Memorial Willem Hendrik Klein

This Monument was erected in memory of Willem Hendrik Klein.

Text on the Monument:
'1940-1945
On 9 September 1944 Willem Hendrik Klein was shot on this spot.
Born: Emmen 22 April 1919.
Guard of the Marechaussee'

Willem Hendrik Klein was a Guard of the Royal Marechaussee at the beginning of World War II but was added to the National Police in Hoogeveen by the occupying authorities.

On 4 September 1944, in the evening at about 11pm, he and two colleagues of the National Police, Adjutant Arie de Vries and Sergeant Andries Alting, arrested two young women during an amorous encounter with two SS soldiers. The official reason for the arrest was the fact that both women were outside after curfew started.

On 6 September, the SS filed a complaint with the SD alleging improper treatment of the two SS soldiers. On 8 September, Klein, De Vries and Alting were arrested by the SD and interrogated by Sander van Doffelaar of the Grüne Polizei in the building of the Reformed School on Het Haagje in Hoogeveen. The same evening, the three detainees were put on transport to the prison in Assen. On the way to Assen, on 9 September at about 00h:30, the car with the three detainees stopped along the Esweg in Beilen. The arrestees were ordered to get out, whereupon they were taken under fire by their escorts. Klein died on the spot, De Vries was left wounded, and Alting managed to escape in the dark.

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