Bodde, Theo, born 19-03-1901 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands the son of Theodorus Dobbe and Maria Sophia, born Smit, Theo was the brother of Sophia Gerarda Hendrika Dobbe; Leonardus Theodorus Dobbe and Pieter Poulus Dobbe.
Before the war, Dobbe was the chief representative of a linoleum factory and a devout Catholic, and after the capitulation he emerged as one of the most restless and versatile people in the resistance. As early as the summer of 1940 he committed his first act of resistance, by smuggling weapons, ammunition and explosives from the Naarden fortress with a few comrades, including the Bussum chemist Gerardus Adrianus Reeskamp,
who from 1941 in Friesland mainly used the alias ‘Harry’ or ‘doctor Rienstra’, his son Gerard A. Reeskamp, Henry Joseph Vroom and Joannes Aloysius “Jan” van Straelen.
Jan van Straelen, age 27, and twenty other resistance fighters, on 29-07-1943, were sentenced to death during the Second Order Service Trial for ‘Feindbegünstigung’ and shot on the Leusderheide near Amersfoort. Gerardus Reeskamp survived the war and died, age 70, in Soest, 26-03-1970.
The Dobbe Group emerged from the Reeskamp action group. This resistance group (in varying composition) committed espionage, sabotage, helped Jewish people in hiding and collaborated in the distribution of the illegal newspaper Vrij Nederland / Free Netherlands.
On 14-05-1941, Amsterdam-Zuid was shocked by an explosion: the Dobbe group had blown up a villa on the Bernard Zweerskade in which German officers were housed. Presumably there were no casualties, but the damage was extensive. A few days later (on 3 June), however, a second attack was carried out, this time on the Luftwaffe telephone exchange at Schiphol; one person was seriously injured. It is not known whether Dobbe was involved in this.The German reprisal for both attacks was, however, terrible. During a raid, three hundred Jews were arrested and sent directly to the Mauthausen concentration camp,
where they soon died. Such reprisals in the form of persecution of innocent civilians were almost a standard reaction of the occupiers to acts of resistance and caused enormous remorse for the illegality; however, it did not stop most of them from continuing their fight. So did Dobbe and his comrades.
Dobbe was eventually lured into a trap by Anton van der Waals, during the war a spy for the German Sicherheitsdienst (SD)
..There was sufficient evidence for Antonius van der Waals’ guilt in the arrest of 83 resistance fighters in German hands, of whom at least 34 were executed. Experts are convinced that the number of people handed over to the SD by Van der Waals is many times higher. He was sentenced to death and executed on the Waalsdorpervlakte
on 26-01-1950, aged 37.
Theo Bodde was locked up in Scheveningen and later transferred to a prison in Utrecht, from which he managed to escape. Theo had to go into hiding and found shelter in Friesland in an abandoned hunting lodge near Oranjewoud, not far from Heerenveen. Others soon joined him there, such as Gerrit Kleinveld, known for his escape from the bunker of Camp Amersfoort.
The group developed a new plan: a raid on the distribution office in Joure, where ration cards for the region were issued. Using the knowledge that irregularities had occurred at the office, Dobbe and two employees put on military police uniforms on 14-10-1942 and demanded the entire stock of ration cards plus the associated administration. The ‘hack’ was miraculously successful, the ration cards (which were only valid for four weeks) were distributed in Amsterdam. Eventually, a reward of 10,000 guilders was offered to anyone who could provide the tip that would lead to the perpetrators.However, too many people had been involved in the preparation, which led to the Sicherheitspolizei
being put on the trail and most of them were arrested. Strangely enough, they were left virtually untouched, as the police were only interested in Dobbe. This time, Dobbe went into hiding with the Burgers family on the Waschweg in Velp and was not found.
Death and burial ground of Bodde, Theo.



After a few months he again took up illegal work. Early in 1944 he was approached by the leadership of the Landelijke Knokploegen / National Assault Squads, to take on part of the organisation, for which he travelled the South of the Netherlands. With his own gang he was mainly concerned with the liquidation of traitors. However, his last action on 5 September (Mad Tuesday) cost him his life in 1944. Dobbe tried to liquidate the collaborator Johnny de Droog on the orders of his deceased friend Jan van Straelen and was arrested. Eventually Theo Dobbe, age 43, was shot dead by the German Sicherheitsdienst that same day on the estate ‘t Hof in Dieren (Gelderland).
With that the entire group from Bussum was eliminated. By Royal Decree no. 21 of 11 September 1951 Bodde was posthumously added to the register of the Military William Order
, and he was awarded the Knight’s Cross 4th class for his actions during the Second World War. In Amsterdam, the Theodorus Dobbestraat
is named after him, and in Lent (Nijmegen) the Theo Dobbestraat. The Jesuit Jan ten Berge,
who was involved in the work of the group, wrote a then published letter of condolence to Theo Dobbe’s widow after the war.
The traitor Johnny de Droog had by now put some three hundred opponents behind bars, alone and in collaboration. More than a quarter of them died in a camp, before a firing squad or after torture in which De Droog participated. He shot two suspects dead himself on There was no trace to suggest that someone else had shot De Droog. It is assumed that on 19-02-1945, in Gorsel. De Droog, age 51, had shot himself. Before he left, he always checked his pistol. This was a pistol with a light pressure point. Presumably, the shot went off and he was hit in the head. We knew that he was very reckless with firearms.’
Theodorus Dobbe was buried at thets Rooms-Katholieke Begraafplaats Buitenveldert, Roman Catholic Cemetery, Zuidas, Amsterdam Municipality, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. Section Field B, Row 1, Grave 352. Fred. Roeskestraat 103, 1076 EE Amsterdam.
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