(Groenlo, 1914)

Member of the 1st Company DNB

With his friends, the regional hub of the secret network in Beltrum, Eibergen and Groenlo

Johannes Vincentius Nahuis was born in Groenlo on 19 July 1914. His father was the owner of the Nahuis Steam Sawmill in Groenlo.

Together with the brothers Jan Willem and Hendrik Groot Wassink (alias ‘Henk van Groenlo’) and others, Jan formed a resistance group that placed many people in hiding with families in the surrounding area. They carried out this work under the cover of night. A large number of Jews were helped to find a safe hiding place in and around Groenlo. Increasingly, Allied airmen whose planes had been shot at were landing in the area. The brothers would rush to the scene so that these airmen would not fall into the hands of the occupier. The Australian airman Bernard Sutton and five escaped French prisoners of war were helped on their way back to their home base in this manner. Sutton was handed over near Lievelde railway station to Hendrik Leemreize, alias ‘Pietje’ of the Lichtenvoorde ‘pilot line’.

In November 1944, resistance comrade Jan Nahuis brought two American pilots to the Groot Wassink family. They were given temporary shelter and were subsequently moved on. The Groot Wassink brothers formed the regional hub of a large secret network during the Second World War.

Jan Nahuis initially joined the first company of the DNB. Shortly thereafter, he served as a platoon commander of the third battalion of the third company of the DNB. When he enlisted for service in the Dutch army in July, he underwent training in mine clearance. From July 1945, he was employed by the Mine Clearance Service.
Jan married Agnes Schmölders, a teacher from Essen who had been naturalised in 1936, in Groenlo on 3 July 1945. Jan passed away following a heart attack in Oss on 15 February 1946.

Jan Nahuis