The brothers Gootjes, Pieter “Piet” Jaap, pseudonym Daan, born 31-12-1915 – Engwierum 
and Jacob “Jaap” Pieter, pseudonym Koos, 
born 08-08-1920 in Suawoude (Tietjerksteradeel), 
the sons of reformed minister of Baflo, Jacob Gootjes and hius wife Maria Louisa, born Veldman.
Jacob Pieter unmarried, municipal official, reformed and member of the resistance under the alias Koos and Pieter Jaap unmarried and reformed, were both involved in the resistance from an early stage and took part in various violent actions against the German occupiers.
At the municipal offices, Jacob Pieter helped people in hiding find addresses where they could be sheltered. Together with his brother Pieter, Jaap—as he was known—was involved in the raid on the distribution office in Langweer on 04-06-1943, by the KP – Middelstum of Pieter Elibert “Piet” Hut 
and the brothers Pieter and Jaap Gootjes. It was the first raid of its kind in the Netherlands. The brothers also took part in raids on distribution offices in Ferwert, Ten Boer, Baflo, Kerkenveld, and Steenwijksmoer (near Coevorden).
Pieter Elibert “Piet” Hut (pseudonym Piet Brinkman) was a Dutch civil servant and resistance fighter, born on 14-09-1921, in Ten Boer and led a resistance group (KP-Middelstum). He engaged in armed resistance and raided the distribution office in Langweer on 04-06-1943. Hut was captured and executed by firing squad on 05-08-1943, at the age of 21 in Groningen.
Thus, on June 4, 1943, they carried out a raid on the distribution office in the Frisian town of Langweer. The brothers went into hiding in various places, including the Zonnehoek villa in Middelstum, with the Bos family. However, this hiding place was betrayed.
Following the betrayal by the furniture dealer Miske, the SD 
raided the farm of resistance man Klaas Bos (born 08-01-1904 in Middelstum) 
and his wife Trijntje —where the brothers were in hiding—on 11-02-1944. When the Sicherheitsdienst attempted to arrest the brothers, they encountered fierce resistance. The brothers fled into a nearby meadow.
Death and burial ground of Jacob Pieter and Pieter Jaap Gootjes.
After they fled into the surrounding fields, but both were shot dead during a firefight with the Germans around 1:30 p.m. The farmer, Klaas Bos, was wounded and severely beaten; he died age 40, on 12-02-1944 the following day in a hospital in Groningen as a result of his injuries and the assault. On the orders of the Germans, Jacob Gootjes was cremated at the Driehuis-Westerveld crematorium. 
On 04-05-1945, the urns were seized by two German officers and dumped by them into a canal between Haarlem and Amsterdam.
Their bodies were not released by the occupier, but were kept in the morgue of the Academic Hospital in Groningen. The Gootjes family was given the chance to say goodbye, but it had to be done secretly. Everything depended on the schedule of a reliable doorman. Two evenings later, at half past six, it was time. The bodies of Pieter and Jacob lay on a stretcher that was pulled out from a cabinet in the wall. Father Gootjes took the handkerchiefs out of their pockets, mother cut a few locks of hair from each of her sons.
At the behest of the Germans, the bodies of the Gootjes brothers were cremated, against Reformed practice. A kick in the teeth, the family considered it. Shortly after the liberation, father Gootjes wanted to collect the ash bins, but they had disappeared. They were never found. A street in Baflo has been named after the Gootjes brothers.
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