Kees Bitter
Cornelis "Kees" Bitter (born September 15, 1919 in 's-Hertogenbosch , † January 5, 1945 in Rotterdam ) was a Dutch resistance fighter during the German occupation in World War II . After his arrest by the German Security Service (SD), he is said to have become a traitor and was killed by his former comrades-in-arms.
resume
Kees Bitter grew up in Sliedrecht , where his father was the head of the post office. From 1940 he attended business school in Rotterdam to economics to study. Together with other students, he participated in the resistance against the German occupation. On August 12, 1942, he was arrested for supporting Jews and possessing weapons and handed over to the SD. He was imprisoned until September 10, 1942, when he was transferred to the Amersfoort transit camp . From there he was released, but had to report to the SD regularly. In 1943 he made contact with his colleagues from the resistance. It was later suspected that he had meanwhile been "turned around" by the SD or blackmailed under threat of death to work with the SD.
In the spring of 1944, Bitter took over the leadership of the Rotterdam-South resistance group and was arrested again by the SD on October 27, 1944. In the days that followed, numerous members of Rotterdam resistance groups were arrested and many were executed, including Boy Ecury . During the raid on Rotterdam on November 10 and 11, Bitter was reportedly seen in SD uniform.
On December 27, 1944, Kees Bitter was tracked down by members of the Rotterdam resistance group in Sliedrecht and brought to Rotterdam. After several interrogations, Bitter admitted that he was responsible for the arrests in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague . He also admitted that he knew the head of the SD in Amsterdam , Willy Lages , and that he had worn an SD uniform. Bitter was found "guilty" by his former colleagues. On the evening of January 5, 1945, he was anesthetized with chloroform and given a lethal injection of potassium cyanide . When his death did not occur, he was executed with a headshot. His body was sewn into a jute sack and weighed down with bricks and sunk in the inland port of Boerengat .
The Rotterdam historian Albert Oosthoek estimates in his book Recht op Wraak (dt. = Right to revenge ) that up to 500 Dutch people were killed by resistance groups in the war years for treason or collaboration with the Germans, including around 100 people from Rotterdam.
literature
- Loe de Jong : Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog
- Martijn J. Adelmund / Thijs van der Veen, De verborgen geschiedenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog , table of contents (pdf) Bruna, Utrecht 2008, ISBN 978-90-229-9489-4 Preview, partially
Web links
- Knokploeg Rotterdam-Zuid, verzet in de oorlog. rijnmond.nl, September 24, 2013, accessed October 10, 2014 (Dutch).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Kees Bitter: Van verzet naar verraad. Nederland in the Tweede Wereldoorlog, accessed October 9, 2014 (Dutch).
- ↑ Hans Flier: De Heemraadssingel tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog - 10. Het verraad van Kees Bitter. Retrieved November 14, 2014 (Dutch).
- ↑ Martijn Adelmund / Thijs van der Veen: De verborgen geschiedenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog , Utrecht 2008. p. 34
- ↑ Paul Verspeek: Rotterdam verzet mensen liquid earth 100th RTV, April 1, 2009, accessed October 10, 2014 (Dutch).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bitter, Kees |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bitter, Cornelis (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch resistance fighter and traitor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 15, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | 's-Hertogenbosch |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 5, 1945 |
| Place of death | Rotterdam |