Assen, Westerbork

With Germany's invasion of Poland, in 1939, World War II broke out. Then, on 10 May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, which until then had been neutral. Within five days, the Dutch army was defeated and the Netherlands was occupied. The Dutch government fled to England and continued the struggle there from exile. During the war, the Dutch navy, land force and air force remained active in the fight against the German occupiers, but operated from foreign territory and in allied support.

Little by little, resistance also emerged in those early days. Initially, this was small-scale and unorganised, with actions such as the printing and distribution of illegal newspapers. The Order Service was established, but it was mainly focused on the period after liberation, and how then order should be kept. As German repression increased, the resistance expanded. More and more people helped arrange hiding addresses for Jews, resistance fighters and men who wanted to escape compulsory labour deportation.

Yet this did not begin to take place in an organised fashion until 1942, after the establishment of the LO, the National Organisation for Assistance to People in Hiding. This organisation was often supported by regional knokploegen (KP), the armed resistance groups, which were able to arrange fake identity cards and food coupons for people in hiding by committing robberies. They also tried to make population registers disappear. In the same year, the BI, Bureau of Intelligence was set up, which aimed to gather strategic intelligence and coordinate resistance operations.

In 1943, the armed resistance groups also joined together to form the LKP, the Landelijke Knokploegen, and the Council of Resistance was established. The latter was an organisation that was in direct contact with the BBO, Bureau of Special Assignments in London and was responsible for operations such as arms drops and infrastructure sabotage. In 1944, all these organisations came together in the NBS, the Dutch Internal Armed Forces, and were directed by the BI in London. On 3 September 1944, Queen Wilhelmina proclaimed her son-in-law Prince Bernhard commander-in-chief of the NBS.

Meanwhile, the German occupiers were not sitting still. In 1943, they established De Landwacht, an auxiliary police unit consisting of Dutch NSB (National Socialist Movement) members. In addition, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) took increasingly severe action against the resistance, and the Polizei-Standgerichte was also set up, a special court-martial charged with sentencing resistance fighters quickly and without trial. Harsh sentences, often the death penalty for what they called terrorists, were carried out almost immediately after conviction. The first hearing of this mobile court took place on 20 September 1943 at the Assen court, ten resistance fighters were then sentenced to death. In the winter of 1944-1945, Allied troops began to make their advance guard and the German occupiers felt the end of the war approaching. This made them act with increasing brutality and violence, and taking part in the resistance became increasingly dangerous.

This route concentrates on Drenthe, a province where the resistance was comparatively above average. There was plenty of room for hiders in the countryside, as well as on the farms of the agricultural province. There was also plenty of space available for arms drops to take place relatively safely. And don't forget that the province was predominantly Reformed, so many people felt a duty to serve their fellow man. Drenthe had no less than five knocking teams, KP Hoogeveen, KP Meppel, KP Noord-Drenthe, KP Smilde and KP de Hondsrug. While cycling this route, you will discover the stories of these brawling squads behind various monuments. Despite the fact that these stories regularly caused the editor of this route heavy emotions during her preliminary research, this has mainly become a route about courage, hope, solidarity, friendship and love.


This Premium cycling route was compiled by our editor: Désirée van Uffelen.