May 1940
On the evening of 10 May 1940, Ede had already fallen into German hands and heavy fighting took place at De Klomp. During this fighting, Wester Wetering Farm burned down. But thanks to the Dutch Farm Reconstruction Agency, the Jochemsen family was able to return to their farm before too much time passed. Aart Melis Jochemsen joined the resistance and used the codename ‘Max 1’. People in hiding regularly took refuge on his farm.
Early October 1944
Wester Wetering Farm became the headquarters of the Ede resistance. Meetings took place here, documents were forged and weapons stored.
In the night of 16 to 17 October, the Dutch secret agent Lieutenant Abraham du Bois was dropped by parachute between Voorthuizen and Stroe. His task was to set up escape routes for the Allied troops who were in hiding.
On 20 October, he took up residence at the farm under the code name ‘Martien’. He felt that too much activity was taking place at Wester Wetering, and so the resistance headquarters was relocated to the Thomassen farm on Nieuwe Steeg. At Wester Wetering, Du Bois now concentrated on organising the escape operation Pegasus II. This began on 16 November 1944, but came to a tragic end in the night of 17 to 18 November.
Meanwhile the Sicherheitsdienst (SD: the SS intelligence agency) had arrested an important member of the resistance in Putten and also obtained information about the Ede resistance. So on 18 November, they paid a visit to Nieuwe Steeg Farm. Several resistance members were captured and the Germans set fire to the farm. Warned by these events, Jochemsen left his own farm; two farmhands kept the farm itself running.
At the end of November two men came to Wester Wetering Farm asking for ‘Martien’. They said they had important information for him. A trap? The next day they came back. Du Bois appeared and was immediately arrested. Everyone at the farm was taken to Hotel De Wormshoef in Lunteren, the headquarters of the SD in Ede Municipality. The farmhands were released after a few weeks, but Du Bois was imprisoned in Kruisberg prison in Doetinchem.
On 8 March 1945, together with 116 other Dutch men, he was shot at Woeste Hoeve in reprisal for the attack on Hanns Rauter, the highest ranking SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands.
On New Year’s Eve 1944, Wester Wetering Farm was once again burned down as a warning to the Dutch resistance. Following the liberation, the farm was rebuilt for the second time.
Do you want to experience this story in its original location? Then visit the information panel at the verge between the Rijksweg 31 plot, Ede and the bicycle path.
