Frisian warrior Annie van Harten (102) has died.

The Frisian warrior Annie van Harten died at the age of 102. Van Harten was active as a courier in the Frisian resistance during the Second World War. Together with her husband she was involved in a robbery in Dokkum, when the opposition was freeing a prisoner. In retaliation for that attack, the Germans executed twenty prisoners.

Van Harten was born in Raalte, Overijssel. In the first years of her career she worked in the local distribution office in Hellendoorn. As an employee she was given the opportunity to make a ‘creative’ account, which she used accordingly Omrop Fryslan they were able to arrange food vouchers and ration cards for people in hiding.

At the distribution office she also met her future partner Cornelis van Veldhuizen. He was working security in the office at the time. Through his work as a military police officer, Van Veldhuizen was able to present himself as friendly to the Germans, but in the meantime he became more and more involved in the work of the resistance.

After a friend was arrested in September 1943, he went into hiding. As Van Veldhuizen was not found, the Germans arrested, among others, Van Harten, who was 21 years old. She ended up in prison, but was released at the end of 1943. Later she and Van Veldhuizen ended up in Dantumadiel, where she became involved in the Frisian resistance through her lover.

Earlier this year she spoke to Omrop Fryslân about that time. “Weapons would be dropped from England and then you’d have to put the lights in the right place,” Van Harten said. “Then the English would fly over first to see if it would work ​​​​​​​e and only then would the drops come.”

Large vessels were often used during the collapse, which surprised the defense members. “We had counted on a square meter, but it was a cubic meter. Then we ended up with that in Friesland,” said Van Harten.

Van Harten also took care of the courier work to carry illegal mail. “Someone asks you if you want to remove this, and you do. So you don’t ask what it is.” She was never afraid, Van Harten said then. She was never interesting either. “No, it happened, it was your job. I was already detained, so it wasn’t that bad.”

One of the most impressive events in her life was against the robbery near Dokkum. The Frisian resistance then wanted to free a pharmacist who had been arrested by the Germans. He was the lover of one of the men who was part of the liberation campaign.

The opponent knew that the pharmacist was being transferred to Leeuwarden, and the transport was awaited in Dokkum. The robbery was chaotic and ended in a shootout in which two Germans were killed. The pharmacist managed to escape.

In retaliation, the Germans executed twenty prisoners, mainly men from the resistance. Their bodies then had to remain there for 24 hours as a barrier to the people.

The images have always stayed with Annie van Harten. She often dreamed about it, she told the regional broadcaster in April. After the liberation, Van Harten married Van Veldhuizen and her husband started working as an investigator for the police. According to Van Harten, she and her husband did not talk much about what happened after the war. “We had to keep going.”