War Memorial Schraard

A memorial stone has been bricked into the wall of the old Reformed Church of Schraard. The stone commemorates the fellow townsmen Anne de Haan and Fetze Elgersma.

Anne de Haan was born on March 10, 1923 in Schraard. He worked on his father's farm. Because he had not reported for labor deployment, he was in hiding in the parental home in his place of birth. Due to the betrayal of Frans Michon, Anne was arrested in March 1944 by the Groningen Sicherheitsdienst and taken to Groningen. After a few days he was transported to Amersfoort camp and a month later to Buchenwald concentration camp, where he arrived on April 18, 1944. The 21-year-old Anne de Haan died here on June 23, 1944.

On Saturday morning, April 7, 1945, the Sicherheitsdienst from Sneek and Groningen, in collaboration with the Landwacht, carried out a large-scale attack on the Marechaussee barracks in Makkum. They were under the impression that this was the headquarters of the resistance movement. However, nothing was found and probably out of anger a raid was carried out in the local canning factory of Van den Berg. The occupier had a list of names compiled by a traitor. Arrests were therefore made in the factory and in the village, while weapons were also found in the factory.

Fetze Elgersma was born on April 22, 1900 in Wons. He was a cattle farmer in Schraard. When on April 7, 1945 the raid van of the SD drove in, the intention was to arrest Willem (the son of the Elgersma family). However, he was not at home, but after a thorough investigation in the farm, some weapons were found. Fetze and his two people in hiding, Jan Emmens and Hermanus Falkena, were taken away, where Fetze and Hermanus were shot. Elgersma was buried at the N.H. cemetery in Makkum.

Where the entire resistance group of which Jan Emmens was part was tortured and shot at the barracks, this did not apply to Jan Emmens. He was spared for a while, probably because the enemy wanted information from him about his group. He was taken with him when the enemy fled because they saw that they were going to lose the war. In Anna Paulowna, Jan Emmens was finally shot by a Dutch NSB member, who was tried for this act/deeds. Jan Emmens has been reburied twice and is now in Ereveld Loenen.

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Source

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