. A. Weijnen, part II, d.d. 24-2-1992 en deel I interview met W. Wierda, d.d. 27-2-1992 
6. 563 interview with W. Wierda, part II, d.d. 27-2-1992 
7. 564 interview with P. Sanders, part I, d.d. 3-3-1992 
8. 565 interview with P. Sanders, part II, d.d. 3-3-1992 
9. 566 interview with M.F.F.A. De Neree tot Babbarich LLM, part I, d.d. 6-2-1992 
10. 567 interview with M.F.A.A. De Neree tot Babberich LLM, part II, d.d. 6-2-1992 
11. 568 interview with Everhard, part I, d.d. 7-2-1992 
12. 569 interview with Everhard, part II, d.d. 7-2-1992 en deel I interview met mr. F.J. Kranenburg, d.d. 7-2-1992 
13. 570 interview with F.J. Kranenburg LLM, part II, d.d. 7-2-1992 
14. 571 interview with father H.H.J.M. Gall, part I, d.d. 18-2-1992 
15. 572 interview with father H.H.J.M. Gall, part II, d.d. 18-2-1992 
16. 573 interview with mr. Gosker, part I, d.d. 21-2-1992 
17. 574 interview with mr. Gosker, part II, d.d. 21-2-1992 en deel I interview met dhr. Hartstra, d.d. 22-2-1992 
18. 575 interview met mr. Hartstra, part II, d.d. 22-2-1992 
19. 576 interview met mr. Hartstra, part III, d.d. 22-2-1992 
20. 577 recording about hostage camp at AVRO, d.d. 13-8-1992

Black Front and National Front. In May 1934, Brabant Catholic journalist Arnold Meijer founded the fascist-oriented and clearly anti-Semitic movement Black Front. From the outset, the new organisation tried to outdo the NSB in radicalism. Black Front wanted to conquer power by the path of revolution. In April 1940, Arnold Meijer converted his movement into the law-abiding National Front for tactical reasons. During the occupation, the organisation grew to 12,000 members. In late 1941, the National Front had to be disbanded by order of the German occupier.

Some time before National Front was disbanded in December 1941, they stored a large part of the archive for security reasons. First in a vault, briefly in the ground and then Arnold Meijer’s home. After the death of Arnold Meijer, the archives came under the management and ownership of Mr J.Th. Stakenburg of Oisterwijk. At the end of 1970, Mr Stakenburg was prepared to transfer ownership of the entire archive to the State Archives in North Brabant. Special conditions were that the archives were not accessible until 1 January 1976, that undisclosed documents had to be lifted from the archives and kept secret until the year 2000, and that after 1 January 1976 the archives were only accessible for purely scientific research.

During the period of the preliminary inventories, numerous interviews were conducted to get more background information on the period 1930 – 1948. Some people interviewed had been members of Black and/or National Front, others had been opponents, and still others had been in the resistance or had had relationships with the person of Arnold Meijer. 

11 Interviews

1. Text of the interview with Ch.H.D.M.J. Russel, former notary public, living in Maastricht. Recorded by J. Vriens and Drs H.M. Brokken in Maastricht on 16 November 1971.
   N.B. See tapes 1 and 2 of the sound archive. 
2. Text of the interview with Louis Knuvelder, journalist and publicist, living in Amsterdam. Recorded by J. Vriens and Drs H.M. Brokken in Amsterdam on 14 December 1971. N.B. See tapes 2 and 3 of the sound archive. 
3. Text of the interview with Prof. Dr R.G.E. van Roosbroeck, publicist, living in Oosterhout (N.-Br). Recorded by J. Vriens and drs G.J.W. Steijns in Oosterhout on 21 June 1972. N.B. See tapes 3 and 4 of the sound archive.
4. Text of the interview with B.J.W. Arts, town clerk of Ravenstein, living in Herpen. Recorded by J. Vriens and Drs G.J.W. Steijns in Herpen on 22 June 1972.
   N.B. See tapes 5 and 6 of the sound archive. 
5. Text of the interview with P.P.M. Denis, living in Breda. Recorded by J. Vriens and A.M.C. Zom in Breda on 28 June 1972. N.B. See tapes 6 and 7 of the sound archive. The books donated by Mr Denis are included in Arnold Meijer’s library. 
6. Text of interviews with J.A. Baars, living in Blarieum. Afgenorrlen by J. Vriens, drs G.J.W. Steijns and drs H.M. Brokken on 9 August and 19 September 1972.
   N.B. See tapes 7, 8, 12, 13 and 18 of the sound archive. See the inventory of the Baars collection.
7. Text of interview with Staf Vermeire, publicist, living in Neeroeteren (Belgium). Recorded by J. Vriens and Drs G.J.W. Steijns in Neeroeteren on 8 September 1972.
   N.B. See tapes 8 and 9 of the sound archive.
   See: ‘Catalogue of the library of the Vermeire collection’, by Alma Loupias. Published by the State Archives in North Brabant, 1976.
8. Text of the interview with Wies Moens, author, living in Neerbeek.( Beek L.) Conducted by J. Vriens and Dr L.P.L. Pirenne, State Archivist in North Brabant, in Neerbeek on 13 September 1972. N.B. See tapes 9 and 10 of the sound archive.
9. Text of interviews with mr H.B.S. Holla, lawyer and procurator in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, living in Vught. Conducted by J. Vriens and C.A.J.M. Snijders in ‘s-Hertogenbosch on 29 November and 6 December 1972.
   N.B. See tapes 13 and 14 of the sound archive. 
10. Text of interview with Arthur de Bruyne, author and journalist, living in Mortsel (Belgium). Recorded by J. Vriens and mr C.A.J.M. Snijders in Mortsel on 13 February 1973. N.B. See tapes 15 and 16 of the sound archive.
11. Text of the interviews with H. Pétillon, living in The Hague. Recorded by J. Vriens and mr C.A.J.M. Snijders in The Hague on 6 September and 4 October 1973.
    N.B. See tapes 16 and 17 of the sound archive.

During the roundups of 1942, arrested Jewish Antwerp citizens were gathered in municipal buildings. This also happened in primary school 16, the current urban primary school Crea 16. 

On the occasion of the commemoration of the events that took place on the playground
of Crea 16 on 28 August 1942, an elaborate educational programme was made “Urban primary school Crea 16 during the Second World War”. 

An audiovisual part consists of edited video fragments of about 10 to 12 minutes.
Five witnesses reflect on their experiences as children during the war years. These video testimonies came about thanks to a school project of the Stedelijk Lyceum Linkeroever about going to school in wartime. The Peace Centre supported this project.

Inspiration collection Youth in wartime

A young look at the Second World War

This collection of inspiration was created on the occasion of the commemoration of the events that took place in the Crea 16 playground on 28 August 1942. At that time, hundreds of Jews were rounded up in the Zurenborg neighbourhood and gathered on the school playground. In the early morning, they were taken to the transit camp de Dossin Barracks in Mechelen. This story can be found here in the reading text “Stedelijke basisschool Crea 16 tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog”. Let this elaborate example inspire you to get to work yourself.

This inspiration booklet will help you on your way.
This bundle for teachers consists of 6 parts:
1. An audio-visual part (video fragments);
2. Three pillars of remembrance education;
3. Teaching opportunities;
4. Texts for teaching and a timeline;
From the archive: time documents;
6. Suggestions for additional activities