Gerardus Mooyman
Gerardus Leonardus Mooyman (born September 23, 1923 in Apeldoorn , Netherlands , † June 21, 1987 at Anloo ) was a Dutch volunteer in the Waffen SS in World War II .
Life
He was born in Apeldoorn into a Catholic middle-class family. The father was a businessman and joined the National Socialist Movement during the global economic crisis .
Gerardus initially trained as a locksmith, but then worked as a pharmacist's assistant. In April 1942 he volunteered for the SS volunteer standard "Northwest", then switched to the SS volunteer legion "Nederland". On the Volkhov front he experienced his first frontline deployment in January 1943. As a storm man in the 14./SS-Freiw.-Legion "Nederland" he earned the Iron Cross of both classes. On February 13, 1943, he destroyed 13 Soviet tanks on Lake Ladoga after the actual gun leader had fallen. For this, the only 19-year-old received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 20, 1943 as the first European volunteer .
From then on he was used for National Socialist propaganda and traveled through the Netherlands, streets in Dutch towns were also to be named after him, but according to his own statement, he refused to do so. Some magazines reported his actions.
From August 1943 he was trained as an officer in an SS junker school . In the spring of 1944 he returned to the Eastern Front . Meanwhile promoted to SS-Untersturmführer , he was taken prisoner of war by the Americans on May 4, 1945 . In 1946 Mooyman was sentenced to six years in prison as a collaborator , and in August 1949 he was released.
As an inconspicuous entrepreneur and family man, he lived in Groningen after his release . In 1967 he reappeared when he gave an interview to the magazine "Revu". In this article he condemned the Nazi crimes and admitted his complicity. "I made a mistake in my thinking," said Mooyman. He gave his knight's cross to a collector.
He was killed in a traffic accident at Anloo.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 551.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mooyman, Gerardus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mooyman, Gerardus Leonardus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch volunteer in the service of the Waffen SS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 23, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Apeldoorn , the Netherlands |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 21, 1987 |
| Place of death | at Anloo |