Date of birth:

April 5th, 1888 (Papendrecht, Netherlands)

Date of death:

January 14th, 1959 (Papendrecht, Netherlands)

Nationality:

Dutch (1815-present, Kingdom)

Pieter de Koning, pseudonym "Ouwe Piet" from Papendrecht, worked in the cordwood trade and had previously leased a number of cordwood areas in the Biesbosch. So he knew the Biesbosch like the back of his hand. During the occupation, he and his family soon became involved in the resistance. They sheltered Allied pilots and helped other people in hiding, including in the ark they had in the Biesbosch.

During the last Winter of War, the need arose for a regular connection between the occupied and liberated parts of the Netherlands. Thus, several routes through the Biesbosch to Drimmelen and Lage Zwaluwe emerged, especially from Sliedrecht and Werkendam. Apart from the crossers of the well-known "Groep Albrecht", other crossers from Hardinxveld and Papendrecht, among others, were also active. This is how the so-called "Line of De Koning" came into being in Papendrecht. The house of the De Koning family on Oosteind was a central point where people gathered from their hiding addresses. A network of resistance fighters worked on this.

They left from the De Koning house, which was located outside the dike by the water. In a roughly six-hour trip full of dangers, Pieter de Koning and his sons brought numerous people from his home in Papendrecht to Lage Zwaluwe in the liberated South using rowing boats and canoes. These were Allied Pilots or British Military who had escaped after Market Garden, but also Couriers and other people who wanted or needed to make the crossing. On the retreat, the boats were filled with medicines, weapons and food.
During the last crossing, there were even 10 rowboats filled with people at the same time, with other boats joining them during the trip. Modest as he was, Pieter de Koning never kept track of how many people they had brought over, but it was probably hundreds.

After the war, Pieter de Koning was awarded the Medal of Freedom and the King's Medal. Today, at the spot on Oosteind in Papendrecht where his house once stood, a sign has been erected commemorating Pieter de Koning and his "Lijntje van De Koning" and the Pieter de Koninghof in Papendrecht also bears his name.

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• Photo: https://blokland.dordtenazoeker.nl/oorlog_05.htm
  
• - KORPEL, A., De Waard in oorlogstijd 2, De Klaroen, Alblasserdam, 1984.
  - WIJNGAARDEN, P. VAN, Papendrecht tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, WW2Books, Papendrecht, 2020.
  - Information Sign "Lijntje De Koning".
  - British Embassy invitation to King's Medal ceremony.
  - https://blokland.dordtenazoeker.nl/oorlog_05.htm