De illegalen
Discusses the resistance workers (ca. 0.3% of the population), their social and religious background, and their activities. They helped Jews into hiding, falsified identity papers and food coupons, published illegal newspapers and leaflets, and carried out sabotage operations. Although antisemitism was a well-known phenomenon in these regions in the 1930s, several groups helped Jews. Alarmed by the deportation in September 1941 of several Jews from Enschede (Twente region) to Mauthausen, members of the Jewish Council of Enschede urged the Jews to go into hiding. Pp. 109-114 describe how Reverend Leendert Overduin, assisted by Friso van Hoorn, saved ca. 800 Jews. His activities were financed by the Nationaal Steunfonds. He was contacted by the members of the Jewish Council who themselves went into hiding in 1943. Pp. 121-125 relate how a group organized around the illegal paper "De Vonk" saved ca. 40 Jews. One of its leaders, Hein Vrind, published a manifesto against the deportation of the Jews at the end of 1942. Others who helped Jews were the Blok group, mainly consisting of students from these regions and from Amsterdam, the LO, and the Pilots group.