Monument Free Socialists

This monument is located on the grounds 'Tot Vrijheidsbezinning', where the anarchist youth movement Pentecostal Days have been organized since 1931. In 1946 this monument was erected here for the countless anarchists who died during the war years. Wearing the antimilitarist 'broken rifle' pin could already be a reason for the occupier to arrest the wearer. An example of this is Klaas Drent from Nieuwe Pekela. He was sent to Neuengamme concentration camp for wearing the pin, where he died.

Based on their conviction, anarchists committed non-violent resistance, for example by providing assistance to people in hiding, such as Jews and people who were forced to work in Germany. They were also involved in forging or stealing papers, bringing people in immediate danger to safety, publishing and distributing illegal newspapers, pamphlets and letters and financing the aforementioned acts of resistance.

A well-known example of this is the Christian anarchist couple Wil and Joop Westerweel. They and their helpers managed to smuggle more than 300 Jews via France to Spain, after which the refugees could travel on to Israel. Joop was arrested on March 10, 1944 at the Belgian-Dutch border, after returning from a trip to bring a large number of Jewish youths across the Pyrenees. He was later executed in camp Vucht. Wil survived the Ravensbruck women's camp. Both have been honored by Israel by naming a park after them and awarding both the Yad Vashem award.

At the bottom left of the monument behind glass is the urn of Johan de Haas, who frequently visited the site in Appelscha during his life. At the unveiling of the monument, the victims in general were discussed, but in particular also about De Haas and his ideas.

Johan de Haas
Jo de Haas, born on September 1, 1897 in De Rijp (NH), was a propagandist for free socialism. Free socialism strives for an authority-free society with a socialist, democratic economy. Free socialists have been detained by the occupier for their ideas since the start of the Second World War.

De Haas was also arrested. Like 480 others, he was put in preventive detention on charges of communism after the Germans invaded Russia. From June 1941 to May 1942 he was imprisoned in the Schoorl and Amersfoort camps. Because of his detention, De Haas was very emaciated, shaved and shocked by the experiences in the camps. From June 1942, De Haas worked at the office of the Giro Crediet-Ring in The Hague, a cooperative partnership as an alternative to banking. He gave lectures on Wednesday evenings for the idealistic members of De Ring.

Between 1942 and 1943, when De Haas was in the Northern Netherlands, he sent his colleagues 28 'Wednesday evening letters'. From 1943 to February 12, 1945, he wrote 30 "War Letters," which were widely distributed. In the 'letters', De Haas wrote a critical and sarcastic commentary on the circumstances during the Second World War and the hypocritical attitude of many. During the war, De Haas, who was a skilled speaker, also gave living room lectures to kindred spirits, particularly in the three northern provinces. Despite his rheumatism and sciatica, he cycled enormous distances. During a tour of his network, De Haas was arrested in Drenthe in early April 1945 and detained in Assen. Two days before the liberation of Assen, on April 10, 1945, De Haas was killed with a shot in the neck in the field near the Asserbos. The monument at the Stadsbroek in Assen recalls this fusillade.

The information board at the monument states that the monument also commemorates victims of contemporary war violence and those who have committed themselves in any way to peace.