Vrouwtje van Putten Herdenkingshof Dorpsstraat OudeRijksweg Putten2

The Putten raid (Dutch: ''Razzia van Putten'') was a civilian raid conducted by

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 occupied Netherlands during the

Second World War 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 ...

. On 1 October 1944, a total of 602 men – almost the entire male population of the village – were taken from

Putten Putten () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and Dorp (town), town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It had a population of in . It is located in the coastal area of the old Zui ...

, in the central

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and deported to various

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 inside Germany. Only 48 returned at the end of the war. The raid was carried out as a reprisal for a

Dutch resistance The Dutch resistance () to the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party of the Netherlands, C ...

attack on a vehicle carrying personnel from the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

''.

Background

On the night of 30 September-1 October 1944, a car carrying two officers and two corporals of the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

was ambushed by members of the

near the Oldenallerbrug bridge between Putten and

Nijkerk Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Niekark'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. Population centres Some people state that ''Groot Corlaer'' is a ...

. In the attack, a resistance fighter named Frans Slotboom was wounded; he later died. One German officer, Lieutenant Otto Sommer, was also injured, and escaped to a nearby farmhouse to raise the alarm; he died the following day. The two German corporals fled while the second officer, Oberleutnant Eggart, was injured and captured. Due to his wounds, the resistance fighters abandoned him in a place where he could be found by the Germans.

German reprisal

The German reprisal raid was conducted the following day. At the command of General

Friedrich Christiansen Friedrich Christiansen (12 December 1879 – 3 December 1972) was a German general who served as commander of the German ''Wehrmacht'' in the Netherlands in World War II, occupied Netherlands during World War II. Christiansen was a World War I ...

, Putten was surrounded by German forces. The women and men of the village were captured and separated, and over 100 houses in the village were set on fire. Six men and a woman were shot dead during the raid. The women were held at the church until 9 pm, while the men and boys were detained separately nearby at the village school. On 2 October, 661 men between the ages of 18 and 50 were taken to

Amersfoort concentration camp Kamp Amersfoort (, ) was a Nazi concentration camp near the city of Amersfoort, the Netherlands. The official name was "Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort", P.D.A. or Amersfoort Police Transit Camp. 47,000 prisoners were held there between ...

, where 59 older or unfit men were released. The remaining 602 men left Amersfoort on 11 October and taken to

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

. During the transportation, 13 men escaped by jumping off the train. From Neuengamme, some were moved to other camps or sub-camps, including

Ladelund Ladelund is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. History From November 1, 1944 until December 16, 1944, a concentration camp was established near Ladelund. The prisoners were mostly Dutch, ...

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

, Meppen-Versen, Beendorf, Wöbbelin and

Malchow Malchow () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (district), Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. Geography It is situated on the river Elde, 25,5 km we ...

. Only 48 men returned after the end of the war, but another 5 died, due to their mistreatment in the camps, after they arrived home. Some people returned crippled, as they had been kept in small cages they could not stand in. As further reprisals, the SS set fire to 105 houses. A total of 552 men and 1 woman died, mostly victims of malnutrition, slave labour, and infectious diseases.

Memorials

A monument commemorating the victims of the raid was unveiled by

Queen Juliana Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Duke ...

on 1 October 1949. The monument includes a memorial park designed by

Jan Bijhouwer Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

, and a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

statue called "''treurende weduwe''" (mourning widow) by Mari Andriessen depicting a grieving woman in traditional dress with a handkerchief in her hand, better known as "''het Vrouwtje van Putten''" (The little Lady of Putten). The statue looks toward the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Putten, from where the men were deported. A silent memorial is held at the monument on 2 October each year, attended by hundreds of people. Wreaths are laid by the ''

College van burgemeester en wethouders In the Netherlands, the municipal executive (, oftentimes abbreviated to ; ) is the executive board of a municipality. It plays a central role in municipal politics in the Netherlands, similar to the communal college in Belgium. It consists of ...

'' (The College of the Mayor and Municipal Executives), the "''Stichting oktober '44''" (The October '44 Foundation), surviving returnees (the last one died in 2013), schoolchildren from Putten and other organizations from the Netherlands and abroad. No speeches are made, but a music group plays appropriate music and a choir sings verses of

Psalm 84 Psalm 84 is the 84th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English of the King James Version: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!". The Book of Psalms forms part of the ''Ketuvim'' section of the Hebrew Bible and part of ...

, as the Putten men did when they were taken away.

References

Based on the Dutch-language version a
nl:Razzia_van_Putten

Resistance in Western Europe
Bob Moore, Berg, 2000, , p. 206
''"Sa Wie It"''
George Sjouke Riemersma, Xlibris Corporation, 2010, , p. 65
''Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: daily life in occupied Europe''
Robert Gildea, Berg, 2006, , p. 196
Traces of War

putten.nl

Stichting Oktober '44

Het verhaal van Jannes Priem

External links

{{Commons category-inline World War II sites in the Netherlands World War II massacres Collective punishment Massacres in the Netherlands War crimes in the Netherlands War crimes of the Wehrmacht October 1944 in Europe 1944 in the Netherlands Violence against men in Europe History of Gelderland Putten Reprisals

Background

German reprisal

Memorials

See also

References

External links