Liberation day Netherlands 5 May

[pieter]

[pieter]

The Netherlands commemorates liberation of Breda by Polish army. Here comprehensive video report dedicated to all those who love independence and historical knowledge based on facts.

In this moving video you see the honouring of the Polish veterans and the thankfulness and the gratitude of the citizens of Breda whom city was saved by the Poles (from destruction) and liberated from the German/Austrian Nazi occupiers.

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

The brother of my uncle Edo Santman senior, Frank Santman was killed as a resistance fighter in 1945. My uncle lived in Enschede, a few kilometers from the German border. After 1945 he refused to enter Germany, and thus never went to Germany.

Frank Santman



Frank Santman (Rotterdam, December 18, 1917 - Hengelo, April 1, 1945) was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II.

Santman is part of a resistance group from Hengelo. At the end of the war, the group was part of the Domestic Forces (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten) and worked hard on the impending liberation by investigating sabotage actions. During the retreat of the German occupiers, many bridges in Hengelo were blown up by the German troops, including the Oeler Bridge and the Boekelose Bridge. An old farmhouse was also completely destroyed. To prevent the Germans from blowing up the power plant, the domestic armed forces were ordered to install the distribution station for power supply at the power plant on April 1, 1945.

Twenty-five men, including Santman, listen to prevent the Germans from realizing their plan to blow up the plant. One of the German soldiers managed to flee and alerted the SS. These came with a large number of attempts and the resistance fighters fled from the railway crossing on the Grobbenweg. Two of them, Theo van Loon and Santman, were shot dead during the flight. A third, Dolf Nijhoff, was captured and immediately executed and a fourth, badly wounded, managed to flee to a neighboring farm belonging to the farmer Grobben, who hid him from the Germans.

After the war, three streets in the Groot Driene district are dedicated to the deceased resistance members, including Frank Santmanstraat. Santman's body was buried at the Gemeentelijke Graafschapsplaats in Hengelo.

Frank Santman's nephew, my cousin Frank Santman was named after his killed uncle and the shadow of this killed resistance fighter hung heavily over the family of Edo Santman after the war in Hengelo (Overijssel) near the German border where they lived and where my cousins Frank, Edo and Kees grew up during the fifties and sixties. My aunt Miek Santman (Edo's wife and my fathers sister), and Edo Santman's sons Edo Santman junior, Kees Santman and the oldest brother and cousin Frank Santman had to live with this heritage and their fathers resentment towards Germany and Germans. Today my cousins Edo and Kees (both their father and their brother Frank died) have no grudge against Germany. Their mother made a cultural journey to Berlin a few years ago and found the city interesting in the artistic and cultural and historical sense.

Frank Santman the resistance fighter will not be forgotten.

[pieter]

My cousin Frank Santman was named after his killed Uncle Frank Santman, the Dutch resistance fighter.

[karl]

Pieter

My self am so sorry your family was not spared in this war that should never have been. Please do accept my condolences for your Uncle Frank Santman, he was a very handsome man from his photo and I am quite sure he would have been a great credit to your family.

Karl

[pieter]

Dear Karl,

Thank you dear friend. I knew that Frank Santman was a kind, good hearted and brave man. He was dearly missed by his brother and parents. Frank Santman lived to short like many European resistance fighters in many European countries died to young while fighting for their country and Freedom.

Cheers,
Pieter