Three retired men have been searching the Loonse en Drunense Duinen for years for a mass grave of fourteen men who were murdered in 1944 by the German occupiers. They will soon study aerial photographs taken by British reconnaissance planes during the war and hope that they will finally find the place.
The fourteen resistance fighters from Tilburg, Tholen and Groningen were shot by the Germans at dawn on 26 May 1944. Henri van Selst (65), Gerrit Broeders (70) and Antoon Verspaandonk (72) keep looking for the place.
Searching the gigantic sand plain seems almost impossible, because where should you look? “We sometimes ask ourselves that, which is why those aerial photos are very important to us,” says Gerrit Broeders. The Germans wanted the mass grave never to be found. So far, that plan seems to have been successful.
“I think they should have a dignified burial place.”
In 2018, after a year and a half of preparation, a place was dug where they could lie. Also in 1976 a whole piece was investigated and excavated with bulldozers, without result.
“We found an aerial photo of May 28, two days after the executions,” says Hennie van Selten. He is a former soldier and an experienced tracker at the Signi search dogs foundation. Traces of the mass grave may be visible on the aerial photo. That would mean a breakthrough after almost eighty years.
Gerrit continues the work of his deceased father. He has searched for the graves all his life. “I’m not giving up and I think they should have a dignified burial place.”
Searching is not easy. The nature reserve is vast and you are not allowed to walk with metal detectors. The men pay particular attention to small details such as deviations in the landscape. “Perhaps the graves will become visible after a sand drift,” says Antoon.
“After the executions, they went for a drink.”
If they think they have found a trace, a lot of consultation is required with Natuurmonumenten, the municipality and the Ministry of Defence. Only then may digging be allowed.
Hennie tells how cruel and unscrupulous the German execution squad was: “After the executions, they went for a drink in the nearby restaurant. Those men did not stop at anything. After the executions, the area was hermetically sealed off for ten days, I think to cover up the traces. let it rain, so that they would never be found again.”
Hennie explains that searching is in his blood. “I probably have a search virus, because I also work for the Signi search dogs foundation. I also called them in here, because we were completely stuck. We went to look with the dogs and discovered some places where they could lie. But I want don’t raise expectations, because you won’t know until you open it.”
In any case, the three men do not give up: “That’s not a bad thing. You stay healthy and it is a very beautiful nature reserve,” says Gerrit, who visited the nature reserve as a child.