Women of Resistance: Willemiena Brouwman

 

Just twenty years old when her beloved Netherlands was invaded and occupied by Nazi German, Willemiena Bouwman was social worker. Her father was Reverend J.J. Bouwman who’d been forced into hiding because he forbid a member of the National Socialist Movement of the Netherlands (a Dutch fascist, then later Nazi organization) from taking part in religious services.

It is believed she joined the Dutch resistance shortly thereafter. Her boyfriend, Willem Peter “Wim” Speelman, was an economics student and one of the publishers of the underground newspaper, Trouw (“True” or “Allegiance”). He also wrote content for various resistance pamphlets and the Dutch magazine, Vrij Nederland (“Free the Netherlands).

By the spring of 1941, Wim was in hiding, and the following year Willemiena joined him because of

increased scrutiny by Dutch and German authorities. Taking on the alias Mien van Trouw, she emerged periodically to distribute the newspaper as well as courier messages to resistance supporters. According to several sources, including Yad Vashem, Willemiena was deeply involved in the rescue of Jewish children, preventing them from being persecuted or deported.

When families would be rounded up and taken to Hollandsche Schouwburg, a Jewish theater converted to a holding area, the children would be sent across the street to “the Crèche,” formerly a Jewish daycare center, then Mien and others would spirit the children away to safe houses in Friesland and Groningen. She made dozens of trips. By the end of 1943, the number of rescues required had declined, so she went back to working at the newspaper and couriering messages. Wim, her fiancé by then, had been arrested but managed to escape and moved their activities (not specified in my sources) to Amsterdam.

They remained in the city for a year working heavily with the underground, then Wim was arrested again, this time during a raid to the printing office. He was executed two weeks later. Not to be deterred, Willemiena/Mien took over his position and continued to operate the publication. Ten weeks later, she was able to publish the liberation edition on May 5, 1945.

After the war, she returned to social work and married fellow Trouw courier, Gerrit Dijkstra. Widowed at some piont, she later married a second time, to Henk Vooren, and in 1992, she was declared “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem for her rescue of David de La Penha and Barend Stempel. Willemiena passed away on March 3, 2007 at the age of 87.

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Danish Days

Can hearts filled with hate find love?

Near the end of the “second war to end all wars,” Norwegian American OSS agent Frida Westgard finds herself assigned to Denmark, of all places. Initially sent as a radio operator, she is then transferred to Copenhagen to collect intelligence. A job made more dangerous when she becomes entangled in local resistance activities led by the handsome man known only as Rejsende–traveler.

Stig Arenfeldt has hated the Germans for as long as he can remember, so when they invade and occupy his beloved Denmark, he jumps at the chance to join the resistance. Now, five years later, the war may finally be at an end, but he won’t quit until the last soldier is gone…or dead. Then he’s paired with the attractive American agent who preaches forgiveness. A concept that has no place in his life. Unfortunately, the more they’re together, the more her words infiltrate his soul, and he begins to dread the day she’ll walk out of his life.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3LoGlw

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and

women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Sources:
https://www.geni.com/people/Willemiena-Bouwman/6000000017511751165
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willemiena_Bouwman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9DWNOhHK_g&t=548s
https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/righteous/4039270
https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/nieuws/archief-van-stichting-1940-1945-opvraagbaar-bij-het-nationaal-archief
https://www.st4045.nl/buitengewoon-pensioen
https://oorlogsspullen.nl/product/original-wwii-dutch-resistance-newspaper-groningen-trouw/

Photo Credits:
Willemiena Bouwman: Courtesy Emanuel Koning (geni.com)
Amsterdam 1944: By Adrianus Swart - from the collection curated by Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen and donated through a partnership program. Public Domain
Trouw newspaper: Courtesy Oorlogsspullen.nl