9. German paratrooper graves between the Zanddijk and the Tweede Tol

A photograph of the same German paratrooper graves as in the previous images. The names on the crosses are visible. On the far left lies Obergefreiter Jakob Brechenser, who was killed on 10 May 1940 near Rustenburg. To his right lies an unknown Feldwebel of the 22nd Pioneer Battalion, who was killed on 11 May 1940. To the right of the Feldwebel lies Jäger Bruno Jürgensen, a member of the Ersatzkompanie Moll. He was killed on 11 May 1940 at the Tongplaat. Finally, to his right lies Jäger Karl Fischer. Jäger Fischer was killed on 10 May 1940 near Amstelwijck.¹

The graves were created on Sunday, 12 May 1940, according to the testimony of Lenie de Jong, who lived at the Berkenhof farm during those May days.

She writes about this:
“On that same day we saw a few flat farm wagons passing by on the dike, carrying several bodies of German soldiers. The wagons came from the direction of the Schenkeldijk and travelled westward, pulled by two horses. It turned out that these dead Germans were being buried on a piece of land belonging to my father, which we called ‘de Kes’—a plot that had probably once been a terp, and on which a very old house had stood a few years earlier before my father demolished it. Apparently, the Germans considered this elevated piece of land a suitable burial site and gave their fallen a temporary resting place there. We believe that the remains were exhumed again after about six weeks, and during that time each grave had a cross (with a name and date of birth + date of death).”

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