Date of birth:

July 13th, 1899 (Drieborg, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

December 30th, 1944 (KZ Neuengamme, Germany)

Buried on:

Dutch War Graves General Cemetery Winschoten
Plot: 6. Row: 4. Grave: 185.

Nationality:

Dutch

Willem Dresselhuis was active in the Winschoten resistance. Because he was a merchant (he had a bicycle shop with his brother, Dresselhuys) and often visited Northern Germany, he learned about Nazi ideology at an early age and from the beginning of the war he made an effort to help Jews, among other things. In September 1942 he was arrested for the first time, but thanks to a GP's certificate and the help of a lawyer (affiliated with the resistance) he was released after six weeks.
From that time on Dresselhuis was kept under surveillance. He worked together with, among others, the Reverend A. Du Croix, but only through his liaison officer Du Pré. The group was involved with people in hiding, the illegal press, espionage, weapons, hiding attackers and with pilot lines.
Dresselhuis and the others were kept under surveillance and in the second half of 1943 the V-man Karl Huschka tried to infiltrate. Dresselhuis was very cautious and only wanted to contact the group via codes written on the side of a matchbox. But the V-man already knew enough. Dresselhuis went into hiding, but just as he was returning home on 14 April 1944, he was arrested. Almost the entire resistance group was arrested: they spent three months in Groningen and from there to Amersfoort or Vught. When the Allies were approaching and the men could already hear the sounds of war, the camp was evacuated: Willem Dresselhuis ended up in Neuengamme, where he died of exhaustion on 30 December 1944.

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• Photo 1: J.Niemeijer "Hoe Groningen streed".
• Photo: Bert Deelman
  
• - HEUVEL, C.C. VAN DEN e.a., Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985.
  - Willem Dresselhuis | Oorlogsgravenstichting
  - Willem Dresselhuis: Een verzetsgroep verraden › Groningen4045
  - Willem Dresselhuis (Beerta, 13 juli 1899 - Neuengamme, 30 december 1944) - Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen
  - Een verzetsgroep verraden › De verhalen van Groningen
  - Willem Dresselhuis | Erelijst van Gevallenen 1940-1945
  - Willem Dresselhuis | Digitaal Monument Neuengamme
  

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