Tigelaar, Rijk “De Rijk” Pseudonym “Hessel”.

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Tigelaar, Rijk “De Rijk”, born 15-12-1912 in Ede, Netherlands, as the fourth of eight children. His father was a baker in Ede. He himself took a course to become a technical draftsman at the Vocational School in Arnhem. In 1938, he got a job as a technical draftsman at the municipality of Ede. There, he worked among others with Peter Jacobus “Piet” Rombout.    a resistance friend. His son Paul Rombout witnessed the arrest and was shortly thereafter also taken into custody. Father Rombout was interrogated and detained by the Sicherheitsdienst in the days that followed at the villa De Eekhorst in Lunteren. He made another escape attempt, but was shot. The interrogations of the seriously injured Rombout, however, continued as usual. A week after his arrest, Rombout, still severely injured and with no prospect of improvement, ended his life in Camp Amersfoort. Two days later, the other Edese detainees, including his son Ferdi,  were executed in retaliation for the murder of the “wrong” policeman Diederik Lutke Schipholt a few days earlier.                                  

After the German invasion in May 1940, the persecution of the Jews quickly increased. At the request of his colleague Johan Fahrenhorst, Tigelaar took in some Jews, as did several of his colleagues. A Jewish boy was also sheltered in his parents’ bakery. In April 1943, two employes of the Sicherheitsdienst from The Hague reported to Ede. They were looking for Fahrenhorst, but instead took his wife hostage. Fahrenhorst eventually reported himself. A week later, Tigelaar and three other individuals, including his colleague Marinus van As, were arrested for providing assistance to Jews. In total, eight Jews were found with them.

Rijk is transferred to the Wormshoef, the headquarters of the German Sicherheits Dienst (SD) in Lunteren. He is interrogated, tortured, and sentenced to death there.

De Wormshoef was notorious for the cruel torture practices that took place there. Among the people who worked here were, among others, Johannes Mattheus (Johnny) de Droog, one of the most notorious informants Friedrich August Enkelstroth, Heinrich Ludwig Heinemann, Arno Huhn, deputy head of the Sicherheitsdienst in Arnhem. Marinus “Ries” Jansen, a Dutch collaborator and Emil Rappard. The first few months, Tigelaar was imprisoned in the Oranjehotel in Scheveningen. From there, he was transported to Camp Amersfoort  and later to Camp Vught.

Early December 1943, his sentence for “favoring Jews” was over and he was released. The Germans requested him to report immediately for the Arbeitseinsatz, or work in Germany, upon his return to Ede. Tigelaar decided not to do that and went into hiding with his brother in the Groningen village of ‘t Zandt. After some time, Tigelaar returned to Ede and became involved in the resistance work. Especially after the lost Battle of Arnhem, the local resistance really got busy, among other things with helping stranded British soldiers.

Death and burial ground of Tigelaar, Rijk “De Rijk”, Pseudonym “Hessel”.

In the nite of 02-03-1945, a weapons drop took place near the Goudsberg by Lunteren. A few days later, a question was raised from England about whether it was safe to hold another dropping at the same location. Tigelaar was involved in that second dropping. Afterward, he was arrested along with sixteen other individuals involved near the intersection of Goorsteeg and Hessenweg close to Lunteren. After a few days of interrogations, all the prisoners were transported to Camp Amersfoort. On 20-03-1945, age 32, Rijk was executed by a German fire squad, in Loosdrecht, along with five detainees from Ede and four others near Loosdrecht. Rijk “De Rijk” Tigelaar rest at the Cemetery Mausoleum on the Paasberg in Ede. Vossenakker , Ede, Netherlands. Rijk Tigelaar was married to Fetje Tabak. Together they had a daughter, Ansje, who was born a month before Tigelaar’s death.

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