Iron Clamps Shelters Oostvoorne

At the C. Sipkesslag in Oostvoorne, the bunkers of the Heesterhof bear witness to a violent past. Although it is said on the island of Voorne that no shot was fired during the war, Reverend Leendert van der Meer was executed on that location on 11 October 1944. After the pastor was betrayed for possessing a radio, the Germans arrested him in his evangelistic building and brought him to the Heesterhof. After a few days of interrogation, he did not want to betray his fellow villagers and was shot.

It is likely that on his last days he walked through the corridors that are still present in that place today. They can be recognized by iron brackets that protrude above the sand. The brackets were used to hoist the concrete segments - resembling sewer sections - into place. They gave the Volga Tatars stationed there cover in the event of a possible shelling.

The brackets are clearly visible from the walking paths along the group of bunkers. Remember that under every dune visible near those brackets is a bunker.

Things did not end well for the Volga Tatars either. After being captured by the Germans on the eastern front earlier in the war, they were given a choice in a concentration camp: fight for the Nazis or die in the camp. Most chose to fight. Once in Oostvoorne, the Germans did not trust their eastern soldiers, so they often remained unarmed. With about 800 strong, they formed one of the first Islamic communities in the Netherlands.

After the war, Stalin knew no pardon. The Tatars who returned to were still executed.

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Source

• Text: Rob van den Engel
• Photos: Rob van den Engel