Date of birth:

January 9th, 1887 (Groningen, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

September 25th, 1944 (Westerbork, the Netherlands)

Buried on:

Dutch War Graves Cemetery Esserveld
Plot: /OS. 

Nationality:

Dutch

Lived in Groningen, Mauritsstraat 20. On a list of prisoners who stayed in the attic of the Scholtenhuis, the address of the two brothers is Zwanestraat 17. Son of wagoner's boy Kornelis Barkema (7 October 1854 Adorp - 28 June 1926 Groningen) and Anje Wieringa (26 February 1856 Usquert - 11 July 1942 Groningen). Procuratiehouder (bookkeeper). Reformed. The War Graves Foundation and the Honour Roll of the Fallen indicate that both were members of the resistance, while the Groningen resistance archive classifies them as members of the Order Service. According to Monique Brinks, one of the brothers played a subordinate role in the Order Service and the other was only arrested because they lived in a house together. Pieter and Willem Barkema were executed with ten others in Camp Westerbork on 25 September 1944.

The brothers were cremated in Camp Westerbork. After the war, a symbolic burial of one urn took place at the Esserveld Cemetery in Groningen in early November 1945.

During the occupation, Pieter and Willem joined the resistance; both joined the Ordedienst. As a result of betrayal by the Groningen lawyer Simon Redeker, they and ten other resistance fighters were arrested in September 1944 and taken to the Scholtenhuis in Groningen. There, they were subjected to an ‘intensified interrogation’. Torture was not shunned. Pieter and Willem Barkema were taken to Camp Westerbork with ten others on 25 September. The head of the Ordnungspolizei had put together an execution squad, consisting of SD members and members of the Ordnungspolizei. The resistance fighters were shot dead behind the crematorium. Their valuables were taken and placed in a large envelope.

The bodies were cremated in the camp crematorium by two Jewish prisoners. They collected some of the deceased's belongings and buried them in vans behind the crematorium. They also secretly wrote down the dates on which the executions took place and the number of dead they had cremated on a door of the crematorium with a piece of chalk. The two prisoners were playing with fire, because camp commander Gemmeker had ordered them that nothing was to remain of the executions.
Thanks to their secret action, identification of the victims could begin quickly after the war.

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• Photo 1: J.Niemeijer "Hoe Groningen streed".
• Monique Brinks, Het Scholtenhuis 1940-1945, deel 1: Daden, Profiel Uitgeverij, Bedum/Oorlogs- en Verzetscentrum Groningen, 2009: Oorlogs- en Verzetscentrum Groningen; voormalige site Genlias/site wiewaswie.nl (waaronder overlijdensakten 89/1945 gemeente Westerbork en 2753/1945 gemeente Groningen). - Willem Barkema - Westerbork Portretten
  

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