Resistance Monument Jakob Klok

The monument to Jakob Klok in Damwoude was erected in memory of this resistance fighter.

Klok's resistance against the German occupiers started almost unnoticed for him. He organized SDAP meetings in his school in Akkerwoude, as long as these meetings were still allowed. Later illegal meetings also took place in the attic of the shop of Klok's father-in-law Sipke Blumers on Molenweg in Murmerwoude. When an acquaintance came to ask for addresses for people in hiding, it was a clearer step in the direction of resistance, followed by actually sheltering people on often more remote farms. He also started collecting money for the wives of people in hiding who were left behind uncared for.

In the meantime he had also started rustling ration cards. He was also soon involved in forging IDs. He mainly worked alone. In late 1942 and early 1943, the resistance took on a harder and more structured form. Together with carpenter contractor Klaas Wijbenga from the Valom and municipal official Douwe de Vries, Klok formed a triumvirate that led the illegal activities. In each village there was a main contact person who in turn had several contact persons. Within the triumvirate, Klok was in charge of the people in hiding and everything that came with it.

From that moment on, Klok was illegally known as Jansma, busy almost continuously. By himself or through him, dozens of mostly Jewish people in hiding were housed at safe addresses. He himself stayed at more than twenty-five different addresses in connection with safety during this time. Clock was regarded by many as extremely reliable and encouraging in these dark times. For example, it was fully accepted and appreciated that the Clock, known as non-church and non-religious, interrupted the sermons of the Reverends Engelsman and Wijnia in the Reformed and Reformed Church on a Sunday morning to warn of a roundup of land guards and the imminent arrest of young men for the Arbeitseinsatz.

The confidence he enjoyed probably saved him from arrest several times during the war. His neighbors kept an eye on things and sometimes warned of imminent danger. Many NSB members must also have known about his activities, but either they shrank from betraying him or they waited for a better moment to strike a bigger blow. It happened that children of NSB members who had been or were still in his class came to warn him. Even when Klok finally disappeared in January 1945, it turned out through one of the children of an NSB member that they knew very well where Master Klok was.

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Source

• Text: Bert Deelman
• Photos: Bert Deelman
• Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei