Ans van Dijk
Ans van Dijk | |
|---|---|
 van Dijk in 1947 | |
| Born | Anna van Dijk 24 December 1905 |
| Died | 14 January 1948 (aged 42) Fort Bijlmer, Weesperkarspel, Netherlands |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Known for | Collaboration |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Treason |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | ~85-700 (as an accomplice) |
Span of crimes | 1943–1945 |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Target(s) | Jews and Partisans |
Anna "Ans" van Dijk (24 December 1905 – 14 January 1948) was a Dutch collaborator who betrayed Jews to Nazi Germany during World War II. She is held responsible for the death of at least 84 people. She was the only Dutch woman to be executed for her wartime activities.[1]
Biography
Born in Amsterdam, Ans van Dijk was the daughter of Jewish parents Aron van Dijk and Kaatje Bin. She married Bram Querido in 1927, and they separated in 1935.[2] After the marriage ended, she began a lesbian relationship with a woman named Miep Stodel, and opened a millinery shop called Maison Evany in Amsterdam. The shop was closed by the Nazis in 1941 as part of their seizure of Jewish property—Jews were forbidden to own businesses or work in retail shops, amongst other occupational restrictions. Stodel fled to Switzerland in 1942.[3]
Van Dijk was arrested on Easter Sunday 1943 by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; the Nazi intelligence service) detective Peter Schaap of the Office of Jewish Affairs of the Amsterdam police. After promising to work for the SD, van Dijk was released. Pretending to be a member of the resistance, she offered to help Jews find hiding places and obtain false papers. In this way, she trapped at least 145 people, including one of her own brothers and his family. Some 85 of her victims later died in concentration camps.[3] She may have been responsible for the deaths of as many as 700 people.[4] It has been suggested that she may have betrayed Anne Frank and her family, but there is no clear evidence to support this.[5]
After the war, she was arrested at a friend's home in Rotterdam on 20 June 1945, and charged with 23 counts of treason. On 24 February 1947, she tried before the Special Court in Amsterdam. She pleaded guilty on all counts, explaining that she only acted out of self-preservation. However, her superior, Willy Lages, had previously described van Dijk as eager to do her job, for which she was paid for every person she helped find.[6] A request by her attorney for a psychiatric evaluation was refused by the Court. She was sentenced to death. She appealed the conviction, but in September 1947 the Special Court of Appeals confirmed her sentence.[2] Her request for a royal pardon was rejected by Queen Wilhelmina.[3]
On 14 January 1948 she was executed by firing squad at Fort Bijlmer in the Weesperkarspel municipality (now the Bijlmermeer district of the city of Amsterdam). The night before her execution she was baptized and joined the Catholic Church.[3]
By the end of the 20th century, commentators and historians began to reflect on the fact that the only woman to be executed for crimes committed during the German occupation was a Jewish lesbian. However, Van Dijks guilt and the validity of the sentence as such were never questioned.[2][3]
References
- ^ Nietsch, Hetty (20 August 1994). "Geëxecuteerd: Een Verraadster, Joods En Lesbisch" (in Dutch). De Verdieping Trouw Amsterdam. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
- ^ a b c Visser, Anneke (17 September 1994). "Een leven vol verraad". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 December 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Muller, Nick (14 January 2013). "De executie van de foute jodin". HP/De Tijd (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 December 2014.
- ^ "Het Amsterdam van Anne Frank: Verraadster Ans van Dijk ter dood veroordeeld". Anne Frank Stichting (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Boffey, Daniel (25 May 2018). "Who betrayed Anne Frank? Book claims to shed new light on mystery". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- ^ wpk-admin (14 January 2013). "De executie van de foute jodin". HP/De Tijd (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 October 2022.
Further reading
- Groen, Koos (1994). Als slachtoffers daders worden. De zaak van joodse verraadster Ans van Dijk (in Dutch). Baarn: AMBO. ISBN 90-263-1328-4.
- Kok, René; Somers, Erik (1991). "52". Documentaire Nederland en de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Zwolle: Waanders Uitg. ISBN 90-6630-952-0.
- 1905 births
- 1948 deaths
- Criminals from Amsterdam
- Dutch Jews
- Dutch Roman Catholics
- Dutch spies for Nazi Germany
- Lesbian Jews
- Dutch lesbians
- Holocaust perpetrators in the Netherlands
- Dutch people convicted of war crimes
- Executed Dutch women
- Executed Dutch collaborators with Nazi Germany
- Executed Jewish collaborators with Nazi Germany
- Executed Gestapo informants
- People executed by the Netherlands by firing squad
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
- 20th-century Dutch women
- 20th-century Dutch LGBTQ people
- Executed mass murderers
- People executed for war crimes