There were 88 casualties in the Second World War in the municipality of Gilze en Rijen. That is relatively much and that is because there was an airbase nearby. In July 1944, a mistaken bombing by the Allies killed 21 people in one go. “Whole families. The air raid alarm sounded, people took shelter in the basement under their house and the bomb landed on the basement.”
The victims should not be forgotten, so four members of the Heemkring collect everything they can find about them: “Because as long as you are talked about, you are still there.”
In the stately building of Heemkring Molenheide, in the former town hall in Gilze, there are thirteen prayer cards on the table. A photo of a young girl draws attention. If you turn the picture over, you read: ‘Deceased as a result of a fatal accident’.
“It is very general”, explains Mariëlle van Hezewijk. “It is very rare that you read anger or the exact cause on a prayer card,” adds Mirjam Heijs. “You mainly read about gratitude to God. That’s how it was then.”
“He came home from school and saw that their house was completely destroyed.”
Mariëlle and Mirjam are two volunteers who collect information about the war victims. Mirjam: “We want to give them a life back. Who were those people? Who is behind that list of names?”
The girl on the prayer card is called Maria Weterings. She was born October 23, 1935 and died on February 26, 1945. Mariëlle: “Her brother said that he came from school and saw that their house had been completely destroyed by a V1 bomb. Nine people had died.”
The V1 was a German unmanned ‘flying bomb’. Mariëlle: “They were on their way to London and things sometimes went wrong. Then the engine stopped. You heard them coming and when they fell silent you had to get out of here. That was very scary. About twenty of those bombs crashed here.”
“People took shelter in the basement and the bomb landed on the basement.”
And then there were the Allied bombings. The German airbase Gilze-Rijen was their target. Also on July 5, 1944. It was cloudy and the bomb fell wrong, right in the center of Gilze. 21 people died. Mirjam: “Entire families. The air raid alarm sounded, people took shelter in the basement under the house and the bomb landed on the basement.”
Six children of the Sikkenga family were killed in this bombing. Mirjam: “I wondered how it was possible that all those children were at home. But I read in a report that air raid sirens sounded very early that day. The boys probably then decided to stay home from school. They all died in the basement. Stupid coincidence. In the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She shows a photo of three boys from the family: Jos, Tonnie and Harrie. The photo was taken a month before the bombing for mother’s birthday. “They are just bad guys. Rascals. That is what we want to achieve with our wiki page: that they start living again for a while.”
“He’s happy that they’re becoming people again.”
The relatives of the victims are grateful for this. Mariëlle is in contact with the daughter of Jan Sikkenga, who survived the mistaken bombing: “There is a lot of pain in the family. He is happy that they are not just victims, but that they are becoming people again.”
The wiki page with attention to all 88 war victims from Gilze en Rijen can be found here.
