Veldman, Gerardus Jacobus “Gerhard”.

Veldman, Gerardus Jacobus “Gerhard”, born 03-01-1918 in Noord-Scharwoude, Netherlands, the only son of Jacob Veldman and Cornelia, born Komen. Gerard had a younger sister, Annie. He moved a lot with his parents in the hope of having a better life as farmers elsewhere.In 1934, his parents decided to move to Alkmaar for the future of Gerard and his younger sister. His father kept the small plots of land and went there daily. He also worked for a farmer as a farmhand. Gerard found most people in Alkmaar rather strange, because they didn’t say hello. He got a job at a butcher shop as an apprentice butcher. The Catholic family attended church at the Dominicus parish.

After the Catholic Scouts were founded in 1930, three Catholic scout groups quickly emerged in Alkmaar. In 1932, the St. Laurentius group and the St. Dominicus group were established. In 1933, the Andre de Thayegroup was founded for underprivileged youth. Catholic scouts from De Geuzen and the Kaninefaten usually transferred to these groups. Gerard became a flag bearer (scout leader) with this Dominicus group and his friend Fritz Gerhard Marie Conijn was installed as a scout here in 1935. The Dominicus group was named after one of the two inner-city parishes. They had their clubhouse between Nieuwepoortslaan and the driveway of the sports park near the Alkmaarse Hout. Before the war, there were two neutral and four Catholic scout groups and one company for girl scouts. In total, 400 girls and boys played the game of Scouting.The scouting group was active during the May days of 1940 in helping to accommodate evacuees from Amersfoort, and in June 1940 they organized a successful fundraising campaign for the victims of the German bombings in Rotterdam by frying and selling fries, among other things from the home of the Conijn family. The quarter-hour bombing almost destroyed the entire historic city center of Rotterdam, partly due to the fires that broke out. 711 people died, and approximately 80,000 residents became homeless.

After the ban on Scouting in 1941, the clubhouses were used by the national Jeugdstorm, including the building of the Dominicusgroep. The Youth Storm did not enjoy the buildings for long because the clubhouses of the scouts and explorer groups were systematically set on fire one by one by the moral owners who wanted to commit an act of resistance. The Geuzenkorf, the building of the Geuzengroep, went up in flames in October 1943. The clubhouse of the Kaninefaten and the Dominicusgroep also burned down during the war. For Gerard and Fritz, this was their first act of resistance. Herman Bak, Gerard Veldman, and Fritz Conijn from the Catholic Dominicus group were active in the resistance. Also in the other groups, members were active such as Jan and Hennie Hoberg, Andreas “André” Theodorus van Elburg, Jacobus “Jaap” Ignatius Vlas , and Emile and Herman Wagenaar from the Don Boscogroep, District Commissioner Doeko Bosscher, Assistant District Commissioner Cubs. Andreas van Elburg died 01-07-1946, age 20, in Semarang (Oud-Tjandi), Indonesia (due to a weapon accident while serving post-WWII).

Furth resistance members, Nel Elisabeth Lind, resistance name Suze de Wit, the Jewish Bob van Amerongen and Bob van Hilten from Group 1 De Kaninefaten and Pieter Jacob Jongens from Group 2  De Geuzen. Gerard, together with Fritz Conijn, is one of the most important resistance fighters of the National Organization for Assistance to Hiding Persons (LO)-Alkmaar. Both are seeking to expand the group thru the Catholic Scouts. In 1942, Gerard independently began sheltering Jews in the Wieringermeer. The advancing rationing crisis brought him into contact with the National Organization for Assistance to Hiding Persons. He soon joined the fighting squad of his scout Fritz Conijn and participated in almost all the dangerous actions. He was, among other things, part of the actions in Haarlem, Heiloo, Noord-Scharwoude, Amsterdam-Corellistraat. ‘The monkey is loose.’ Everyone who listens to Radio Oranje on Tuesday, 10-10-1944, hears this strange message. It is a dropping code. That nite, the British wanted to drop a new weapons shipment over the drop zone Lobster in the Wogmeer. The dropping that nite, however, did not take place because the plane could not find or see the location.

Death and burial ground of Veldman, Gerardus Jacobus “Gerhard”.

Each resistance group had its own organization around such a dropping. There were people responsible for securing the roads, the location of the drop, and for transporting the just-dropped weapons. In the case of this dropping, a separate group would pick up the weapons by truck from the dropping location at nite.This group was not aware that the dropping had failed and set off around 3:30 AM from the “Houtlust” farm in the Schermer (a regular storage location). They approached the Rustenburger Bridge, but were unaware that Dutch land guards had set an ambush for the truck there. It is still unclear whether and how the land guard was aware of this arms drop. At the bridge, the truck was shot at, but the occupants were also able to return fire. On the side of the resistance, Gerard Veldman, age 26, lost his life. Three land guards were killed. Later that morning, with the help of the Feldgendarmerie and a delegation of SD members, the farm ‘Houtlust’ was surrounded. Here, seven other members of the resistance group and hiding individuals were shot dead. Gerard was buried the next day in Ursum. He was transferred to Alkmaar after the liberation, where he was buried on 28-05-1945, at the Roman Katholiek Cemetery St. Barbara, with great attention from the domestic armed forces, the resistance, and friends.He received the Resistance Memorial Cross. At the Gerard Veldman Bridge in Rustenburg (municipality of Koggenland),  a plaque has been installed. He is also commemorated at the monument   on the Noordervaart in Stompetoren (municipality of Alkmaar).

Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster:    robhopmans@outlook.com