Of Decency and Death: A story of the Netherlands in World War II by Burgers Jan & Burgers Jan

Author:Burgers, Jan & Burgers, Jan [Inconnu(e)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jan Burgers
Published: 2017-02-28T01:00:00+00:00

Henk Veeneman’s camp card issued in Sachsenhausen.[39]

Dossing, the Danish team leader for the Arbeitskommando, would tell later how he came to know Van der Putt as someone who remained true to his ideals. When Dossing fell ill, Van der Putt visited him every night in the barracks to support him and to care for him. Dossing survived the war. In a letter dated October 1945, he wrote: "It will never be possible to thank a man enough for the fact that he made it possible to maintain faith in humanity."

***

Christmas 1944. Colleye would note that this was the most difficult period in the camp: “Just the thought of home made you weak, insecure and vulnerable to the violence and misery around you. You should not think of home," so Colleye said, "if you thought of home, you would die of grief."

The next morning, Christmas Day, the prisoners were allowed to stay in bed until seven o'clock. There was for the first time enough to eat that day. In the afternoon the prisoners were called out to stand in formation positioned in a square around a stage.

Assuming that the meeting had something to do with Christmas, the prisoners looked slightly surprised when two well-known executioners from Sachsenhausen made their entrance on stage. A number of prisoners caught committing minor offenses such as smoking during work were called to the front of the stage. They were tied to sawbucks and beaten with special viciousness for the occasion, Christmas. More dead than alive they were allowed to leave the stage.

***

The New Year dawned. The mayors were not doing well. Henk Veeneman had very little strength left. Jan Smulders lay in the infirmary of Sachsenhausen with pneumonia. Theo Serraris was also in the infirmary. He suffered from dysentery. Wim Wijtvliet suffered from swollen hands and feet. Meanwhile, rumors flew about the impending evacuation of Sachsenhausen. The rumors proved correct. Because the Soviet armies were getting closer, the prisoners would be sent to Bergen-Belsen and other camps located further West. Clothing was distributed for the transport.

Henri van der Putt, Minister Verschuur and Serraris deliberated. Van der Putt and Verschuur were already discharged from the hospital and would be deported. But what should Theo Serraris do? Should he remain in Sachsenhausen? The Russian army - and therefore liberation - was a mere sixty kilometers away. The prisoners could already hear the distant rumble of cannon fire . Or should he join the transport to Bergen-Belsen, a journey of almost three hundred kilometers westward, and thus bringing them closer to home. Theo Serraris was emaciated. He weighed barely fifty kilos and was very weak. But he was not so ill that he could not leave. Serraris decided that he would be better off joining Van der Putt and Verschuur. He asked to be discharged from the infirmary.

On January 28, 1945 a large group of prisoners, Serraris, Van der Putt and Verschuur among them, was put on transport from Sachsenhausen to Bergen-Belsen.

***

Buchenwald - A few days later, on February 5 and 6, additional prisoner transports left Sachsenhausen.

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