When someone asks me how they should go about learning more about the Resistance activity of a relative, I try to offer some suggestions. These, of course, vary from one person to the next. Nevertheless, below are some suggestions that may be useful. Links will direct you to further information on other websites as well as other pages on this website. I would welcome suggestions for additions to the list.
- Dutch and Belgian Helper Lists. If the person helped Allied airmen, take a look at the lists of Dutch and Belgian helpers posted on this website. Not everyone who aided an airman is listed, but it is a good starting point. Note the Award Grade, which provides some idea of how Allied Military Intelligence ranked the person’s contribution (a #1 is the highest). For a discussion of the meaning of the award grades in English, click here. For it in French, click here. On the lists there sometimes are notations of payments to helpers to recompense them for their losses.
- National Archives Helper Files. If the person is on one of the lists of helpers of Allied airmen, both the British and American national archives may have a copy of the person’s helper file compiled by Allied Military Intelligence. A file may contain a list of the person’s contacts in the Resistance, names of airmen helped, correspondence, etc. A questionnaire, or vragenlijst in The Netherlands, typically was completed by the helper. In the United States, National Archives II at College Park, Maryland has the WWII records, including the helper files. Follow the links to get their address and request a copy from the Textual Research Room. To see a list of the file boxes containing the helper files and the corresponding identifying information, for Dutch files click here and for Belgian files click here. If you need the help of a professional researcher, click here.
- Aid to Allied Airmen. If the person aided an American airman and you know his name, there may be a file, called the escape and evasion (E&E) report on the airman, at National Archives II in College Park, Maryland. Those reports are now available on-line. The report may include the name of the relative you are researching and the names of his or her associates in the Resistance. There is a special part of the escape and evasion report known as the Appendix C that is especially informative. If it is not part of what is available on-line, you may be able to get a copy of it by writing the National Archives II. The National Archives of the United Kingdom has similar records for members of the Royal Air Force who were shot down.
- Concentration Camps in Germany, etc. If the person was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, try the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany and any of the concentration camp memorials for records kept by the Germans on the prisoner. Here is a website on concentration camps as a whole.
- Concentration Camps in The Netherlands. For prisoners in The Netherlands, check Amersfoort Concentration Camp Memorial (Stichting Nationaal Monument Kamp Amersfoort). Also check the Vught Concentration Camp, now the Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught. An English description and history of Vught is available as are biographies of the prisoners.
- Executions in The Netherlands. Foundation Eerebegraafplaats Bloemendaal. Located in the dunes west of the city of Haarlem near Overveen, Eerebegraafplaats Bloemendaal is a cemetery and memorial to Dutch Resistance fighters. The remains of 347 Resistance fighters executed by the Germans are buried here. In addition to the home page, there are biographies on the victims in the person registry.
- Prisons in The Netherlands. The Orange Hotel (Oranje Hotel). The book by E.P. Weber, Gedenkboek van het Oranje Hotel, contains a list of prisoners at the “Orange Hotel.” For a time the website,”Oranje Hotel, 1940-1945″ at: http://www.oranjehotel.org/, contained a PDF file of their names. Try the link http://oranjehotel.nationaalarchief.nl/gevangenen/. Then, to find a particular name, go to: http://oranjehotel.nationaalarchief.nl/zoeken.asp?ComponentID=9917&SourcePageID=9328#1. To find a particular place, go to: http://oranjehotel.nationaalarchief.nl/zoeken.asp?ComponentID=9917&SourcePageID=9328#1. The Oranje Hotel was at Scheveningen, near The Hague.See also the Nationaal Archief website, “Gevangen in het Oranjehotel Verzetsstrijders, 1940-1945,” (“Resistance Fighters Imprisoned at the Orange Hotel”) at http://oranjehotel.nationaalarchief.nl/.
- Prisons and Executions in Belgium: Breendonck et al. A website devoted to Belgian heroes and martyrs in WWII , allows you to search for persons executed and provides a list of prisoners at Breendonck and and their fate.
- World War II Archives. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) in Amsterdam has a vast amount of material on WWII. For English speakers, the website has an English version. Start by clicking on “Search in Collections,” then “Browsing the Clippings Collection.” Their clippings (knipsels) file may have something about the person. You probably will want to write to them directly not only for clippings but also any other records they may have. Although not an archive, the Dutch Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum) in Amsterdam has some interviews with members of the Resistance. The Belgian WWII archive is CEGES-SOMA (Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society) in Brussels. Their collection includes the WWII files of the Belgian Sûreté. If their archivists find something in those files they will direct you to get permission from the Sûreté to view them. Another Belgian archive, the Belgian State Archives (Algemeen Rijksarchief), also in Brussels, has records of foreigners living in Belgium during WWII. If a member of the Resistance from The Netherlands, France, Poland, etc. was operating in Belgium, the State Archives may have records on him or her that were kept by the Belgian Foreigners (Etrangers) Police. A French archive with WWII material that I have found helpful is the Institut d’ Histoire du Temps Présent (IHTP – Institute of History of Time Present).
- Pension Files. If the person had a pension after the war for injuries suffered because of Resistance service in The Netherlands, Stichting ’40-’45 may have a file for him or her. Stichting files that I have seen contained testimony by other members of the Resistance about what the person did in the Resistance. Only family members are given access to the files. In Brussels, the Belgian equivalent is the Service Archives et Documentation du Service des Victimes de la Guerre. Here, too, only family members may see a file, but an archivist may be willing to answer specific questions about the content for non-family. These records are in the same building as the CEGES-SOMA records.
- Military Records. The Dutch Ministry of Defence has military service files. If the person served in the Dutch Army during the German invasion there is likely to be a service file and it may contain useful correspondence. The Belgian Defense Ministry, Staff Department, Intelligence and Security, Security Division, provided me with valuable information on the military service record and Resistance record of one of Karst Smit’s contacts.
- Red Cross Records. The Dutch Red Cross (Nederlandse Rode Kruis) has extensive files of correspondence about Dutch citizens who were in concentration camps or forced labor in Germany. I have found a lot of valuable information here.
- Escaping Society Records — Royal Air Forces Escaping Society. There was a point in my research where I reached a blank wall in trying to identify the helpers of 2nd Lt. Tom Applewhite in the south of France. I learned that the membership records of the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society (RAFES) were at the Imperial War Museum in London. Knowing that Sgt. Stan Munns, a member of the RAF, had been with Applewhite on that part of their evasion, I wrote to the IWM asking for copies of Munns’ RAFES membership. They complied and provided a copy that listed all of Munns’ helpers, including the ones in the south of France which he shared with Tom Applewhite. Once I had their names, I was able to get copies of their helper files from NAII which confirmed that they had helped Applewhite and Munns.
- Escaping Society Records — Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society. The American equivalent of RAFES is the Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society (AFEES). Unlike RAFES, however, AFEES is still active. A valuable source of information is a collection of 20 scrapbooks compiled over the course of 24 years by Scotty David, widow of Clayton C. David. They contain correspondence, newspaper articles, personal accounts, etc. representing her contact with over 600 evaders and 2000 helpers. They can be seen on DVD at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, Georgia near Savannah. In working with them note that the computer index to the contents counts the title pages. This means a slight difference between the computer page number and the page number of the scrapbook. Note also that AFEES is in touch with living evaders and helpers. Contact the membership secretary for assistance.
- Internal Searches of Escape and Evasion Websites. Some websites have so much material on escape and evasion and mention so many different people who helped airmen that you might miss the name of a helper unless you knew the name of the airman he or she helped at the outset. A way around this problem is to use an internal search feature of the website. For example, in the case of the website Le Réseau Comète, after clicking on “Enter,” click on “Recherche.” That takes you to a page with a Site Service by Freefind feature where you can enter the name of the person you are seeking. For example, when I entered the name “Karst” for Karst Smit, I got 26 listings of places in that website where his name was used.
- Aid to Jews. If the person helped Jews to escape in The Netherlands, Belgium, France, etc., look at the database of Righteous Among the Nations compiled by Yad Vashem. In addition, look at the lists compiled by country for Belgium, The Netherlands, and France.
- Museums. The Verzets Museum (Dutch Resistance Museum) in Amsterdam has some interviews with members of the Resistance. Elsewhere local museums will have connections to the local historical societies that probably will be especially interested in the Resistance in their areas. See this website’s list of museums.
- Military Police. If the person was a marechaussee (member of the Dutch Royal Military Police), try the Marechaussee Museum in Buren, The Netherlands.
- Books on WWII. If you know the town where the person was active, look for a history of that town during the war, probably published on the 40th, 50th or 60th anniversary of the Liberation. For example, I am particularly interested in Hilvarenbeek and Tilburg. For the former I found the book, Hilvarenbeek 1940-1945 by Kees Van Kemenade published in 1983. For Tilburg there is Tilburg 1940-1945 by Frans Janse published in 1984.
- Historical Societies. Try contacting the local historical society of the town. In searching the Internet, in the case of The Netherlands or the Flemish part of Belgium, use “heemkundekring” (historical society) and the name of the town.
- City Archives, Regional Archives. Also contact the usual sources: city archives, regional archives, etc. For example, I had an address of a contact of the Smit-van der Heijden Line in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam City Archives was able to provide me with information on everyone who was living at that address during the war and even background on their Resistance activities. Because much of the escape line’s activities were in Tilburg, I went to the Tilburg Regional Archives where the archivist located a great deal of valuable information for me, even arrest records. The archive database, ARCHIEVEN.NL, allows you to search for particular words or persons in city archives in The Netherlands.
- Newspaper Databases. Another potential source of information is the newspaper database of the National Library, Koninklijke Bibliothek Historische Kranten, which allows full text searches of newspapers from the 18th-20th centuries. Included are WWII newspapers, including Resistance newspapers, as well as Nazi propaganda.
- Telephone Databases. I have found telephone databases to be a valuable tool for locating members of the family of someone who helped an airman because they include people’s street addresses making it possible to write to them. A page on this website provides links to such databases organized by country. On one occasion I was trying to locate a top lieutenant in the escape line of Karst Smit, or members of the family of the man. I mistakenly thought he had emigrated to Canada after the war, and wrote to everyone by that name living there. As it turned out, none of them were related to the man but one of them took an interest in my research, replied to my letter, made some inquiries for me, and put me in touch with the son of the man, living in The Netherlands. The son loaned me his father’s WWII papers, which were an invaluable source of information.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): “How Do I Learn About an Allied Airman Who Was Shot Down?” You also may want to look at the research tips listed in this other FAQ.
- Genealogical Databases Lastly, be sure to search the Internet for any genealogical databases that might include your relative. Some distant relative may have posted useful information that will be of help.
