The Hidden Village - Netherlands

Last week I went on a trip in my own country. I had a few things on my list to visit, one of them being "The Hidden Village" near Vierhouten. I had only learned about this a few days earlier and was intrigued by the story. I had to see that with my own eyes and share it with you.

During the Second World War, there was a need for more safe havens for people in hiding in the Netherlands. A lawyer, Von Baumhauer, therefore founded a camp in this dense forests together with the local couple Bakker (nicknames Aunt Cor and Grandpa Bakker): the be wary-camp.

^{Hiding in the forest}

Early 1943 the first Jews arrived in the camp. Back then it was just a canteen and a tent. But soon they started building multiple huts, partly underground. It provided shelter for over 80 people hiding from the Germans. Among which were Jews, British airmen and German deserters. Grandpa Bakker and Aunt Cor ran the coordination of the village and tried to make sure there was enough food for them. Other volunteers helped with things like clothes, medical supplies, pots and pans.

^{A reconstruction of an underground hut in the distance}

Currently, you will find 3 similar huts in the forest that are freely accessible. If you think these huts are full sizes houses, you are wrong. The entrance is only about 1.50 meters high.

Inside the hut, you will find bunk beds in the back and a table. The whole hut is about 5 by 5 meters and was occupied by about 9 people.

Some huts had cooking equipment and there were water pumps. Every day, Aunt Cor managed to get the groceries from a nearby village. Everyone in the village helped, but nobody really knew what was going on. No questions were asked, though. The food was brought by bike to the camp, hoping they wouldn't get caught by the Germans.

The camp was divided into 4 sections separated by firebreaks. During the day, people were supposed to be as quiet as possible and not cross the firebreaks in the risk of discovery.

Despite all the precautions, on October 29th, 1944 the village was discovered. Two soldiers noticed a boy crossing the firebreak and they luckily fired some warning shots. This alerted the people in the camp and most of them managed to successfully flee. The boy was released because the Germans were afraid they had discovered a group of terrorists and decided to call for backup first.

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That night, eight people were captured in the forest and imprisoned in the basement of "De Paasheuvel". Two of them were executed there. The 6 others were brought to their camp to be killed there in holes they had to dig themselves. Headed there, two men ran. One was instantly shot in flight. The other returned as soon as he heard his 6-year-old son screaming. They were all killed, even the child. In 1994 a monument was erected on the spot where they were killed.

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It was super quiet when I was there. I only ran into a few people while in the Hidden Village. You just can't imagine that over 80 people lived here, scared for their life all the time. These tiny huts might not be the original ones, but it still is very impressive. It was only in 1970 that it was decided to reconstruct part of the camp, which surprised me a lot.

After the discovery in 1944, most of the camp was destroyed by the Germans (One hut remained but burned down in the 50s). Grandpa Bakker was arrested in February 1945 and executed some weeks later. His wife survived and lived a long life.

There currently is an exposition in a nearby hotel about the Hidden Village. But also many books have been written about the camp. One of them is "The Hidden Village" by Imogen Matthews. It is a historically based (fictional) novel that you can get from Amazon.

^{Monument for the camp and the founders}