Memorial Stone Rijnstraat 37

Here in Amersfoort, one Memorial Stone were laid on May 05, 1945 for:

FRANS VAN OPIJNEN, shot on May 5, 1945 in Amersfoort.

On May 5, liberation day, a number of SS men drive their car to the Brouwersstraatstraat. There is no threat to them of any kind. The frustration is great. They see a large group of excited people on the other side of the track. The German soldiers start firing wildly at the crowd on the other side of the track, then a distance of about forty meters. People run for cover wherever possible. Frans can't run for cover fast enough. He is hit in the head. He dies that afternoon around 3:00 PM. On May 10, 1945, thirteen-year-old Frans was buried at the RC cemetery on the Utrechtseweg. His tombstone reads: "fallen as a victim for peace".

These memorial stones are here for war victims, deported and/or murdered in the Second World War. In Amersfoort, the memorial stones are also awarded to resistance fighters who have died. The exception to this rule is the Memorial Stone for Frans van Opijnen. The then mayor Bolsius recalled that Frans van Opijnen died in the name of freedom.

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