Blaeij, de, Jan Willem

Date of birth:: July 29th, 1914 (Hardinxveld/Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands)
Date of death:: May 3rd, 1943 (Onbekend)
Nationality:: Dutch

Biography

Lived in Giessendam (now part of the municipality of Hardinxveld-Giessendam), at Emmastraat 6. Married to Johanna van Bennekum. Bench worker/shipyard labourer at De Merwede shipyard in Hardinxveld. Dutch Reformed. Member of the resistance.

Due to his participation in the so-called April/May strike of 1943, in which he is said to have played a prominent role, De Blaeij was arrested in Rotterdam on Monday, 3 May 1943. Like the other detainees, he was taken for interrogation to the SD building at Heemraadsingel 226 in Rotterdam and sentenced to death after a show trial. Prior to his execution, Jan Willem was allowed to write a farewell letter to his wife. In it he wrote, among other things: ‘Long live freedom of conscience, without freedom there is no happiness in life’. Together with nine others, De Blaeij was shot at 8.50 p.m. and buried in an unknown location. His body was never found. The death sentence was reported in the censored press.

His name is included in the Roll of Honour of the Fallen and is also mentioned on a memorial plaque at the old shipyard office. In November 2025, a memorial was erected near the site of the former shipyard in memory of the four executed employees of Scheepswerf de Merwede.

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Sources

- OGS Gedenkboek 36 - Amersfoort, Vught, Westerbork, Oorlogsgravenstichting.
- Announcement by the German Police Court.
- Memorial Merwede Shipyard.
- https://www.hetkompashardinxveld-giessendam.nl/lokaal/historie/1139679/hardinxveld-giessendam-houdt-herdenking-april-mei-staking-in- - https://oorlogsgravenstichting.nl/personen/12623/jan-willem-de-blaeij