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Execution of Schoolmaster Boldewijn

As the Second World War progressed and the Allies gained ground, the German occupiers responded with increasingly harsh measures. One such measure was the use of reprisals, including the execution of schoolmaster Arend Boldewijn in Staphorst.

Arend Boldewijn (1891–1943) was headmaster at the “School with the Bible” in Staphorst. During the war, the school was requisitioned by the German occupiers, and lessons were alternately held in the hall of the local agricultural credit bank. Boldewijn’s sons were active in the resistance. One of them was linked to attacks on the town hall in Stadskanaal and an assault on the Dutch Nazi (NSB member) Willem Reilingh on 30 July 1943.

In September 1943, the SS began targeted reprisal killings of resistance members and their relatives under the so-called “Silbertanne” operation. For each attack on a German or NSB member, three Dutch victims were selected for execution. These assassinations continued until September 1944. As part of Operation Silbertanne, on 29 September 1943, Arend Boldewijn, surgeon Engbertus Johannes Roelfsema from Meppel, and local garage owner Jan Dijkstra were arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst and executed.

In the early hours of the morning, several men came to Boldewijn’s house asking him to come with them, saying he was likely to be arrested. His wife was suspicious, but Boldewijn believed it would be better to comply. During his interrogation, he refused to give any information about his son's whereabouts.

He was taken by car along the new highway toward Zwolle. Near Dekkersweg, Boldewijn was pulled from the vehicle and executed. Later that morning, his body was discovered by two men on their way to work. A street in Staphorst was later named after him: the Meester Boldewijnlaan.

Meester Boldewijnlaan 11-9 7951 AD Staphorst, the Netherlands

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