Dutch War Graves Dordrecht

The General Cemetery of Dordrecht contains a large Dutch plot containing 79 graves.

There is a sign from the War Graves Foundation in the cemetery:
"HEREHOF DORDRECHT

This cemetery is the final resting place for 94 dead from the Second World War, soldiers and civilians.

Most of them are officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Dutch armed forces who fell on the Island of Dordrecht during the war days in May 1940. With its bridges, this island was an important connecting road between Brabant and the Fortress Holland. The invading German troops, preceded by paratroopers, used the bridges at Moerdijk and Zwijndrecht after their advance through North Brabant. The area around Dordrecht therefore became a center of conflict.

The other compatriots fell in the resistance against the German occupiers, in actions by the underground Forces of the Interior and in forced labor in Germany.

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The statue of an executed man, which symbolizes these fallen, is by the sculptor Cor van Kralingen. This monument was adopted by the Dordrecht Christian School Community, "to teach the students to understand why people gave their lives for freedom back then".

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Dick de Bruijne (1), Kevin Prenger (2, 3, 4, 5)