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Bos, Klaas

    Date of birth:
    January 7th, 1897 (Siddeburen-Slochteren, the Netherlands)
    Date of death:
    February 28th, 1942 (Leusden, the Netherlands)
    Buried on:
    Dutch Field of Honour Loenen
    Plot: E. Grave: 87.
    Nationality:
    Dutch (1815-present, Kingdom)

    Biography

    Klaas Bos lived at 95 Molenhorn in Appingedam. He was the son of day laborer/servant/factory worker Hilbrand Bos (December 1870 Siddeburen - † November 13, 1940 Opwierde) and Mettje Jantje Veldman (April 8, 1874 - † April 4, 1952 Appingedam). Klaas Bos was married on February 26, 1926 in Appingedam to Berendina Merema (January 23, 1907 Appingedam - † September 11, 1987 Appingedam). The couple had five children: Mettje, Jitske, Hilbrand, Wigbold and Elisabeth. Bos was a factory worker and tailor. He was a member of the resistance.
    He was one of the local leaders of the illegal Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN). He distributed the underground Communist paper Het Noorderlicht and pamphlets. According to his resistance ID he helped hiders along with Bonno Smit. He was arrested on May 10, 1941 by the Dutch police. On October 24, 1941 he was transported along with others to the Polizeiliches DurchgangslagerAmersfoort (prisoner number 803)
    There are differences of opinion about his death in the camp on February 28, 1942. After the war, his widow, Mrs. Bos-Merema entered as cause of death exhaustion on the form for the memorial book of the CPN. The provisional record of Camp Amersfoort (which by the way has disappeard from the site of the National Monument Camp Amersfoort) and the Wikipedia record of the victims of the camp both name privation as the cause. In contrast, his record in the archives of Camp Amersfoort indicates he has been executed. According to Ruud Weijdeveld he was shot by a camp guard, making him the first resistance fighter from Groningen to lose his life during the war. In-laws of Klaas Bos took his remains to Appingedam. Only the next-of-kin and two men with whom he had cooperated were allowed to join the cortege and attend the funeral. In Appingedam, the Klaas Bosstraat was named after him. Moreover, his name and that of Gerrit Raap (April 7, 1904 Appingedam - † August 13, 1942 Dachau) appear on a memorial plate in the former town hall of Appingedam. A street was named after him as well: Gerrit Raapstraat.

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    Sources

    • - HEUVEL, C.C. VAN DEN e.a., Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985.
      - Klaas Bos
      - Klaas Bos | Erelijst van Gevallenen 1940-1945
      - Voorst: Oorlogs- en Verzetscentrum Groningen; Ruud Weijdeveld, Het communistische verzet in Groningen, 1940-1945, deel 1 en 2, Profiel Uitgeverij, Bedum 2014; W.A. Brug, Hun Naam leeft voort...! Oorlogsslachtoffers verleenden hun naam aan straten en gebouwen, Repro Holland BV, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1989; Lijst van slachtoffers van Kamp Amersfoort, Archief Jack Kooistra; Huub Wijfjes, Erelijst van gevallenen, in: Hans van den Heuvel, Gerard Mulder, het Vrije Woord. De illegale pers in Nederland 1940-1945, SDU Uitgeverij, 's-Gravenhage, 1990; site wiewaswie.nl (waaronder overlijdensakten 18/1942 gemeente Appingedam en 16/1942 gemeente Leusden); site genealogieonline.nl (stamboom Arbeider en Bos).Appingedam.

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