5 February 1944

At Magele B93a (today’s Molenstraat 25), a raid truck stopped on 5 February 1944. Nazi soldiers in green uniforms noisily forced their way inside. They had come to arrest resistance fighters Hendrik de Ruiter and Wicher Dam. Hendrik turned 38 years old that day — it would be his last birthday. He was dragged out of bed and given no time to take anything with him. Without mercy, he was taken away, with no chance for a proper farewell to his wife and five young children, who were left behind in despair.

He was thrown into the raid truck, where resistance men Gerrit Lammerink and Klaas Dam had already been taken earlier that evening.

Daughter Janny recalls:

“Of course, I was still a child during the war. I was 7 years old when my father was taken. There were Germans among the men who came with the raid truck. They also opened the door of our bedroom. I was sleeping there with my sister and my youngest brother. They shone a flashlight around the room and one of them said: ‘Ach, dass sind Kinder.’ Then the door closed again.

I also remember that when they left, my mother stood on the landing and called down: ‘Hendrik’ and then louder: ‘Hendrik!’ But there was no answer. Then they were gone.

The linen cupboard had been completely emptied; all of it was lying in my mother’s bed.

You remember the things that make an impression on you as a child: that all the neighbors came the next day and that there was so much emotion…”