Memorial Resistance Reverend Jan Koopmans

This monument, unveiled on 26 May 2025 in his native village of Sliedrecht, commemorates the resistance pastor Dr. Jan Koopmans.

Jan Koopmans was a Reformed minister affiliated with the Noorderkerk in Amsterdam. As early as October 1940, he warned of the fate of the Jews in occupied Netherlands in his pamphlet “Bijna te Laat” (Almost Too Late), which was distributed to all Dutch mayors. He wrote this pamphlet in response to the “Aryan declaration” demanded by the occupiers from civil servants and called on them not to sign it. The pamphlet contained a prophetic prediction about the fate of the Jews: 'They are going to be taken away, we must not harbour the slightest illusions about that. They are going to be taken away and they are going to die.'

Throughout the war, he was active in the resistance, mainly by providing false baptismal certificates that gave Jews, as baptised Christians, a chance to escape deportation. In March 1945, he witnessed the summary execution of 30 innocent people at the Weteringsplantsoen in Amsterdam from his window. A stray bullet struck him in the head, and he died a few days later from his injuries.

Freek de Jonge wrote the song “Bijna te laat” (Almost too late) for Jan Koopmans, which he also performed at the unveiling of the memorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQhLSycops

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Jan de Jager