List of names of Wassenaar victims of WWII
War memorial on the Schouwweg in Wassenaar
On May 10, 1940, the Germans attacked our country. Already in the early morning of that day, fighting began for Valkenburg Air Base and soldiers and civilians were killed. They were buried in a hastily constructed war cemetery. This was located on the other side of the Schouwweg. The location was well chosen: a slightly hilly, undeveloped inner dune area sparsely covered with low oaks. It was called the Lange Duin.
During and shortly after the liberation, war dead were buried here. These were soldiers killed in action, airmen shot down, civilian victims of shelling, bombing and incidents. Some of them had washed up on the Wassenaar beach. After liberation, victims of executions on the Waalsdorpervlakte were buried in this war cemetery.
In August 1940, P.N. van Eyck wrote the poem "Bij de Gevallenen te Wassenaar," printed on a board near the war memorial, about that cemetery.
Local art smith J.G. van Tol made a fine wrought iron fence for the entrance to the cemetery. After the liberation, sculptor Joop M. Veldheer crafted a statue of "A dying warrior. His sword escapes his hand, the gaze is turned upward in contemplation of the highest truth (God), before which he bears witness with his left hand on his chest to his act for truthfulness and liberation'. It was unveiled in 1952.
Most of the victims buried in the war cemetery were reburied elsewhere after only a short or long time. At the time of the closure of the cemetery in 1982 there were still 60 victims, 33 known by name and 27 unknown. They were transferred to the Grebberg and Loenen Fields of Honor. In memory of them, name plaques were made in 1983. The war memorial with the entrance gate was moved to its present location. A wall surrounded it, where the plaques found a place. Later, names of Wassenaarders who died during the battle in the former Dutch East Indies were added.
For the reason that the plaques only showed the names of a small part of the actual number of Wassenaar victims of World War II, it was decided to replace the plaques with an information board with QR code. Through this QR code, the names of all Wassenaar victims listed in the List of Names of Victims of World War II can now be seen. The plaques are stored in 2025.
The names of all Wassenaar victims of World War II known so far are also included in a Book of Honor. After completion of the restoration work of Council House De Paauw, the Book of Honor will be given a dignified place there. For those who fell.
List of names of World War II victims.
Information war memorial Wassenaar
