Date of birth:

April 16th, 1921 (Roosendaal)

Date of death:

March 26th, 1945 (Hirzenhain, Hessen (Dld.))

Nationality:

Dutch

Daughter of letter carrier Pieter Teunis van Elst (Feb. 14, 1888 - Sept. 27, 1964 Roosendaal) and Dirkje Maria Leentje Bakker (Dec. 20, 1889 Kralingen). Unmarried. Telex operator at the PTT. Got involved in the resistance in West Brabant. During her work she copied secret German orders and passed them on to the resistance in the form of the still legible blue carbon paper.

In 1943 there was talk of betrayal. Leentje was shadowed for some time and was unable to go into hiding in time. On the night of July 25/26, 1943, she was arrested by the SD and imprisoned in the Oranje Hotel. Via Haren, where she was imprisoned, and Camp Vught, she was transported to Germany. That was the beginning of a journey through German prisons and camps. Anrath, Düsseldorf, Ziegenhain, Frankfurt-Hoechst, and Frankfurt am Main. From there, she and 48 other female prisoners ended up in Arbeitserziehungslager Heddernheim (*1) in Hirzenhain, Dld.

As Allied troops advanced further and further into Germany during March 1945, the guards made preparations to evacuate the camp. On March 25, 1945, six male prisoners were told to dig a large pit for a gasoline depot in the woods near the camp. At least that's what they were told. But while the next day the evacuation of part of the camp took place, the six men were again taken to the pit, along with 81 female prisoners, including Leentje van Es. There, an SS commando shot them in small groups. Among the victims was a second Dutch person: Lies van der Klijn-Wooning (2*). Hirzenhain was liberated by the Americans some time later.

(1*) Arbeitserziehungslager: re-education through (forced) labor.
(2*) Elisa Adriana Petronella van der Klijn-Wooning (November 18, 1897 Amsterdam).

Following instructions from the locals, American soldiers found the mass grave. Only one inmate could be identified. Since 1959, the victims lie anonymously in the war cemetery of Arnsburg Monastery near the city of Lich.

In 1963, the family received a letter from a Russian camp friend of Leentje's inquiring how she was? So this friend was not aware of her death. Investigations by the Red Cross subsequently revealed that Leentje was one of those executed in the grave so at least it is known where she is buried.

Posthumously she was honored with the 1940 War Cross and the Belgian “Knight of the Order of Leopold II with Palm” award. Her name appears on the liberation monument on Parklaan in Roosendaal and a Stolperstein has been laid for her at the address Groenstraat 34.

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• Site Brabantse Gesneuvelden Oorlogsgravenstichting Site wiewaswie.nl (waaronder overlijdensakte 495a/1951). - Digitale editie De Krant regio Wouw
  

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