Liberation Route Marker 506: The tragic death of 'auntie'

The tragic death of 'auntie'
On Friday the 6th of April 1945 Den Ham is liberated. Further north is the Bartels family farm. This no-man's land has not yet been liberated. On Monday the 9th of April, 15 year-old Johan Schot from The Hague witnesses a battle between heavily armed German soldiers and Canadian Manitoba Dragoons. The farm is in the frontline and 'auntie' Wilhemina Bartels Pastink is killed.

War evacuee Johan Schot (b. 1930) was a Hague “paleface” who had spent several summer vacations at the Bartels family farm on the Slenke in Den Ham through the church. He stayed there throughout the last year of the war and noted the dramatic events of Monday, April 9, 1945. Sunday, April 8, was a memorable day; everywhere was celebrating because Den Ham had been liberated two days earlier. Still, it was a strange situation: 'We lived in the slightly northern area around “De Groene Jager,” effectively in no man's land. The Germans were gone, but the Canadians weren't there yet.'

'Uncle' Gait Bartels and Johan 'just' went to work in the fields on Mondays. The farm stood at a three-way intersection. Suddenly they saw a large procession of Germans approaching on bicycles. They were heavily armed. It was about 11:00 in the morning. Suddenly there was the rattle of tanks coming down the dirt road. Immediately afterwards, a fierce battle broke out between German soldiers and the Canadian Manitoba Dragoons. 'Aunt', Wilhelmina Bartels-Pastink, the wife of Gait Bartels was hiding in a potato pit. When she tried to free the frightened cattle, she was hit in the head and back by a salvo and died on the spot. Not long after, the Germans surrendered. Wilhelmina Bartels-Pastink was buried on Friday, April 13, 1945, in the cemetery in Daarle, the place where she was born 55 years earlier.

Audiospot - The tragic death of 'auntie'

Liberation Route Europe is a certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. With hundreds of sites and stories in nine European countries, the route links the main regions along the advance of the Allied Forces in 1943-1945.
The entire route consists of themed routes that can be travelled by by hiking, walking, cycling and car. These routes pass numerous historical and interesting sites and tell stories from a multitude of perspectives that were important in the final phase of World War II.
Many routes feature listening spots, offering the opportunity to listen to a historical story at a location. In addition, many ‘Vectors of Memory’ have been placed, indicating that the passer-by is on one of the Liberation Routes.
The routes can be found on the Liberation Route Europe website or in the app through which many stories can also be listened to.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar & Liberation Route Europe
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze