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Asser, Johan Rudolf

Date of birth:
December 20th, 1907 (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Date of death:
June 4th, 2009 (Blaricum, the Netherlands)
Buried on:
Cemetery & Crematorium Westerveld
Nationality:
Dutch (1815-present, Kingdom)

Biography

Married with Adrienne Johanna "Uss" van Nierop.

Captain and liaison officer of the Commander of the Netherlands Armed Forces (BNS), Region 12 (= Region Haarlem), comprising Haarlem, Velsen, Haarlemmerliede and Spaarnwoude, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, Heemstede, Haarlemmermeer, Aalsmeer and Uithoorn.

On October 7, 1940, he was arrested and interned as a member of the "Indian hostages" in Buchenwald concentration camp.

In November 1941 this group was transferred to the major seminary in Haren (the Netherlands) and in the spring of 1942 to De Ruwenberg in St. Michielsgestel. In that year Asser became ill and was admitted to the then City and Academic Hospital in Utrecht. In 1943 he was discharged and also released from the internment as a hostage. He then went on to do resistance work. His wife and children had since gone into hiding.

He, his wife and two children went into hiding for some time with the family of A.A.C. Bol at Twaalf Apostelenweg 20, Nijmegen.

His wife, while in hiding in Boxtel, was liberated in September 1944 as a result of Operation Market Garden; their children were hiding at Zuylen Castle at the time.

In September 1944, after Mad Tuesday, Asser was brought through the lines on the orders of "London" to report to the staff Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces (BNS) (Prince Bernhard) in Brussels. There he was assigned to the Domestic Armed Forces Division. As a BNS liaison officer he witnessed the liberation of Walcheren in November 1944 and later in April 1945 the liberation of the eastern Netherlands by the Canadians. After the capitulation of the Germans, Asser was liaison officer BNS in Region 12 in May-June 1945.

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Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Major
Unit:
Headquarters, 5th Canadian Armoured Division, Canadian Army
Awarded on:
October 14th, 1945
"Was Liaison officer in the province of Zeeland, later joining Canadian Armoured Division in their advance north along the eastern frontier of Holland."
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Sources