Date of birth:

December 4th, 1924 (Alphen aan de Rijn/Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

December 18th, 2017

Nationality:

Dutch

In 1943, after completing his secondary education, Ies Zonneveld decided to ignore his call-up for the Arbeitseinsatz and go into hiding. Between May and August of that year, he stayed at several hiding places until he came into contact with people in hiding in the Biesbosch through the LO. From August 1943, he stayed there on a small yellow houseboat for brushwood workers in the brushwood beds of the Ganzennest.

This is where the Biesbosch Group was formed, which from September 1944 onwards engaged in ambushing and capturing German soldiers passing through the Biesbosch. These soldiers crossed the Amer near Drimmelen and then continued their journey on foot. The Biesbosch Group, also known as the Partisans, warned by the ferryman, waited for them at the Sint-Jan bridge and captured them there. Sometimes the Germans surrendered immediately, but there were also shootings in which people were killed and wounded. The Germans were then locked up in two inland vessels hidden in the reeds. Ies Zonneveld was actively involved in this. At the end of October, it became clear that the Allies would not be entering the Biesbosch for the time being. The situation on the two ships was becoming untenable, and it was decided to take the prisoners to Drimmelen, which had since been liberated. On the evening of November 5, a ship carrying 75 German prisoners left for liberated territory, arriving the next morning at the port of Drimmelen with Ies Zonneveld on the foredeck.

In Brabant, he immediately joined the Stoottroepen (assault troops) in order to make a further contribution to the Allied victory and the liberation of the Netherlands.

During his time in the Biesbosch, Ies Zonneveld continued to draw and study the books on botany and soil science that his father had given him. His drawings and self-portraits have been preserved and provide a poignant picture of the war years he spent in the Biesbosch.

After the war, he went on to study. In 1960, he obtained his doctorate with a thesis entitled De Brabantse Biesbosch, a study of the soil and vegetation of a freshwater tidal delta. From 1966, he was professor (Prof. Dr. Ing.) of applied landscape ecology at the University of Twente. Until the end of his life, Ies Zonneveld remained involved with the Biesbosch and spent a lot of time there.

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• - HEUVEL, C.C. VAN DEN e.a., Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985.
  - https://www.brabantserfgoed.nl/page/16565/hoe-overleefde-ies-zonneveld-ondergedoken-in-de-bezette-brabantse