Wilhelmus Petrus de Graaff
30 July 1903 – 22 February 1944
Wilhelmus Petrus de Graaff
30 July 1903 – 22 February 1944
Berkenhove Cemetery, grave 342
Victim of a ‘mistake bombing’
On 22 February 1944, the Allies carried out a ‘mistake bombing’ on the historic centre and the railway station in Nijmegen.
It is one of the heaviest bombing raids on Dutch territory, comparable to the German bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940.
Almost 800 people were killed, mainly civilian victims (the number was probably higher, because people in hiding were not counted). Afterwards it turns out that the railway yard in Nijmegen was chosen as a deliberate secondary target, if the primary target in Germany could not be bombed.
Among the victims is the 40-year-old railway official Wilhelmus Petrus de Graaff from Aalten.
Wilhelmus Petrus de Graaff was born on 30 July 1903 in Westervoort. His father Ingen Gerrit de Graaff worked as a railway employee. At the age of 16, Wilhelmus P. followed in his footsteps and also became a railway employee. On 17 January 1929 he married Dina ter Haar from Aalten (born 2 April 1908). During the war years, Wilhelmus P. de Graaff remained in office as a railway employee.
On February 22, he follows a railway course in Nijmegen. Together with other students, he is in a building on the Nijmegen railway yard when the bombing breaks out in the afternoon. Then the building is hit by a direct hit. The student sitting next to Wilhelmus manages to save himself in the nick of time in a panic reaction. All other students were killed, including 40-year-old Wilhelmus Petrus de Graaff.
Partly through the personal mediation of Mayor A.J.W. Monnik, the remains of Wilhelmus P. de Graaff were transferred to Aalten. Seed trader Bulten from the Stationsstraat in Aalten is making a truck available on which a large red cross is being painted. On 1 March 1944, Wilhelmus P. de Graaff was buried at Berkenhove cemetery (grave no. 342). He is survived by his wife Dina with their 13-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.
On 8 June 1948, a plaque in memory of Wilhelmus P. de Graaff is unveiled at the station in Aalten.
Sources:
Article ADW April 1995 Article Memorial plaque W.P de Graaff in Aalten D.W. Geesink
Archive depot of the N.V. Nederlandsche Spoorwegen in Zutphen
Archive of the municipality of Aalten
Aalten in Occupation Time B. de Joode 1946, p. 138
Er op of er onder, pp. 166 and 198 C.W. Vaags
Aalten in Oorlogstijd J.G. ter Horst 1985, pp. 108 and 211
Chronicle of the Netherlands Elsevier 1987, p. 934
Aalten as it is, as it was. 1stvolume 1992, p. 193 and 197
Family members Wilhelmus P. de Graaff
The bombing of Nijmegen: www. History bombing 22 February 1945
https://www.oorlogsdodennijmegen.nl/gebeurtenis/42d66138-d771-4448-b125-01fa56486f97
© Collection National Hiding Museum Aalten
Wilhelmus Petrus de Graaff
Born 30 July 1903 – Died 22 February 1944
Berkenhove Cemetery, grave 342
Plaque in memory of W.P. de Graaff, Aalten Station
