Stumbling Stone Valeriusplein 5

This brass memorial plaque (Stolperstein or stumbling stone), placed in 2013, commemorates:
* DR. KORNELIS SIETSMA (born 1896, arrested 2-2-1942, deported 1942 from Amersfoort, murdered 7-8-1942, Dachau)

This Stolperstein lies here for a resistance fighter who was persecuted, deported and/or murdered during the Second World War.

Kornelis Sietsma, known as Kees, was born on 25 August 1896 on a farm in Nijega, municipality of Smallingerland, province of Friesland.
Kees Sietsma studied theology at the Theological University in Kampen, where he completed his studies in 1924 and obtained his doctorate in theology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 1933. In 1934, he was appointed minister of the Raphaëlkerk on Raphaëlplein and the Schinkelkerk on Amstelveenseweg 136.
During a church service in the Schinkelkerk in Amsterdam, he prayed for Princess Beatrix and a collection was taken for missionary work among the Jewish people. He also preached in that service about the temptations of Jesus in the desert, with a call not to bow to temptations of power.
These three points were used by the German occupiers as grounds for his indictment. He was arrested and eventually taken to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died on 7 September 1942.
The Stumbling Stone mistakenly indicates 7 August 1942.


"Stolpersteine” is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small, 10x10cm brass plaques placed in the sidewalk in front of a known residence of (usually Jewish) victims of the Nazis. Each plaque is provided with the victim’s, date of birth, and fate. By doing this, Gunter Demnig gives an individual memorial to each victim. One stone, one name, one person. He cites the Talmud: “A human being is forgotten only when his or her name is forgotten.”

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Ewoud van Eig
• Kornelis Sietsma | Oorlogsgravenstichting
• K. Sietsma | Geheugen van de VU
• BAK, P., Duivels dilemma, Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum, 2019.