The story of Kees Kreukniet, the brave Dutchman who died for not betraying himself, has had clarification 77 years later. In the photo, the grave “1397”, where his remains rested.
The remains of a man found after World War II in a mass grave outside one of the most notorious Nazi prisons in old hollandnow the Netherlands, and that they are buried in a grave for strangers numbered “1397”was identified nearly 80 years later, a group of researchers announced this Saturday.
Dutch civilians and military investigators identified the man as Cornelis Pieter “Kees” Kreuknietin his 50s, after an investigation that traced a living relative through a DNA match.
During the war, Kees Kreukniet was involved as an official of the municipality of The Hague in the distribution of ‘Ons Morgenblad’, an illegal newsletter against Nazism born in the Department of Urban Development and Housing.
Kees Kreukniet, the brave Dutchman who during the Nazi invasion illegally printed and distributed a newspaper to combat German barbarism.
On October 9, 1944, Kreukniet and his friends failed in the logistics of paper distribution and ran into an SS raid on magazine printing works. He fell alone and was stranded at the Oranjehotel, the infamous Nazi prison of Scheveningen, where many resisting warriors were imprisoned. His relatives were always informed that he was there until one day they received the news that he had died of pneumonia. Since then no one has heard his lips.
“The victim was later identified as Kees Kreukniet, shot by a platoon outside the Scheveningen prison by the end of 1944, ”said Ronald Klomp, president of a Hague -based foundation dedicated to finding people missing in the war.
The investigation found that Kreukniet was cruelly interrogated and tortured but he never betrayed his comrades in struggle.
The search to identify Kreukniet’s remains seems to be gone a detective book. Klomp’s foundation found the name of a clothing store near Kreukniet’s residence until he was arrested in The Hague in 1944.
The Dutch Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the names, dates of birth and ages at which more than 102,000 Dutch victims of the Nazi Holocaust died. Photo: EFE
They also traced his name to a call “book of death” of those who died in the Scheveningen prison. ”The book gave pneumonia as the cause of death, but our investigation showed that he was killed by a platoon and thrown into a mass graveKlomp told AFP.
Through it clothing and dental recorda unit of the Dutch army dedicated to finding the remnants of World War II, found one of his relatives and take a DNA test, to match.
The discovery allowed it to reconstruct its history. During the war, he printed leaflets of the resistance in The Hague. But he was arrested when the documents was accidentally delivered to the wrong address. Those who received the papers notified the Nazi secret service, according to NOS media.
“I’m glad to finally know what happened to my great-uncle,” the relative told NOS Joop Kreuknietwho donated DNA. “It’s not a positive story. But it’s kind of a relief to know what happened there,” Kreukniet said.
The municipality of The Hague, meanwhile, expressed its satisfaction with the clarification of the fact: “During World War II, Kees Kreukniet worked for the municipality of The Hague as deputy cashier of the Department of Municipal Works”, Said a municipal spokesman.
“Together with his colleagues, he ensured the distribution of the resistance magazine‘ Ons Morgenblad ’, which has a circulation of 3,500 copies. Employees of the Department of Town Planning and Housing wrote the texts for the magazine and oversaw its distribution. Original copies of ‘Ons Morgenblad’ have been preserved in the library of the Municipal Archives in The Hague. Especially now that there are so few witnesses, it is very important that we pass on these stories of war to future generations. “
Source: Clarin