Gerrit van der Veen (26 November 1902,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

— 10 June 1944, Overveen) was a Dutch sculptor. He was a member of the Dutch underground, which resisted the German occupation of

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The historian Robert-Jan van Pelt wrote:

In 1940, after the German occupation, van der Veen was one of the few who re-fused to sign the so-called “Arierverklaring,” the Declaration of Aryan Ancestry. In the years that followed, he tried to help Jews both in practical and symbolic ways. Together with the musician Jan van Gilse and the (openly homosexual) artist, art historian, and critic
Willem Arondeus Willem Arondeus (22 August 1894 – 1 July 1943) was a Dutch artist and author who joined the Dutch anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War II. He participated in the bombing of the Amsterdam public records office to hinder the Naz ...
, van der Veen established the underground organization De Vrije Kunstenaar (The Free Artist). Van der Veen and the other artists published a newsletter calling for resistance against the occupation. When the Germans introduced identity documents (Persoonsbewijzen) that distinguished between Jews and non-Jews, van der Veen, Arondeus and the printer produced some 80,000 false identity papers.

He was arrested on 12 May 1944, together with publisher Tine van Klooster and his lover, dancer Suzy van Hall. He was executed near Overveen. In 1945 his remains were reburied at Erebegraafplaats Bloemendaal. On 9 March 2002, van der Veen was made

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

. Also, in 1945, Amsterdam's Euterpestraat was renamed in honor of van der Veen's activities with the Dutch Resistance during the war.''Euterpestraat renamed Gerrit van der Veenstraat''
Anne Frank House. Retrieved 21 March 2017. In May 1946, he was awarded the

Dutch Cross of Resistance The Verzetskruis 1940–1945 (English: ''Cross of Resistance 1940–1945'') is a decoration for valour in the Netherlands. Instituted on May 3, 1946, it was awarded in recognition of the individual courage shown in resistance against the ...

, one of 95 people to receive that honor between 1946 and 1952.

Gallery

Gerrit van der Veen - buste W. Einthoven - 1933.JPG, Bust of

Willem Einthoven Willem Einthoven (21 May 1860 – 29 September 1927) was a Dutch doctor and physiologist. He invented the first practical electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG) in 1895 and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 for it ("for the di ...

(1933) Prins Hendrik Beschermheer.JPG, Monument to

Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (german: Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst; nl, Hendrik Vladimir Albrecht Ernst; 19 April 1876 – 3 July 1934) was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 7 February 1901 until his death in 1934 as the husband o ...

(Prince consort Hendrik of the Netherlands, 1935) DeEendrachtVanHetLand Veen.jpg, Van der Veen's last sculpture, "Unity of the Country" (1940), now in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

Gedenkteken voor koningin Emma - Baarn - 20365575 - RCE.jpg, Monument to Queen Emma in

Baarn Baarn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, near Hilversum in the province of Utrecht. The municipality of Baarn The municipality of Baarn consists of the following towns: Baarn, Eembrugge, Lage Vuursche. The town of Baarn ...

References

External links

"Bamboozling Ourselves (Part 6)," The New York Times, June 3, 2009

"Wie was Gerrit Jan van der Veen?," Gerrit van der Veen College
1902 births 1944 deaths Artists from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch sculptors Dutch male sculptors Dutch resistance members Dutch people executed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Deaths by firearm in the Netherlands Dutch Righteous Among the Nations Recipients of the Dutch Cross of Resistance 20th-century Dutch male artists {{Netherlands-sculptor-stub