Gilse, Maarten “Mik” van, born 02-06-1916 in München, 
Germany, to Jan van Gilse (1881-1944). During the Spanish Civil War, 
Maarten enlisted in the International Brigades. 
The International Brigades (Spanish: Brigadas Internacionales) were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigades existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were some 32,000 Brigaders, yet at no single moment were there more than 18,000 actually deployed. Beyond the Spanish Civil War, “International Brigades” is also sometimes used interchangeably with the term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war.
After the German invasion of the Netherlands, Maarten joined the resistance group CS-6. CS-6 was the name of a left-wing Amsterdam resistance group during World War II. The name may come from the address where the group originated: Corellistraat 6 in Amsterdam. 
However, others consider Centre de Sabotage number 6 more likely. The group was founded in the summer of 1940 by the the brothers Gideon (“Gi”) and Jan Karel “Janka” Boissevain
After their failed attempt to escape to England in July 1940, they returned to their parental home, where their mother had already begun taking in Jewish refugees. CS-6 collected weapons and initially focused on sabotage, later also on the liquidation of traitors. The group had close contacts with the illegal branch of the CPN 
and also frequently collaborated with the Identity Card Centrale and other parts of the artist and student resistance, such as Lichting and De Vrije Katheder.
The Communist Party of the Netherlands (Dutch: Communistische Partij Nederland, CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People’s Party in 1991, forming the GroenLinks. Members opposed to the merger founded the New Communist Party of the Netherlands.
Together with his father, composer-conductor Jan Pieter Hendrik van Gilse 
killed age 63, by the Germans on 08-09-1944 (grave unknown) and sculptor Gerrit Jan van der Veen,
Maarten founded the illegal magazine De vrije kunst (The Free Artist), which emerged from artists’ resistance to compulsory membership in the Kultuurkamer (Chamber of Culture). 
Maarten also played a prominent role in the identity card office (PBC), 
which produced forged documents on a large scale.In the spring of 1943, he was involved in preparing the attack on the Amsterdam Population Register. 
On 27-03-1943, a Dutch resistance group attacked the Amsterdam Population Register by setting the registry office on fire, causing damage and disrupting records during World War II.
Later that year, he asked his girlfriend Marianne van Raamsdonk 
to investigate the daily habits of police inspector Pieter Kaay. 
As a result, Kaay was shot by a cyclist on July 3. At the end of July 1943, Van Gilse was arrested by the Sicherheitspolizei. 
On 30-09-1943, Maarten was sentenced to death by a police court, and the following day he and eighteen other members of the dismantled resistance group CS-6 were executed in the dunes near Overveen. Marianne van Raamsdonk was also arrested, but she survived the war. Lin Jaldati 
writes extensively about Maarten van Gilse in his autobiography, “Lied van verzet” (Song of Resistance) (collaborated with Eberhard Rebling, 2024, translated from “Sag nie, du gehst den letzten Weg,” Berlin, 1986); they were very good friends.
Maarten’s older brother, Jan Hendrik (Janric) van Gilse 
(Munich, 05-06-1912 – The Hague, 28-03-1944), was shot dead by the Germans six months later while attempting to escape. Jan Hendrik in February 1944, together with resistance man, Karel August “Karel” Pekelharing 
and others, he liberated his wife Truus van Everdingen, who was being transported from the Arnhem detention centre to hospital.
Gilse, Maarten “Mik” van, is executed by the Germans on 01-10-1943, age 27 and is buried at the Cemetery of honor Bloemendaal, Overveen, Netherlands. In the Kennemer dunes, on the Zeeweg in Overveen in the Dutch municipality of Bloemendaal.
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