Resistance Monument Zeijer Strubben

The war memorial in Zeijen was erected in memory of the resistance fighters Cornelia Johanna van den Berg-Van der Vlis (cover name Annie Westland) and Reverend Lourens Touwen (code name "Koorden") who were shot here on 8 September 1944 by the occupier.

Cornelia Johanna van den Berg-Van der Vlis was born on October 28, 1892 in The Hague. During the occupation she worked under the pseudonym 'Annie Westland' as head courier of Friesland. On August 9, 1944, she was arrested in 'Huize Liana' on the Oude Gracht in Utrecht, where she had to hand in important papers. The address, the courier center, was occupied by the Sicherheitsdienst. A pass was found on her that the transport team from Utrecht in Koudum would have to show when it came to collect the loot from the second Workumer squat on 3 August, which was ready there for the illegal distribution office in Utrecht. Westland was transferred to the Scholtenhuis in Groningen. Pastor Touwen also ended up there, after he had tried to exonerate resistance fighter and teacher F. van der Velde. On September 8, 1944, Annie Westland and Reverend Touwen were taken to the forest near Zeijen, where they were executed by an SD member. Westland was buried with her husband at the 'Rusthof' General Cemetery in Amersfoort. She was posthumously awarded the Resistance Cross and the Yad Vashem decoration.

The plaque reads:

REMAINED STANDARD
9/8/1944 SHOT
C.J. V.D. BERG-V.D. VLIS
(ANNIE WESTLAND)
GEB. 1892
DS. L. TOUWEN, MAKKUM.
GEB. 1894

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