Zwaan, Hendrik “Henk” Theodoor.

- Nationality

Netherlands.

- Ranking.

Henk was the senior patrol leader of the scouting group 12 Fridjof Nansen Group.

- Born.

30-05-1917, in Rotterdam. Netherlands.

- Died.

Executed by a German fire squadon 13-11-1944, age 27, on the Waalsdorpervlakte together with Paul Visser and Ids Haagsma.

- Buried.

At the Waalsdorpervlakte together with Paul Visser and Ids Haagsma and buried in an unmarked grave at the Waalsdorpervlakte. Henk was reburied on 07-01-1947, at the Zuiderbegraafplaats in Rotterdam. A funeral service was held for the three boys at the Peace Church in South Rotterdam. Henk was reburied in 1974 at the National Cemetery Loenen.

resistance

Zwaan, Hendrik “Henk” Theodoor, born on 30-05-1917, in Rotterdam. Henk was the son of Barend Hendrik Zwaan (1886-1953) and Theodora Catharina Fredrika, born Broeksmit (1893-1980). His parents married in 1916 in Rotterdam. He had two sisters, Theodora Catharina Frederika (1920) and Jacoba Johanna (1923). On 23-04-1928, scouting Group 12 Fridjof Nansen Group was established in Rotterdam Feyenoord. The group wore a khaki neckerchief. The tribe was called the Vikings. The group had its troop room on the Charl. Lagedijk by the Ice Club in 1935. In 1935, Henk was the senior patrol leader of the troop. His father was the chief of the tribe.On 06-10-1935, Group 24 Tasmania was established in Rotterdam. His father left Group 12 in September of that year. He became the chief elder of the Abel Tasman tribe in this new sea scouts group. Pieter Mica, who was previously also a scout in group 12, became the tribe correspondent for the tribe. His father stopped as group leader and chief elder in the autumn of 1937. In October 1937, their new clubhouse was opened by Schipper and oubaas Zwaan. In 1938, the tribe was given the name The Southern Cross. In December 1940, his father was once again the chief of the group and was appointed honorary skipper. Henk also moved from group 12 to group 24 and became a flag bearer / assistant leader (scout leader) in March 1939.

Immediately after the German invasion, scouts and pioneers reported to their posts in Rotterdam, such as the police stations and the aid posts of the Women’s Voluntary Service. Due to the loss of telephone connections, the boys were, among other things, deployed as orderlies. They helped with traffic control, transporting victims, and digging temporary graves. A large part of the city was still a battlefield, so the work was not without danger. Antonius Raadsen, pilot at group 24, was shot and killed at his work on 10-05-1940. Henk was an inspector at the Crisis Control Service. During the occupation, the service had, among other things, the task of combating the widespread black market. He lived with his parents at Brede Hilledijk 55b on Katendrecht in Rotterdam. In August 1942, he moved to Haarlem and in July 1943 to Amsterdam. He was active in the resistance with KP-Rotterdam-South. During the major raid on November 10 and 11, 1944, V-man Cornelis “Kees” Bitter was active in reporting illegal workers. On November 10, he was at the assembly point in the Feijenoord Stadium, and a day later at the Nenijto site in Blijdorp to identify illegal workers. Kees was able to recognize three of them, namely Paulus Marinus “Paul” Visser, Hendrik “Henk” Zwaan, and Gijsbert Jansen, commander of the RVV/ Raad van Verzet/ council of resistance, in Rotterdam-South. They were arrested and ended up in the Oranjehotel in Scheveningen. Later Cornelis “Kees” Bitter confessed to having betrayed the leader of the Hague KP, which led to his arrest and ultimately the arrest and killing of the majority of this gang. “Kees” Bitter was found guilty and liquidated by the resistance. On the evening of 05-01-1945, he was incapacitated with chloroform and given a cyanide injection. However, this did not work, and they shot him in the head. His corpse was sewn into a burlap sack and weighted down with bricks before being thrown into the Boerengat. The body was never found, and Bitter was officially declared dead in the late 1960s.

Death and burial ground of Zwaan, Hendrik “Henk” Theodoor.

Henk Zwaan was executed on 13-11-1944, age 27, at the Waalsdorpervlakte

along with Paul Visser and Ids Haagsma

and buried in an unmarked grave at the Waalsdorpervlakte. Henk was reburied on 07–01-1947, at the Zuiderbegraafplaats in Rotterdam. A funeral service was held for the three boys at the Vredeskerk in Rotterdam South. Unmarried, student, Ids Haagsma was a member of the resistance and belonged to the KP-Rotterdam-South. On 08-11-1944, Ids was arrested by the SD in connection with his underground activities. Already the next day, without any form of trial, executed on the Waalsdorpervlakte. Buried in the honorary field of the OGS in Loenen, section C, no. 250.