Date of birth:

December 1st, 1895 (Sexbierum/Friesland, Nederland)

Date of death:

November 30th, 1944 (Arbeitslager Aurich (Neuengamme) Duitsland)

Buried on:

Dutch War Grave

Nationality:

Dutch

Son of Pieter Harmens Westra (1867-1959) and Maria Mathijs Bakker (1869-1949), married on 15 May 1919 in Sexbierum to Aukje Feikes Bruinsma (1896-1984), farmer and dealer in (seed) potatoes.

Rients Westra was very active within the Frisian resistance and had ties with his brother-in-law Rients Bruinsma's Knokploeg, at whose Liauckema State he also sheltered many people in hiding. In November 1943, the group was betrayed by Dutch SS officer Frans Michon, who had infiltrated the resistance in North-West Friesland.

Rients Westra, brother-in-law Jelle (a brother of Rients Bruinsma), Lolle Rondaan, Gerrit Schuil, Folkert Bergsma and Gerben Oswald were arrested and taken to Groningen. After three days of interrogation, they were taken to Assen and there (except for Jelle) were sentenced to death by the ‘Polizeistandgericht ’ on 14 February 1944.

From the prison on the Weteringschans, the men were executed near Amstelveen. Rients Westra, however, had been pardoned for unknown reasons and was imprisoned in Camp Vught in August 1944. That was only for a short time, because with the Allies approaching, Camp Vught was evacuated and the male prisoners were transported to KZ Sachenhausen near Berlin, where he also encountered Jelle Bruinsma again.

From there, Rients was transferred to Engerhafe, an outer camp of concentration camp Neuengamme. Two thousand prisoners had to carry out excavation work near Aurich for the construction of the “Friesenwall”, a defence line in northern Germany. The regime in the camp guarded by SS men was particularly brutal, food was scarce and it was bitterly cold. In the two months Engerhafe existed, 188 prisoners of all nationalities died.

Rients was one of them. He died of dysentery on Thursday 30 November 1944. It was only in May 1945 that Aukje received news of his death. In June 1953, he was reburied in Sexbierum: "

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• Photo 1: Kor Keunig
• - https://familiepraat.wordpress.com/jelle-hilbrandts-1714-1792/hilbrand-jelles-1743-1824/feike-hilbrands-1781-1835/jan-feikes-1814-1885/feike-jans-1864-1951/aukje-feikes-1896-1984/rients-pieters-1895-1944/ - https://www.spanvis.com/historie-friesland/friese-verzetsstrijders-wo2/westra-rients

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