Engelandvaarder
![](../I/m/Van_Hamel_en_Van_Daalen_Wetters.jpg)
![](../I/m/Engelandvaarders%2C_February_24%2C_1944%2C_Off_Lowe.jpg)
Engelandvaarder, (literally translated as "England sailer") was the term given to men and women who, during the World War II, escaped from occupied territory to England (or another Allied territory) to join the Allied forces so as to continue to fight against the Axis countries (Germany, Italy and Japan). The period covered is between the capitulation of the Dutch armed forces on 15 May 1940 and the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944 (D-Day).
In July 1940 three Dutchmen escaped from the occupied Netherlands and crossed the North Sea to England in a twelve foot boat. They were called "Engelandvaarders". Subsequently, more Dutch were able to reach England not only directly by sea or air, but also overland through neutral countries like Switzerland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Over 1,700 Dutch men and women overcame many difficulties to travel to England or another allied territory; 332 of them joined the Army, 118 the Air Force, 397 the Navy, 176 the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL), 164 the merchant navy, 111 were secret agents and 129 served with the Dutch government-in-exile in London.
A large number of men and women, however, were killed or arrested on their way to England. Some were shot, most were deported to concentration camps. Some escaped from detention, such as Bram van der Stok, the most successful Dutch fighter pilot in World War II, who escaped with Bodo Sandberg and four other Engelandvaarders from the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III, in a car stolen from the camp commander. Many others were taken to death camps, of which only a few returned to the Netherlands after the liberation.
After they were interrogated at the Patriotic School, the Engelandvaarders were brought to London. Many Engelandvaarders were awarded the Dutch Bronze Cross (BK) or the Cross of Merit (KV) by Queen Wilhelmina.
Notable Engelandvaarders
|
|
|
Museum Engelandvaarders
On 4 September 2015 the Museum Engelandvaarders was inaugurated by King Willem-Alexander in the Dutch town of Noordwijk to commemorate the Engelandvaarders. The museum is in a munition bunker.
Soldier of Orange
The Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje) is a book, written in 1970 by Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. It became a movie in 1977 by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer, and a musical in 2010. The musical is performed in Theaterhangar on the former airfield Valkenburg near Katwijk. It runs until October 2016.
Dutch books about the Engelandvaarders are:
- De Schakel, by Frank Visser (1976)
- Vrijheid achter de horizon, by Jan Bruin and Jan van der Werff (1998)
- Tulpen voor Wilhelmina, by Agnes Dessing (2005)
- Wij zijn niet bang, tenminste, niet erg. Het Engelandvaardersdagboek van Daniƫl de Moulin (2006, herdruk 2015)
- Engelandvaarders en vluchtelingen, de Noordzee-route, by Pauline L van Till and Harald S van der Straaten (2015)
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Engelandvaarder. |