He was goalkeeper of the first team of football association Gieten and also enterprising and restless. He was never afraid to roll up his sleeves, but when the Germans called him up for the Arbeitseinsatz, Johannes Bos from Gieten went into hiding.
During a raid, Johannes ‘Jansie’ ran into trouble, but on the way to the prison in Assen, the truck in which he was taken along with others had to brake at Eexter Halte. “He was a goalkeeper, so he knew how to dive,” says amateur historian Klamer Bos. And so it happened. Johannes jumped from the truck into the ditch and ran into the adjacent woods.
Still removed
Klamer Bos, who is not related to Johannes, had already studied the history of Johannes Bos before. How he hid in two caves deep in the woods. How he later found shelter closer to his family, near Gieten. But also how he showed up at his parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. “He was spotted there. Around that time there was another raid and he was still removed.”
After Johannes was in various camps, he ends up in camp Zöschen, deep in Germany. A labor camp that he first had to build himself with his fellow prisoners. He died less than six months later, a day after his 22nd birthday.
DNA match
This morning the relatives of Johannes Bos are at the Loenen National Field of Honor to put a name monument on his grave. A few months earlier, the Defense identification service came into contact with the family, because Bos was possibly buried on the Ereveld in Loenen. They wanted DNA from family to verify that.
The family complied and the DNA of Johannes’ niece and his great-nephew Karel Bos appeared to match. “Of course we thought it was great that this is still possible after so many years,” says Karel Bos. “I also took my two sons to Loenen. I think it is very important that they know what happened.”