Thread: To celebrate Pride Month let’s remember Willem Arondeus (1894-1943), a Dutch artist & writer, a proud gay man, a founder member of the Dutch Resistance & Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jewish lives.
He was murdered by the Far Right.
He was murdered by the Far Right.
He grew up in Amsterdam. When he was 17 he told his parents that he was gay & they later kicked him out for refusing to hide it (aged 18). To eke out a living he painted, created illustrations & wrote. He discovered in himself a fierce independence.
Life was hard for him & he took odd jobs whilst practising his art. In the 1920s his abilities were finally recognised in his being commissioned to paint a mural for Rotterdam Town Hall (1923). Money was still hard to come by.
In 1932 Willem moved to a rural area, near Apeldoorn. He also illustrated a number of poetry books. He met Jan Tijssen & they fell in love in 1933. The couple lived together from 1933-9. By 1935 he had turned his focus to writing.
He published novels & biographies which began to give him financial stability at last. 1938 saw him release two novels: Het Uilenhuis & In de Bloeiende Ramenas. These included his own illustrations.
In 1939 Arondeus published a biography of the painter Matthijs Maris & this helped him climb out of poverty. It is his best known work.
The Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 & set out on their murderous plan to kill all Jews; they also criminalised homosexuality. Willem’s sense of justice informed his decision to join the Resistance. He was one of the first.
The Nazis planned to expand the Holocaust to the Netherlands & annihilate the Jewish, LGBTQI & Roma populations. To do so they needed a complete registration of every Dutch inhabitant.
Willem founded a magazine to ask his fellow artists to resist. He urged them to hide the Jews & use their skills to help forge papers. He was putting himself at great risk. He had realised that the registration of Dutch Jews & others was not for their safety, as claimed.
The magazine was called Branderisbrief (1942) & it’s purpose was to oppose the Nazis’ edicts. In 1943 it merged with De Vrije Kunstenaar (The Free Artist) - that was led by the sculptor Gerrit van der Veen & it urged mass resistance.
Arondeus put his own artistic skills to use by forging identity cards for Jews so that they might escape from torture & murder by the Nazis.
However for the cards to work, the official Population Registration needed to be destroyed or the counterfeits would be easily identified
However for the cards to work, the official Population Registration needed to be destroyed or the counterfeits would be easily identified
Willem, Gerrit, Sjoerd Bakker (a tailor), Johan Brouwer (a writer) & the lesbian cellist Frieda Belinfante formed a resistance council with others. Many of them were gay & their goal was to destroy the Registration Office.
On the 27th March 1943, Willem, his friend Gerrit van der Veen & the others, disguised themselves as Dutch police. They gained access to the Municipal Office for Population Registration & blew it up.
The resistance council destroyed 800,000 identity cards & found 600 blank ones & 50,000 guilders. The resistance action saved many people from certain death. Sympathetic firefighters delayed turning up & used excessive water to also destroy as many records as possible.
Within a very short time the Gestapo found out most of the names of the saboteurs. At his sham trial Arondeus bravely claimed complete responsibility for the bombing.
Despite this, the Nazis executed 13 of the group.
Despite this, the Nazis executed 13 of the group.
He was tried on June 18th 1943 & sentenced to death in a sham trial. He was executed on July 1st 1943.
He had been taken to the dunes outside of Overveen, in handcuffs, & was tied to a wooden post. A hood was put over his head & he was murdered by firing squad.
He had been taken to the dunes outside of Overveen, in handcuffs, & was tied to a wooden post. A hood was put over his head & he was murdered by firing squad.
After his murder his message to the world became known.
‘Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards.’ #PrideMonth
‘Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards.’ #PrideMonth
Arondeus’ role, in one of the most important Dutch acts of resistance, was played down for many years in the Netherlands due to his sexuality.
However with greater openness, his bravery was finally recognised by the Dutch government in 1984.
However with greater openness, his bravery was finally recognised by the Dutch government in 1984.
Pictures show Willem as a young man, in his flat, his artwork, dancing with friends, his biography of Maris, De Waag with a Nazi fenced off Jewish area, the Nazi enforced Jewish area, identity papers, magazine, ‘no Jews’, WWII monument, remains of the office, Amsterdam Flower...
Market, Homomonument Amsterdam, Gay couple on steps of the Dam Palace, Amsterdam, Arondeus & the Homomonument. Final two are Arondeus with friends & Arondeus
Here’s a great resource in Dutch:
The fight for human rights for LGBTQI goes on. After the liberation of the camps gay people were forced to finish their ‘sentences’ - their Holocaust lasted longest; many countries still arrest & murder LGBTQI & the UK/US has a massive transphobic campaign. Even Ireland has hate
Hi @NLinIreland - wouldn’t it be good to celebrate #PrideMonth by commissioning a biography of Arondeus as well as a compendium of his work translated into English, French, Spanish & German. It would be a great way to recognise a great Dutch man!
