This route (and the accompanying visual material)&nbsp;was created in collaboration with the Didam Archaeological Society.Walking in the Achterhoek A long-distance trail runs through the Achterhoek, connecting to the international route. This trail starts at the German border, passing through ’s-Heerenberg on its way to Vorden. There, the route splits towards Gorssel (with a connection to Zwolle) and Holten (with a connection to Groningen). In addition to this trail, there is a regional trail — a circular walk through the Achterhoek — as well as several themed walks. The Second World War left indelible traces in the Achterhoek. Each trace tells its own story — sometimes big, sometimes small. The leading roles belong to the victims and heroes of that time. Along various impressive routes, you will get to know the people and their stories.

The Netherlands

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Liberationroute Didam 

The residence was home to the family of head teacher Piet van de Wetering. His daughter Fietje was involved in the organised resistance. In March 1945, several family members were arrested in connection with these activities and imprisoned at the Kruisberg in Doetinchem. The school itself was requisitioned several times by the German Wehrmacht to accommodate soldiers. Toward the end of the war, the building also served as an emergency hospital.In October 1944, an emergency hospital was set up in the boys’ school. General practitioner Dr J. Auping, who had his practice on Schoolstraat, and nurse W. Stork, the daughter of a former minister, were in charge. The hospital was intended for Organisation Todt (OT) workers who had been brought in from outside Didam. Due to the appalling conditions under which they were forced to carry out excavation work, many of them fell seriously ill. Unfortunately, it is not known how long the hospital remained in operation.

Emergency Hospital in the Old Ludgerus School

The second door, however, concealed an attic room measuring 2.5 by 2.5 metres, which was not clearly visible from the outside.Within this attic room, a hidden space had been constructed. People in hiding could stay in the attic room and, in case of danger, retreat into the secret space. Although the room technically belonged to the neighbour, Dr Auping was able to access and use it thanks to a special shared roof structure. A section of the sloping roof had to be pushed back to enter the space. From the inside, the panel could be locked with a sliding bolt so it could not be opened. The secret room could accommodate up to three people. In case of extreme danger, they could escape through a special hatch at the back of the neighbour’s roof.Among those who went into hiding there was Mayor Harrie de Leeuw, who stayed at Dr Jan Auping’s house for a short period starting on 11 November 1944. He later went into hiding in Keijenborg and Weerselo until the liberation. In addition to the mayor, Dr Auping also hid his brother Leo and his brother-in-law Herman Möller, the brother of his wife. &nbsp;

Mayor Goes into Hiding at Doctor’s House

Their sons Gerrit and Frans became acquainted with Reinhard Nolte, a German soldier. Nolte, a 19-year-old seminary student, had been forced against his will to serve the Führer in the name of “Volk und Vaterland”. He was a kind young man who preferred spending time with the local population rather than mingling with his boastful SS comrades. He got along very well with the Staarink brothers and even visited the family at their home in Loil. However, during his second visit, on 6 November 1944, things went horribly wrong. German SS officers stormed the house, arrested Nolte, and executed him.That same night, the entire Staarink family was taken from their home. They were transported by truck to the Pius Monastery in Didam, which had previously been requisitioned by the Germans. The family was confined in a pitch-black room where Nolte’s body lay. Convinced that their final hour had come, they said tearful goodbyes to one another. Frans was the first to be taken for interrogation, followed by Gerrit. After a tense wait, the remaining family members were allowed to return home later that night. Meanwhile, Frans and Gerrit were transferred to the Carolus building, where they were held at gunpoint until morning. The next day, the interrogation resumed but failed to produce the results the Germans were hoping for. At five o’clock that afternoon, the brothers were released, and the family was reunited in Loil.

Reinhard Nolte, SS Member Against His Will

The department began work and looked for a location where sand could be extracted for the project. The extraction site needed to be close to the planned four-lane road, and the sand had to be readily available at the surface. A suitable location was found in the hamlet of Greffelkamp near Didam. Sand extraction began in 1941 and continued until 1943. After the war, part of the “Baggergat” was eventually transformed into a natural swimming pool.The sand extraction site was situated near the then-existing Bomerskolk. Lodewijk Wenting, owner of the Vincwijk farm on Vincwijcweg, was required to give up some of his land for the motorway’s construction. Before sand extraction could begin, various facilities were put in place, including a narrow-gauge railway used by locomotives to transport sand in lorries, and five pumps that operated day and night to drain water from the pit into a canal.After the war, the sand pit was repurposed into a natural swimming pool. In 1948, the Department of Public Works drafted plans for the layout of the banks. These included changing rooms, steps, diving boards, and a bicycle storage area on the eastern side. The municipality had already appointed a lifeguard in 1946, as swimming in the “Baggergat” had become increasingly popular. With financial support from the municipality, a swimming club was founded in 1947.By 1959, the sand pit was still state-owned. The municipality leased the site from the State Property Service to operate it as a public swimming pool. Soon afterwards, the municipality managed to acquire ownership. In 1985, both ownership and management were transferred to the Eastern Gelderland Recreation Board, later the Achterhoek and Liemers Recreation Board. The site was subsequently renamed “Nevelhorstmeer”. Leisurelands is now the current owner, but the beach and swimming facilities have been closed since April 2017.

The “Baggergat”

While they were at the top, four members of the NSB’s Resilience Department (WA), dressed in black uniforms, cycled past. Cries of “Traitors! Dirty NSB members!” rang out from the tower. One of the WA members then went to the local WA ensign instructor. Following this, the sexton’s wife was ordered to lock the door to the tower. Two days later, the children were summoned to report to the police station in Didam.Lenie and Dorrie Gademan, two of the children involved in the incident, still recall it vividly. “When we tried to go back down, we couldn’t get out. The door to the tower was locked. Panic broke out, we became nervous and frightened. Several children started crying or shouting. We realised the police were involved and thought we might end up in prison.” However, this did not happen. The children stuck together and refused to betray one another. They played dumb, with the support of the sexton and his wife. What happened to the official report remains unknown.

Locked Up in the Tower in Didam

But just four days later, a massive explosion shattered the relief. On Saturday, April 7, a devastating blast rocked Kloosterstraat. It destroyed the girls’ school and a large part of the convent that once stood on the site of today’s park. Two 12-year-old girls, Fien Seegers and Leike van Vuuren, lost their lives. That afternoon, they had offered to help the nuns clean the convent. While the nuns went to retrieve the key, the girls waited patiently at the closed gate. Moments later, heavy ammunition — left behind by retreating German forces — detonated in the school.Back in September 1944, the Germans had requisitioned all local schools, using them to station troops. In Loil, when space remained, workers from Organisation Todt were also housed there. This semi-military construction group employed forced laborers, including many Dutch men beginning in 1942.It is likely that, near the end of the war, the Germans stored heavy munitions beneath the floor of the school. On April 7, these exploded — probably triggered by a time bomb. “Glass shattered throughout half of Loil,” recalls Annie Seegers, sister of victim Fientje. “From our kitchen window at the back of the Wehlseweg, we saw what had happened. My mother just screamed, ‘Fien! Fien!’ She sensed it. We all ran to the site. When we arrived, we saw the smoke and the giant crater. Not a single wall of the school was left standing. And almost nothing of Fien or Leike was ever found.” The war was over — but for the Seegers and Van Vuuren families, life was never the same again.

And then, suddenly, that devastating blast!

Resistance in the Town Hall The monumental building on Raadhuisstraat 14 is the former town hall. In September 1943, four officials, including the town clerk, were arrested for listening to the English radio station in the attic of the town hall. To avoid imprisonment, they went into hiding in November 1943. The new municipal secretary, along with some civil servants, engaged in organised resistance. In January, they fled to liberated territory for fear that the appointed NSB mayor would find out.On Thursday afternoon, 22 June 1944, the town hall in Didam was surrounded by about 20 Germans to arrest Wim Veugelers, one of the secretarial officers. Fortunately, the bird had already flown and they had to leave without further ado. Veugelers then went into hiding until the liberation.His activities were taken over by Toon Bus a short time later. He too soon became involved in the organised resistance work that took place from the municipal secretariat in Didam. “Toon was with the underground,” says his brother Harrie. “I sometimes helped Toon with his illegal activities. For example, he gave me distribution vouchers, which I had to deliver to an address. Toon had ‘arranged’ these coupons, which were intended for people in hiding, at the town hall or the distribution office.”

It is Summer 1944…

Bombing of Lankhorsterbos On 26 September 1944, a day after the loss of the Battle of Arnhem, Allied planes bombed the hamlet of Greffelkamp with several bombs. In the so-called “Lankhorstbos”, the Germans had stored ammunition that afternoon. In the evening, this storage area was already bombed. As a result, about a third of the ammunition was lost to the Germans. In the bombing, the Bless family's farm at present-day Luynhorststraat 15 was completely destroyed. Three people were killed: Mrs A.W. Strikkeling-Menting, H.B. Jansen, and J. Godschalk from Zevenaar, who had gone into hiding with the family. Mia Hendriks was seriously injured but survived the bombing.When Operation Market Garden took place on 17 September 1944, the SS soldiers and the leadership of the OT (Organisation Todt) hastily fled from Didam, and the compulsory digging work in Zevenaar, Groessen and Duiven came to a halt. The Battle of Arnhem ended in a victory for the Germans on 25 September 1944, after which the SS and OT leadership returned to Didam. OT workers also had to report again to carry out the digging work.After the Germans' victory at the Battle of Arnhem, the Liemers came under fire. The Germans tried to get behind the lines of the Allies, who regularly carried out reconnaissance and bombing raids in the German-occupied area. They mainly targeted places where German army units were hiding. However, this could not prevent many civilians from being killed, such as here in Greffelkamp.

Memorial: It is 26 September 1944…

To ensure that the dead would not be forgotten, a temporary wooden war memorial was placed on Oude Raadhuisstraat. The permanent monument, a dove of peace atop a natural stone plinth, was unveiled on 4 May 1951 and originally stood near the town hall on Raadhuisstraat. In 1970, it was relocated to Lieve Vrouweplein. The monument bears the names of all Didam’s war victims, both military and civilian, who died during the Second World War or the conflict in the Dutch East Indies.