G. v. Barneveld Park

The Netherlands is a country of freedom: we can be ourselves, think for ourselves and we are allowed and dare to go against the grain. But in 1940, the world was shaken and the freedoms our country had enjoyed until then came to an end. Freedom was replaced by dictatorship. Someone who - despite the difficult circumstances - dared to go against his environment was Geesbert van Barneveld. He used his position as Wassenaar town clerk to support all kinds of resistance activities. To honor and permanently remember this resistance hero, the G. van Barneveld Park was unveiled on June 16, 2022. The park is located in Wassenaar between Johan de Wittstraat, Hofcampweg and Ernst Casimirstraat.

Municipal Receiver of the Municipality of Wassenaar

Geesbert van Barneveld was born in Wassenaar on April 27, 1908. He was town deputy from 1937 and worked during the war years in Council House De Paauw. He held office in the room with safe that now houses the municipal archives. Van Barneveld had three children together with the German Tabea Pötschke. It can be imagined that her German ancestry created an awkward situation when German armies ended freedom in the Netherlands with brute force in May 1940.

Resistance fighter

The mayor of Wassenaar was deposed by the Germans and replaced by a German-leaning NSB member, Mr. Daniël de Blocq van Scheltinga. Van Barneveld was responsible for the taxes and money of the municipality through his work as town deputy and held the key to the safe. He opposed the German occupation and during World War II became involved in activities directed against the German occupiers and Dutch collaborators. Because of his position as town clerk, he was able to support all sorts of resistance activities: he arranged the issuance of forged personal identification cards, tribal cards and the like. This happened in the same building where NSB mayor De Blocq van Scheltinga held office.

That Van Barneveld had a lot of guts is obvious. But he did not stop at forging personal identification cards: he also accompanied Jews to hiding addresses around the country. These illegal activities cost Mr. van Barneveld a lot of time. It may be that this is why Mayor De Blocq van Scheltinga suspected that his town clerk was in the resistance. Indeed, the mayor sent him a written warning instructing him to keep office hours.

Fate struck

On April 3, 1944, disaster struck. Van Barneveld accompanied 22-year-old Jewish Elly Rita van Esso to a hiding place. On the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam, both were arrested. Elly Rita van Esso was transferred to Westerbork transit camp and then transported to Auschwitz, the concentration camp complex set up by Nazi Germany in Poland. Here she was killed on May 22, 1944.

From concentration camp to concentration camp

Van Barneveld was transferred by the occupation authorities to the House of Detention II in Amsterdam and sentenced to imprisonment for "favoring Jews. On June 21, 1944, he was dismissed by the German authorities as a municipal official.

Van Barneveld was transferred from Amsterdam to Camp Vught. A few months later, on Sept. 6, 1944, this camp was evacuated and Van Barneveld was transported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. From there he was taken to Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg. Here he was given the camp number 57908. He had to work in camp Ladelund (an outer camp of Neuengamme), where he eventually died of exhaustion and deprivation on Dec. 11, 1944. He only lived to be 36 years old.

Mother and children were left behind

After Van Barneveld's arrest, his wife Tabea Pötschke and their three children were transferred by the Wassenaar resistance to Gasselternijveen in Drenthe. Word of their death did not arrive in Wassenaar until early 1945. At that time the Van Barneveld family lived on the Kerkstraat. It is indescribable how much impact this event had on the family.

After the liberation, NSB mayor De Blocq van Scheltinga was arrested and held accountable. He denied having anything to do with Van Barneveld's arrest.

Honoring and remembering Van Barneveld

In 1950, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen decided to name a street after Van Barneveld. However, the street name was a long time in coming. In October 2012, a plaque was unveiled in Council House De Paauw in the presence of Geesbert van Barneveld's family. This plaque reads "In memory of Geesbert van Barneveld" and hangs in the study where Van Barneveld organized his resistance activities during the war. Kees Neisingh of the Historical Society Oud Wassenaer conducted a study of Geesbert van Barneveld's resistance activities in 2013.

The commitment for a street name had yet to be fulfilled. In response, Wassenaar resident Peter Knijnenburg decided to find out. Carla de Glopper (former municipal archivist) of the Historical Archive Wassenaar lent her cooperation by quickly making documents available. On July 15, 2021, Mayor Leendert de Lange received the report on Geesbert van Barneveld from Peter Knijnenburg. At that time the mayor already indicated that he would like to connect the name of Van Barneveld to the field at the Hofcampweg (since until then there were no new streets in Wassenaar).

In addition, using his compiled report, Peter Knijnenburg applied for the Yad Vashem award for Van Barneveld in 2020: an award for non-Jewish people who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews. Unfortunately, there is no word yet on whether this award will be granted. This process usually takes a long time. 

Through the efforts of Mr. Knijnenburg and Mr. Neisingh of the Historical Society Oud Wassenaer, it was possible to unveil the "G. van Barneveld Park" on June 16, 2022 in memory of and in honor of Geesbert van Barneveld. This park is located between Johan de Wittstraat, Hofcampweg and Ernst Casimirstraat. Mayor Leendert de Lange opened the ceremony with a welcoming speech. This was followed by a speech by Mrs. Jeanne van Barneveld (widow of Guus van Barneveld, the son of Geesbert van Barneveld).

A QR code has also been placed in the park, linking to this web page. This way, anyone walking through the park can pause to remember the brave resistance fighter Geesbert van Barneveld, who sacrificed his life to resistance work.

With thanks to the Historical Society Oud Wassenaer (Messrs. C.N.J. Neisingh and R. van Lit) and Mr. P.L.T. Knijnenburg.