1944 in the Netherlands

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Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	Other events of 1944 History of the Netherlands

Events in the year 1944 in the Netherlands.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Wilhelmina
• Prime Minister: Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy

Events

This section is an excerpt from Timeline of the Netherlands during World War II § 1944.[edit]

The Dutch famine of 1944–45 began late in the year.

June

• 10 June: Anton Mussert reveals that he has become a volunteer for the Wehrmacht.

July

• 30 July: Start of the Deppner executions.

August

• 2 Aug: Gerbrandy and Van Heuven Goedhart sign the documents for the establishment of the College of Trusted Men (Dutch: College van Vertrouwensmannen)
  • 24 Aug: First meeting of the College of Trusted Men
• 25 Aug: J.A. van Bijnen becomes the National Sabotage Commander of the Knokploegen (Knokploegen were Dutch resistance fighting squads)
• 28 Aug: First new airdrop of weapons and sabotage materials for Dutch underground groups
• 30 Aug: Hitler orders the improvement and extension of the Siegfried Line

September

• 2 Sep: The mass exodus of NSB members from South Limburg begins
• 3 Sep:
  • Brussels liberated
  • Prince Bernhard appointed Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces.
  • Queen Wilhelmina, via Radio Oranje, informs the population in occupied territory that 'liberation is imminent'
  • Commencement of the organized departure of German citizens from the Netherlands
• 3 to 4 Sep: Start of systematic railway sabotage by the Landelijke Knokploegen
• 4 Sep:
  • Antwerp liberated
  • Hitler orders the stubborn defense of West Zealand-Flanders and Walcheren
  • Seyss-Inquart declares the state of exception, Rauter orders everyone to be indoors by 8 pm
  • The queen agrees to Colonel Kruis being appointed Chief of Staff of Military Authority
  • Mussert decides to evacuate NSB members from the western and central regions to the east
  • The Government Information Service disseminates the incorrect information that Breda has been liberated
• 5 Sep:
  • The mass exodus of NSB members begins
  • The Dutch Labor Service empties
  • Dolle Dinsdag; the population behaves as if the occupier has already been expelled
  • First major transport of prisoners from the concentration camp Vught to Germany
• 6 Sep:
  • Prince Bernhard establishes himself on the continent
  • Second major transport of prisoners from Vught
• 7 Sep: Formation of an illegal Top Triangle in Amsterdam
• 8 Sep:
  • First two V-2 rockets launched at London
  • Commencement of the evacuation of the German Fifteenth Army across the Western Scheldt
• 10 Sep: The British Second Army crosses the Bocholt–Herentals Canal at Beeringen
• 11 Sep: Schöngarth, Commander of the Security Police and SD, issues the so-called Niedermachungsbefehl (orders to shoot resistance members on sight )
• 12 Sep: Major General Kruis issues a First General Directive with guidelines for the arrest of 'wrongful' elements
• 14 Sep:
  • Montgomery issues his directive for Operation Market Garden
  • Liberation of Maastricht
  • The first attempt by the Canadians to enter West Zeelandic Flanders is repelled
  • Establishment of the Militair Gezag (Military authority)
• 15 or 16 Sep: Hitler orders the utmost fanaticism in the defense of German territory
• 16 Sep: The illegal 'Delta Center' begins operating in Amsterdam
• 17 to 20 September – Battle of Nijmegen
• 17 to 26 September – Battle of Arnhem
• 17 Sep:
  • The British Second Army launches the offensive from Beeringen
  • Large Allied airborne landings in North Brabant, in the Reich of Nijmegen, and near Arnhem
  • The Dutch government orders a general railway strike
  • The Reichskommissariat is relocated to Delden
• 18 Sep: Liberation of Eindhoven
• 20 Sep:
  • Entire East Zeelandic Flanders liberated
  • Conquest of the Waal bridges near Nijmegen
  • The British Airborne forces have to abandon the Rhine bridge at Arnhem
• 21 Sep: Beginning of the German destruction of the port facilities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam
• 22 Sep: Major van Houten grants arrest authority to the Interior Armed Forces Shock Troops
• 24 Sep: The queen, bypassing the ministers, sends a telegram requesting the Great Advisory Commission of Illegality to be prepared to send a delegation to her
• 25 Sep:
  • The Airborne forces leave the 'perimeter' at Oosterbeek in the night to the 26th
  • Commencement of the evacuation of Arnhem

October

• 3 Oct: The RAF breaches the Westkappelse Zeedijk. In Eindhoven, the radio station 'Herrijzend Nederland' begins its broadcasts.
• 3 October to 8 November – Battle of the Scheldt
• 4 Oct: Important note from the queen: the second Gerbrandy cabinet must disappear.
• 6 Oct: The Canadian First Army launches a major offensive against the Germans in West Zeelandic Flanders.
• 10 Oct: The first company of the Shock Troops departs for the front.
• 16 Oct: Montgomery grants absolute priority to operations for clearing the Wester-Schelde. In Eindhoven, the 'Bond Nederland' is founded (soon renamed 'Gemeenschap Oud-Illegale Werkers Nederland').
• 18 Oct: Second General Directive from General Kruis.
• 24 Oct: Start of the Canadian attack on the Kreekrak Dam.
• 25 Oct: Commencement of the liberation of Den Bosch.
• 27 Oct: Liberation of Tilburg.
• 29 Oct: Liberation of Breda.

November

• 1 Nov: Allied landings at Vlissingen and at Westkapelle.
• 2 Nov: German resistance in and around West Zeeland-Flanders is broken.
• 6 Nov: Liberation of Middelburg.
• 8 Nov: An American division, part of the Canadian First Army, reaches Moerdijk.
• 12 Nov: Assertive letter from General Kruis to prevent the arrival of ministerial 'quartermasters.'
• 15 Nov: Kruis officially establishes a Temporary Committee of General Commissioners for agriculture, trade, and industry.
• 21 Nov: 'Hunger demonstration' in Eindhoven.
• 25 Nov: The ministerial 'quartermasters' establish themselves in Oisterwijk. Disturbances in the center of Brussels.
• 27 to 30 November – Battle of Broekhuizen
• 28 Nov: The first Allied convoy reaches the port of Antwerp.

December

• 2 Dec: The Wehrmacht floods a large part of the Betuwe.
• 3 Dec: In Middle Limburg, the Wehrmacht is pushed east of the Meuse.
• 6 Dec: Meeting of Kruis in Eindhoven with top figures of the resistance in the liberated South to establish guidelines for the arrest of 'wrongful' elements.
• 14 Dec: Kruis issues new arrest guidelines.
• 21 Dec: The bishops of Den Bosch and Breda call on Catholics to remain loyal to their own organizations.
• c. 31 Dec: Incorrectly believing itself to have great influence in the liberated southern Netherlands, the Communist Party of the Netherlands rebrands as the "Communistische Partij Bevrijd Gebied" (Communist Party Liberated Area).

Births

Willeke van Ammelrooy

Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg

• 2 January – Willy Dobbe, television presenter and announcer
• 23 January – Rutger Hauer, actor, writer and environmentalist (d. 2019)
• 20 February – Willem van Hanegem, football player and coach
• 16 March – Pieter de Zwart, sailor.
• 1 April – Theo Hiddema, lawyer, media personality and politician
• 5 April – Willeke van Ammelrooy, actress and director
• 26 April – Huib Ruijgrok, footballer
• 20 May – Boudewijn de Groot, singer-songwriter
• 24 May – Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg, ancient historian (d. 2000)
• 10 June – Eegje Schoo, politician and diplomat
• 15 July – Klaas de Vries, composer
• 27 July – Philip Freriks, journalist, columnist and television presenter
• 3 August – Willem H. Vanderburg, engineer
• 11 August – Bean van Limbeek, sport shooter (d. 2014).
• 30 August – Freek de Jonge, cabaret performer and writer
• 13 September – Gerrit Jan van Ingen Schenau, biomechanist (d. 1998)
• 23 September – Jan Dijkema, politician, sociologist and sports director
• 15 October – Vilma Henkelman, sculptor, ceramist, and photographer
• 29 October – Robbie van Leeuwen, musician
• 5 December – Jeroen Krabbé, actor and film director
• 16 December – Roeland Nolte, chemist (d. 2024)

Full date missing

• Max Bolleman, jazz drummer, audio engineer and record producer
• Kommer Damen, businessman
• Tim Griek, musician and producer (d. 1988)
• Sytse Strijbos, academic
• Tjebbe van Tijen, sculptor, performance artist, curator, net artist, archivist, and media theorist

Deaths

Piet Mondrian

• 1 February – Piet Mondrian, painter and theoretician (b. 1872)
• 2 February – Tjapko van Bergen, rower and SS Rottenführer (b. 1903).
• 8 February – Joop Kolkman, journalist and diplomat (b. 1896)
• 20 February – Albert Heijnneman, sprinter (b. 1896).
• 29 February – Abraham Mok, gymnast (b. 1888).
• 6 March – Eva and Abraham Beem, Jewish siblings and victims of the Holocaust (b. 1932 and 1934)
• 6 March – Simon Okker, fencer (b. 1881).
• 9 March – Casper ten Boom, helped many Jews and resisters escape the Nazis during the Holocaust of World War II (b. 1859)
• 6 April – W. F. Gisolf, geologist (b. 1884)
• 13 April – Friedrich Gutmann, banker and art collector (b. 1886)
• 30 May – Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek the Younger, painter (b. 1873)
• 10 June – Willem Jacob van Stockum, mathematician (b. 1910)
• 10 June – Gerrit van der Veen, sculptor (b. 1902)
• 18 July – Wim Anderiesen, footballer (b. 1903)
• 31 July – Settela Steinbach, holocaust victim (b. 1934)
• 4 August – Hans Mossel, clarinetist and saxophonist (b. 1905)
• 7 August – Johannes Scheuter, sport shooter (b. 1880).
• 11 August – Joop Westerweel, schoolteacher and World War II resistance leader (b. 1899)
• 18 August – Dirk Boonstra, resistance membe (b. 1920)
• 2 September – Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz, explorer and diplomat (b. 1871)
• 3 September – Ernst de Jonge, lawyer, Olympic rower and member of the Dutch resistance (b. 1914).
• 6 September – Lion van Minden, fencer (b. 1880).
• 8 September – Jan van Gilse, composer and conductor (b. 1881)
• 9 September – Dirk Boonstra, police commander (b. 1893)
• 15 September – Walter Middelberg, rower (b. 1875).
• 19 September – Jan van Hoof, resistance member (b. 1922)
• 4 October – Maurits van Löben Sels, fencer (b. 1876).
• 7 October – Jacobus Kann, banker (b. 1872)
• 18 October – Juda Lion Palache, linguist (b. 1886)
• 21 October – Adri Bleuland van Oordt, artist and draftswoman (b. 1862)
• 5 November – Willy Dols, linguist (b. 1911)
• 6 December – Boy Ecury, resistance member (b. 1922)
• 16 December – Betsie ten Boom, resistance member (b. 1885)
• 18 December – M. H. J. Schoenmaekers, mathematician (b. 1875)
• 28 December – Tjeerd Pasma, modern pentathlete (b. 1904).

See also

• Chronology of the liberation of Dutch cities and towns during World War II