• Dutch Waffen -SS
• Weerbaarheidsafdeling (WA)

Date of birth:

March 20th, 1923 (Vlagtwedde/Groningen, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

February 5th, 1986 (Gerolstein/Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)

Service number:

158.364 (NSB Stamboek Nr.)

Nationality:

Dutch

Bruins was born on 30 March 1934 in Vlagtwede, Groningen. He grew up in a poor farming family. Both parents were members of the NSB and were firmly pro-German. Bruins enlisted in the Weerbaarheidsafdeling (WA) at the end of 1940 at the age of 17. He received private drilling lessons from Wachtmeester Bos. Bruins enlisted in the Waffen-SS in February 1941, but was initially rejected. He tried again that year in April and was approved this time.

On 26 January 1942 he left with the 'Nederlandsche Legioen' to Hamburg to enlist in the SS-Freiwilligen-Standarte Nordwest.

Bruins was assigned to the 1st company, SS Panzerjäger Battalion 54, SS Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland and was trained as a Panzerjäger. He left for the Eastern Front and served in the same company as Gerard Mooyman, the first Dutch recipient of the Ritterkreuz. He once wrote about him:

"I never get a chance, because when we advance to repel an attack, Mooyman shoots away all the armor in front of me..!"

Bruins first served as a loading gunner, later as a gunner.

Bruins was wounded on the Eastern Front and subsequently received the Verwundeten-Abzeichen. In the spring of 1944 he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. For destroying 7 armored cars he was later awarded the Iron Cross 1st class and was also promoted to SS-Unterscharführer.

The Ritterkreuz was awarded to him on 23 August 1944 for "particularly heroic actions" on the Narva front. Later it turned out that he was knighted for destroying 12 armored vehicles at Oranienbaum. A few days later the presentation took place during which he was also promoted to SS-Oberscharführer.

Bruins was taken prisoner of war by the Canadians shortly after the Second World War, but managed to escape from a Dutch prison. He fled to Germany, where he obtained German nationality by marrying a German woman. In 1955 the Dutch government stopped its attempts to prosecute Bruins. Bruins was a successful businessman in Germany. He eventually died in a hospital in Gerolstein, Germany.

Derk Bruins was the brother of Siert Bruins, who also served in the Waffen-SS, but who gained notoriety for his role for the SD in the Netherlands.

Promotions:
1941: SS-Sturmmann
?: SS-Rottenführer
1944: SS-Unterscharführer
August 1944: SS-Oberscharführer

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• Photo 1: Stiwot
• Photo: STIWOT
  
• - FELLGIEBEL, W.P., Elite of theThird Reich, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003.
  - HUß, JÜRGEN & SONDERMANN, HEINZ-WERNER, Ritterkreuzträger im Mannschaftsstand 1941-1945, VDM Heinz Nickel, Zweibrücken, 2009.
  - KRÄTSCHMER, E.G., Die Ritterkreuzträger der Waffen-SS, K.W. Schütz, 1982.
  - Twentsch Nieuwsblad, vrijdag 1 september 1944, 2e jaargang, No. 245
  - De Zwarte Soldaat, 01/11/1944