Execution Memorial Railroad

The monument was established in memory of three men from the prison at Leeuwarden, who were executed by the German occupiers on 12th October 1944 at the railroad crossing.

The shooting was a reprisal for sabotage by the Dutch resistance people who had tried that day to derail a train there by unscrewing the rails. To set an example, the head of the SS in Wolvega, was ordered to shoot three prisoners from Leeuwarden at the railroad.

The names of the three victims are:

56 year old Roelof Algra from Rinsumageest,
21 year old Jewish boy Marcel Leiser from Gouda
and 33 year old Nicolaas Veltman from Irnsum.

Cattle farmer Algra was born on 10 March 1888 on the night of 12 / 13 June 1944. He was arrested by members of Dutch collaborors group known as "landwatch" together with T. Talsma, M. Vellema and S. Woudstra because they listened to the English radio broarcasts. Algra is buried at the Hinth Cemetery of Rinsumageest.

Leiser, a florist, was born on 29th August 1923 in Gouda. During the occupation he was in hiding with the R.J. Sybrandy family at the Tiltsjedyk in Boksum and used the pseudonym Jaap van der Loo until he was betrayed and arrested at Weidum and ended up in the prison of Leeuwarden. Leiser was buried at the General Cemetery in Wolvega. On 15th November 15 1983, he was reburied at the Jewish cemetery in Leeuwarden. His parents, Benjamin Leiser and Eva Dantzig, ended up in the Polish extermination camp Auschwitz via the Westerbork transit camp in 1942.

Veltman lived at Widesteech 93 Irnsum (now Jirnsum) and was the son of Jan Veltman and Pietertje Bosman. He married to Catharina Hendrika Tolsma (9 October 1912 at Irnsum - 19 March 1991 Bolsward).

He was a luxury item salesman for De Kleine Bazar, a newspaper deliveryman for Leeuwarder Courant.

He was a Roman Catholic and a resistance member. During mid May 1940 he fought as a soldier in the battle of Grebbeberg. With the resistance, Veltman was involved in courier work and helping people in hiding. During the night of 4th/5th October 1944, he was arrested by the Grüne Polizei from Grouw along with a person in hiding and four fellow villagers and then transferred to the Leeuwarden prison.

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Source

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