An ''Engelandvaarder'' (; ) was a Dutch person who escaped from the German-occupied Netherlands to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the intention of joining the Free Dutch forces. The name derives from the earliest such attempts involving people who paddled 100 miles across the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. Only about one in ten were successful in the crossing, with most just disappearing in the sea. Once they reached England many joined the Allied forces to help free their country from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. In July 1940 three Dutchmen escaped from the occupied Netherlands and crossed the North Sea to England in a twelve-foot boat. They were called "''Engelandvaarders''". This first success encouraged many others to try the crossing. Most of these disappeared and were never heard from again. With time, land routes out of the Netherlands developed, and a number of the Dutch reached England by traveling overland from safe house to safe house to reach

southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland or Sweden and from the neutral country transited to England. A large number of men and women, however, were killed or arrested on their way to England. Many died at sea. Some were captured by the Germans. Of these, some were shot, but most were deported to

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s. Some escaped from detention, such as

Bram van der Stok Abraham Lamertus "Bram" van der Stok, (13 October 1915 – 8 February 1993), also known as Bob van der Stok, was a World War II fighter pilot and flying ace, and is the most decorated aviator in Dutch history. In March 1944, he broke out of Sta ...

, the most successful Dutch fighter pilot in World War II, who escaped with

Bodo Sandberg Lt. Colonel Jonkheer, Jhr. Bodo Sandberg (September 23, 1914 – May 2, 2005) was a fighter pilot in the Royal Netherlands Air Force and 'Engelandvaarder' during World War II. He was awarded the Cross of Merit (Netherlands), Cross of Merit and the ...

and four other ''Engelandvaarders'' from the prisoner of war camp

Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...

, in a car stolen from the camp commander. Many others were taken to death camps, of whom only a few returned to the Netherlands after the liberation. Upon arriving in England these Engelandvaarders were interrogated by

British secret service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

to be sure Nazi Germany had not slipped a secret agent among their number. This was done in London at the "London Reception Centre" in the building over a period of four years. Once they cleared the interview process they all had a meeting with

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, making her the longest-reigning monarch in Dutch history, as ...

, who viewed them as her window back to her homeland. A number of the Engelandvaarders were awarded the Dutch Bronze Cross (BK) or the Cross of Merit (KV). Over 1,700 Dutch men and women overcame many difficulties to reach England. Of these 332 joined the Royal Army, 118 the Royal Air Force, 397 the Royal Navy, 176 the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (; KNIL, ; ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherl ...

(KNIL), 164 the merchant navy, 129 served with the

Dutch government-in-exile The Dutch government-in-exile (), also known as the London Cabinet (), was the government in exile of the Netherlands, supervised by Queen Wilhelmina, that fled to London after the German invasion of the country during World War II on 10 May 19 ...

in London and 111 became secret agents and returned to occupied Netherlands.

Notable Engelandvaarders

Aart Alblas Aart Hendrik Alblas, aka Klaas de Waard (20 September 1918, in Middelharnis – 7 September 1944, in Mauthausen concentration camp), was a Dutch navy officer, resistance member and Engelandvaarder. He participated in several resistance operation ...

MWO, BK *

Jaap Burger Jacobus Albertus Wilhelmus "Jaap" Burger (20 August 1904 – 19 August 1986) was a Dutch politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands), Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later co-founder of the Labour Party (Netherl ...

, BK *

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (3 April 1917 – 26 September 2007) was a Dutch writer who became a resistance fighter and RAF pilot during the Second World War. Near the end of the war he was adjudant (assistant) to Wilhelmina of the Netherl ...

MWO, KV *

Piet Kasteel Petrus Albertus "Piet" Kasteel (4 November 1901 – 13 December 2003) was a Dutch journalist, diplomat, and colonial administrator. He was parliamentary editor of ', and fled to England during World War II where he served for the Dutch government- ...

Hans Larive Etienne Henri "Hans" Larive, MWO, DSC and bar, (23 September 1915 – 28 December 1984) was a Dutch naval officer during World War II. He escaped from the prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle in 1941, and spent the rest of the war ...

MWO, BK *

Ernst Moltzer Ernst Octavianus Moltzer (1 May 1910 – 15 November 1941) was a sailor from the Netherlands who represented his native country as at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Kiel. Ernst, as crew member on the Dutch 6 Metre ''De Ruyter'', took the 8th ...

Jack Ooms Arie Jacobus Johannes "Jack" Ooms (1925 - 6 September 1999, Spain) was a Dutch chemist, diplomat and chemical weapons researcher. As head of Dutch chemical defence research, Ooms worked for 23 years for the eradication of chemical warfare, which h ...

* Charles Pahud de Mortanges *

Hugo Pos Hugo Pos (November 28, 1913 in Paramaribo – November 11, 2000 in Amsterdam) was a Surinamese judge, writer, and poet. Biography Hugo Pos was born in Paramaribo. Raymond was his older brother. In 1925, he left Suriname for the Netherlands to stu ...

* Han Stijkel * Peter Tazelaar MWO *

, BK *

Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart (19 March 1901 – 8 July 1956) was a Dutch politician, diplomat and journalist. A member of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA), he was List of Ministers of Justice of the Netherlands, Minister of J ...

* Ida Veldhuyzen van Zanten *

Alphons Wijnen Alphonse Jean Henri (Fons) Wijnen (Lieze, Visé, (Belgium), 7 June 1912Leende, 7 March 2001) was a Dutch soldier. He was the officer in charge when the Rawagede massacre took place during the Indonesian National Revolution in which Dutch troops kil ...

Museum Engelandvaarders

On 4 September 2015 the Museum Engelandvaarders was inaugurated by

King Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

in the Dutch town of

Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the f ...

to commemorate the Engelandvaarders. The museum is in a former munition bunker which was part of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...

Soldier of Orange

The ' (''Soldaat van Oranje'') is a book written by

, first published in 1971. In 1977 the book was made into a movie by Dutch director

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch filmmaker, who has worked variously in the Netherlands, the United States, and in France. He is known for directing genre films with strong satirical elements, often featuring graphic violence and ...

. It starred

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...

in the part of Erik. In 2010 it was produced on the stage as a musical. The

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

is performed in a Theaterhangar on the former airfield Valkenburg near

Katwijk Katwijk () is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and i ...

and has since attracted more than 3 million visitors. The running date has been extended multiple times.

Citations

Bibliography

* Tucker, Spencer C. ''World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection'' Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, (2014).

External links