Westerbork Resistance Grave - Zwiggelte

The longer the occupation of the Netherlands lasted, the more vehement the resistance became. So did Knokploeg De Hondsrug, a group that was active in destroying population registers to sabotage the deportation of laborers. But raiding distribution offices was another task the knokploeg engaged in, in order to deliver food stamps to the LO National Organization for Help to those in hiding. Increasingly, persons deemed dangerous to the resistance were eliminated.

On July 30, 1943, two members of knokploeg De Hondsrug killed NSB member Willem Reilingh. The next day a delegation of the knokploeg set fire to the town hall of Exloo, hoping to destroy the population register. The town hall burned down completely, but the population register, stored in the fireproof safe, remained intact. The German occupiers were furious. Almost immediately reprisal measures were taken and Knokploeg De Hondsrug was rounded up. Over the next few weeks, ten members of the knokploeg were arrested and imprisoned.

On September 20, 1943, the ten stood trial before the Polizei-standgerichte. It was the first case to occur at this newly established institution aimed at breaking the resistance. The resistance members were called terrorists who would make the northern provinces unsafe for months. All ten were sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out just a few hours later. Behind the crematorium in Westerbork, on the Witterveld, the ten were executed.

Four Jewish prisoners, just arrived in Westerbork, were entrusted with the cremation of the ten. After the ashes were buried, the four Jewish prisoners were immediately put on transport so that they could not tell anyone what had happened. Werner Sterzenburch was one of them. He miraculously managed to escape and thus, during a trial against the former camp commander of Camp Westerbork in 1949, was able to point out the exact spot where the ten were buried. On that spot stands this monument in memory of the ten brave men of Knokploeg De Hondsrug.