Outdoor Expo West Maas en Waal

Soldiers moved into the region to defend the line between Afferden and Appeltern. Although there was not much fighting in West Maas en Waal during the war, it nevertheless had a far-reaching impact on daily life.
Clubs stopped their activities, food and other products were rationed, and, in the dark streets, people held their breath whenever they heard aircraft flying overhead. Young men were faced with a difficult choice: go into hiding or work as forced labourers in Germany. In 1944 the region found itself on the front line and the consequent bombing and shelling resulted in many victims. The pain was intensified when various villagers failed to return from German labour and concentration camps.

In April 1943, 23-year-old Piet van Dreumel was faced with a choice that would define his life. Should he join a strike in protest against the German order that Dutch soldiers must report for transport as prisoners of war, to undertake forced labour in Germany, or should he watch on in silence?

In the night of 6 to 7 October 1944, German soldiers set fire to the dyke. They sailed across the River Waal in three boats and with one clear aim: to eliminate potential hiding places for Allied troops. Over a 2.5-kilometre stretch of the dyke, from Oosterpas to Tesstraat, 43 houses were set ablaze. An easterly wind fanned the flames.

In March 1945 only a handful of people were still living on Bikkelen, a street where many river workers had traditionally lived. Most had fled due to the constant threat of bullets and shells from the other side of the River Waal. Twenty-eight-year-old Harrie Kooimans, who ran a sand business with his father, was one of the few who stayed.

On 20 September 1944, the life of the Schonenberg family changed forever. As punishment for an act of resistance involving the ferry German Wehrmacht soldiers executed fourteen innocent men from Wamel.

“Two hundred metres below the ground, I learned the value of true friendship.”

To avoid forced labour in Germany, Frits van Wamel chose a dangerous compromise. As a ‘Grenzarbeiter’ (border worker) he went to work for a German farming family in Zyfflich. Here he led a double life. He ate at the table with fanatical Nazis, while Russian and Polish forced labourers had to remain in the barn.