De Ruiter family Stolpersteinen - Assen

Wednesday 21 March 1945, around noon, the De Ruiter family is sitting at the table for lunch in their home on Parallelstraat. Father Hendrik (pig farmer and resistance fighter), mother Geertje and two of their children: son Jacob and daughter Aaf. The latter was only 10 years old at the time. Suddenly men in uniform appear everywhere, a group of about 120 SD officers and land guards storm into the De Ruiter family's house and garden. The family is forced out of the house with loud screams and the house is searched.

They were looking for secret agent Cornelis Hendrik van Bemmel, who used a transmitter to transmit military intelligence to the BI in London from a secret hiding place at the De Ruiter family. Son Jaap acted as Henk's courier for months, relaying incoming messages to the resistance. The occupying forces had managed to tune out the transmitter and knew that Henk had to be there somewhere. Just before, they had meticulously searched the milk factory around the corner but had not found the secret agent and his transmitter there. In the end, it took a dog to find the camouflaged hiding place, in the De Ruiter family home. Van Bemmel tried to escape while shooting, killing two Germans, but was himself mortally wounded. He died a day later in Assen hospital.

The entire De Ruiter family was locked up in the House of Detention, each in a separate cell, including little Aaf and later youngest son Hendrik Jan. All were regularly interrogated during the weeks they were detained. Father Hendrik's interrogation was brutal. Yet nobody lets anything go. Little Aaf is allowed to play outside her cell from time to time and visit her mother every day. While playing, her father hears her singing and every now and then they can talk to each other. At her father's request, Aaf was allowed to go home on her 11th birthday; she was taken in by an aunt.

In mid-April 1945, Drenthe was about to be liberated. Canadian tanks were advancing. The Germans became nervous and beat off hard for several more days. On 10 April, three days before Drenthe was liberated, 13 men were dragged out of the House of Detention and taken away in two open army wagons. They were at least five resistance fighters from Assen and three French paratroopers. They were on their way to a execution site near the Asserbos. Coincidentally, Aaf is playing outside when she sees the army wagons drive by and catches a glimpse of her father and brothers. It is the last time she will see them. That night, they will be shot.

In 1994, Parallelstraat in Assen was renamed Hendrik de Ruiterstraat in honour of the resistance fighter. On 15 September 2017, Hendrik and his sons Jaap and Henk posthumously receive the Legion of Honor Award for bravery shown in World War II. And on 4 October 2018, the perished family members will each receive their own Stolperstein in the, by then, Hendrik de Ruiterstraat. Due to works, the Stolpersteinen have been temporarily removed. In the meantime, the De Ruiter family can be remembered at the execution site, now car park at the sports park near De Bonte Wever, here is a monument to all those who perished there that night.

Photo: ©Harry de Jong via Traces of War