Date of birth:

August 28th, 1917 (Oosterhout/Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

February 7th, 1998 (Camden/New South Wales, Australia)

Nationality:

Dutch

His involvement in the Dutch Resistance began in 1940, after his halfbrother Fredericus J Hoekstra was killed in action on 10 May, the first day of the German invasion. He became the leader of the OD in Oosterhout, where he was linked with the Resistance cell centred around Pater Jacques Kerssemakers OSB. With the imminent arrest of Kerssemakers in October 1942, he went into hiding in Limburg, as Wim Koenraad, on the bunkership De Zwaan at Grevenbicht where he continued his resistance activities, becoming the “Ko” of the Resistance group MaZwaKo which operated in that area. In October 1943 he left De Zwaan but stayed in Limburg to continue his espionage activities. While on mission in March 1944, he was arrested and taken to Hotel Oranje Scheveningen; in May, he was transferred to Amersfoort Camp and from there to Rheinhausen labour camp connected with the Krupp Hüttenwerke. In March 1945, whilst being transported to Duisburg, he escaped during an allied bombing raid and received refuge in St Peter Canisius Church, where he stayed for two months until the end of the war in May.

He married Clara Oomen in October 1945 and emigrated to Australia with their 5 children in August 1959.

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, he completed his memoirs of the war years in 1995.

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• Photo 1: Margo Hoekstra
• - HEUVEL, C.C. VAN DEN e.a., Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985.