Gerrit’s position at the Elburg distribution office placed him close to the ration cards and papers that could be indispensable to people hiding from the German occupation. Local biographies credit him with securing coupons for people in hiding, carrying messages and other resistance activities. These descriptions are historically important, but the underlying documents for every individual operation have not been recovered. [7,17,19,22] The strongest direct evidence of organized affiliation is a signed answer dated 31 October 1946 from the mayor of Doornspijk to a Ministry of War enquiry. It calls Gerrit a “very active” member of the Netherlands Interior Forces (NBS), Doornspijk group, “Old Putten” section. A printed postwar LO resistance history includes Gerrit’s portrait and identifies a Raad van Verzet (RvV) connection. Its short notation records arrest on 13 February 1945 on suspicion of helping pilots. These sources corroborate resistance involvement but do not provide a full personal operations log. [6,43] “Old Putten” refers here to a resistance section. Huize Old Putten, raided in February 1945, and the town of Putten, subjected to a separate German atrocity in October 1944, are distinct historical references. No inspected source proves that Gerrit was at the Huize Old Putten raid or that it caused his arrest. [16,31,32,43]
Chapter 2 of 10
