Aalten Vooruit – By Jos Wessels

On 24 June, the book ‘The 46 of the Rademakersbroek’ was presented in the National Hiding Museum (NOMA) in Aalten. Hans de Beukelaer of Fagus publishers presented the first copy to the author Kirsten Zimmerman. In the room were countless relatives, mostly grandchildren, of the 46 men who were taken from prison De Kruisberg in Doetinchem on 2 March 1945 to be shot in a field behind the De Tol farm on the Aaltenseweg in Varsseveld. This was in reprisal for the murder of four German soldiers by the resistance. This happened four weeks before the liberation. Kirsten Zimmerman looked up the story behind all these 46 men and so the dead get a face in this book.

Derk Jan te Rietstap and Gerrit Jan Ormel
Derk Jan te Rietstap and Gerrit Jan Ormel are brothers-in-law and live in Kloosterhaar in Northeast Overijssel. Their families still have links with Aalten. Both were active in the resistance and both were arrested by the Germans in January 1945. Then Pietertje te Rietstap, Derk Jan’s wife, starts a diary. She is pregnant and wants to write down everything that is important to her husband. Then he can read it when he comes back after the war. She has no knowledge that he and his brother-in-law are both shot at the Rademakersbroek.
April 1945 came the liberation and shortly afterwards she heard that her husband had been shot. Then the diary stops for ten days. Then she continues writing and starts like this: ‘Until now I wrote for my husband. From now on I will write for you, children. That you know what war is.’
A few months later, her son Derk Jan junior was born; He is in the room today and tells this story. The book by Pietertje te Rietstap ‘That you know what war is’ is also for sale at the NOMA.

Stories from relatives
Kirsten Zimmerman from Amsterdam already had several publications about the war to her name. She was intrigued by the story of the executions because her uncle Wim Gerritsen was one of the victims.
She searched the archives and talked to relatives. She received a lot of help from the NOMA Research Team, also known as the ‘story catchers’. In this way, Zimmerman gradually got a conclusive story from the men, how they came to resist and were finally appointed ‘Todeskandidate’.
Gerda Brethouwer of the NOMA talks to family members of the executed in the room. It becomes clear how great the impact is on the families, an impact that continues for generations. Many of the 46 had young children and several wives were pregnant; Their child was born after the war.
Often the women and other family members found it difficult to speak about this traumatic event. “My mother Pietertje also spoke very little about it,” says Derk Jan te Rietstap junior. “I only got to know my father later through my mother’s diary.”
We were very good teenagers,” says another man. “We couldn’t hurt our mothers any more.”

‘Warm blood
Infused
our fields’

The executions on 2 March 1945 were also traumatic for the Kraaijenbrink family, who lived on De Tol on the Aaltenseweg. Some sons are in the hall. The men were shot in their field. After the execution, the German soldiers came in and demanded coffee.
Some soldiers, who were probably forced to be part of the execution squad, were completely upset.
That summer, the grain at the site of the execution grew higher than elsewhere. ‘We will not eat this grain,’ said father Evert Jan Kraaijenbrink. He kept the grains in a bottle.
Now the grains are part of the monument on the Rademakersbroek. With a poem by Garmt Stuiveling.
‘WARM BLOOD SOAKS OUR FIELDS.
AND RIPER THE GRAIN RIPENED HERE.
O THAT FROM THE SACRIFICE OF THOSE HEROES,
SUCH A HARVEST OF FREEDOM ARISES’.
Every year around March 2, the execution is commemorated at this monument with input from schoolchildren from Heelweg and Lintelo.

For Sale
The book ‘The 46 of the Rademakersbroek’ is for sale in the National Hiding Museum for the price of 29.50 euros.

Kirsten Zimmerman, author of the book during the signing session after the book presentation.