Willem Johan Cornelis Arondéus

Geslacht:	Man
Vader:	Hendrik Cornelis Arondeus
Moeder:	Catharina Wilhelmina de Vries
Geboren:	22 Aug 1894	Naarden
Overleden:	1 Juli 1943	Haarlem
Aantekeningen:	Personal Information Last Name: Arondeus First Name: Willem Johannes Cornelis Date of Birth: 22/08/1894 Date of death: 01/07/1943 Rescuer's fate: murdered imprisoned underground movement member tried/interrogated Cause of Death: EXECUTION Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS Gender: Male Profession: ARTIST Rescue Place during the war: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue Place: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands Rescue mode: Providing forged documents Other File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/3381) Commemoration Date of Recognition: 19/06/1986 Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Wall of Honor Rescue Story Arondeus, Willem Johannes Cornelis Willem Arondeus was born into a large family in Naarden, North Holland. When Willem announced his intention to become an artist and declared his homosexuality, his father drove him out of the house. Willem began to write, working on a number of autobiographical novels as well as a biography of the 19th century Dutch painter, Matthijs Maris. In the spring of 1942, Willem founded Brandarisbrief, an illegal periodical in which he expressed the artists opposition to the edicts imposed by the Kulturkammer, the occupiers cultural committee. Willem was one of those Dutch artists who considered resistance a mission and had no qualms about spreading his views in artistic circles in an effort to influence others. A year later, his publication merged with De Vrije Kunstenaar, where Gerrit van der Veen* was one of the editors. Willem soon struck up a friendship with van der Veen, who had begun to specialize in forging identity cards. Forging identity cards and distributing them in Amsterdam was a task that involved one particular problem: the Municipal Office for Population Registration in the city center served as the repository of the residents personal data and so forged cards could easily be detected. The existence of this bureau therefore posed a serious obstacle to rescuing Jews and consequently a plan was devised to attack the registration office, burn all the identity cards and files kept there, and destroy the building. Willem, assisted by his male companion, was involved in the preparation of the attack. Albert Schlosser, a German immigrant, obtained the explosives, and Sjoerd Bakker* made the Dutch police uniforms that were going to be used as a disguise. This mission was made all the harder after a similar attack was made on an office in Wageningen, Gelderland, near the end of 1942 and security in all the registration offices throughout the Netherlands was tightened. In Amsterdam, guards were placed at strategic points in the municipal building, thereby complicating the plan, which had to take into account all the possible scenarios. The attack was finally carried out on March 27, 1943. It was a Saturday night and Willem, dressed in an officers uniform, approached the guards at the door and told them that he, his lieutenant (van der Veen), four policemen, and three more officers had come to search the building for explosives. The guards believed the story and let them into the municipal building. Two medical students then sedated the guards. The attack went according to plan: 800,000 identity cards were destroyed; 600 blank cards and 50,000 guilders were found; the building was blown up; and no one was caught. The head of police in the German occupation administration, immediately announced a 10,000-guilder reward for finding the perpetrators. On the night of the attack the group celebrated their success at Limpergs* apartment. A few days later Willem went into hiding in Amsterdam. In early April Willem was apprehended, but he did not utter a word while being interrogated. However, his notebook was discovered and this led to the subsequent arrest of Johannes Brouwer, Samuel van Musschenbroek, Karl Groeger, his fiancée, Geertruida van Essen, Coos Hartogh, Rudolph Bloemgarten (a Jewish medical student), Beck, Honig, Halberstadt (a Jew working in Gotjes laboratory where Bloemgarten, Groeger, and Hartogh were also employed), Reitsma, Roos (a policeman related to Honig), and Limperg. On June 18, 1943, Willem was tried and sentenced to death. He was executed on July 1. In 1984, each member of the group involved with the attack was honored by the Queen of the Netherlands and awarded the Resistance Memorial Cross. On June 19, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Willem Johannes Cornelis Arondeus as Righteous Among the Nations.