Date of birth:

April 22nd, 1919 (Klazienaveen, The Netherlands)

Date of death:

September 9th, 1944 (Beilen, The Netherlands)

Buried on:

Dutch War Graves Roman Catholic Cemetery Klazienaveen
Plot: 11. Row: G. Grave: 1.

Nationality:

Dutch

Willem Hendrik Klein was the son of Willem Klein and Hendrikje Snippe. At the beginning of World War II, he was a guard of the Royal Military Police but was added to the National Police in Hoogeveen by the occupying authorities.

On 4 September 1944, in the evening at about 11pm, he and two colleagues from the National Police, Adjutant Arie de Vries and Guardsman Andries Alting, arrested two young women during an amorous encounter with two SS soldiers. The official reason for the arrest was the fact that both women were outside after curfew started.

On 6 September, the SS filed a complaint with the SD alleging improper treatment of the two SS soldiers. On 8 September, Klein, De Vries and Alting were arrested by the SD and interrogated by Sander van Doffelaar of the Grüne Polizei in the building of the Reformed School on Het Haagje in Hoogeveen.

The same evening, the three detainees were put on transport to the prison in Assen. On the way to Assen, on 9 September at about 00h:30, the car with the three detainees stopped along the Esweg in Beilen. The arrestees were ordered to get out, whereupon they were taken under fire by their escorts. Klein died on the spot, De Vries was left wounded, and Alting managed to escape in the dark. Klein was buried by his parents in their hometown of Klazienaveen (cemetery location: row/square/number: 11/G/1).

At the place where Klein was shot (Esweg oostzijde, Beilen, a monument was erected on 31 August 1950 to commemorate Klein and the violent way he was killed by the occupying forces. Around the turn of the century, the monument was moved several metres due to the construction of the roundabout in Esweg/Schultenstraat. The monument was then expanded with an additional, large boulder and a number of smaller boulders.

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• Photo: Willem Hendrik Klein | Oorlogsgravenstichting
  
• Overlijdensakte 242 d.d. 29 september 1944 gemeente Hoogeveen.

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