Stumbling Stone Visweg 1

This small brass plaque (Stolperstein or Stumbling Stone), commemorates:

SIPKE EKKERS, (born 1909, resistance fighter, betrayed, shot dead 31-1-1945)

Sipke Ekkers was a member of the resistance and hid at home at this address. On 31 January 1945, Sipke was sitting with his wife and mother-in-law in the kitchen when the doorbell rang by three men dressed in German uniform. Sipke hid under the hay in the adjacent barn but was discovered, by SS-Hauptscharführer Gerhard Erstling. (Erstling was also involved in the execution of 20 men on 22 January 1945 in Dokkum) Sipke next was shot dead at close range by Erstling in his father's barn.

Moments later, his father was also found. He had to be taken to Dokkum, where he was put out of the car with the announcement that his son was to be buried in three days. No outsiders were allowed to be present at this, not even the vicar. Sipke's whereabouts had been betrayed by the Leeuwarden barber Lieuwe Braaksma, an ‘unknown’ cousin of the Ekkers family. Braaksma had also informed the Sicherheitsdienst that there were weapons in the garage.

The stone lies opposite the house where the murder took place. (Aansluiting Tsjerkestrjitte op de N358)

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