Dutch War Graves Zwartewaal

Zwartewaal General Cemetery contains four Dutch war graves from World War II.

December 1944 was a black month for the island of Voorne Putten. In this month, several people were murdered or shot. People were also imprisoned as Todeskandidaten or taken to concentration camps, of which there were later reprisal murders or deaths in the camp. After the war, several people were convicted of treason or war crimes.

For the Van der Zee family, the story began with a Dutch SS member in hiding who was noticed in his village by a fanatic NSB member. After interrogating the SS member, a raid was carried out on the night of 4 to 5 December on several people who played a role in the local resistance. At the Koene brothers on the Meeldijk and later that night at the v.d Zee family in Zwartewaal. The father Jan v.d.Zee and two sons Willem.v.d Zee and Hendrik v.d. Zee were arrested that night. On December 6, 1944, they were shot in the dunes with three people from Rockanje without any form of trial.
The grief of the fishing family v.d.Zee was not over yet.
On June 5, 1945, Arij v.d. Zee died in the explosion of a sea mine near Oostvoorne.

Dirk Hobbel, a military police officer by profession, was born in Zwartewaal on June 26, 1922. He went into hiding in Ridderkerk during the war and joined the BS (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten).
On May 10 around noon, two BS'ers from Ridderkerk came to the command post in the town hall with the message that Dirk had been shot dead by the Germans without any form of trial on May 8. Dirk Hobbel posthumously received the resistance memorial cross.

The gravestones were restored in 2021.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries+Adri Kramer
• Photos: Adri Kramer
• Historische werkgroep Zwartewaal- https://www.bevrijdingsfestivalbrielle.nl/herinneringen/dorpen/zwartewaal
• GRAAF, H. VAN DER, Rockanje in Oorlogstijd (1940-1945), Kruseman, Den Haag, 1969.