Arie van Duyn, Mission Report & Interrogations.





                                                     REPORT BY VAN DUYN @ CRIBBAGE.

                                                                    6-7-44  -  22-5-45


Droppped 6 July 1944. Blind. Area of EPE with KOOS (Mulholland) and BERT (de Goede). Proceeded to EDE to the parents of BERT. Went underground with the GAAZENBEEK family for app. fourteen days. KOOS went through to Amsterdam to find his contact, he arrived in Rotterdam and contacted the KP. BERT stayed underground with his parents.

We were then arrested for theft (put in scene) by Inspector KLOOTS and detectice officer HARTMAN, taken to Rotterdam and given a safe house in the Graaf Florisstraat no. 83, widow Van de  WETERING. KLOOTS and HARTMAN in the meantime took care of the sets etc.
I tried to make my first contact by WT at No.83 as there were no other houses available. From the start WT addresses were nightmares. At No.83 I had no success, No.16 was the same.
I made my first contact in the Roman-Catholic school, but had to disappear after fourteen days as the verger was transferred. His name was GERARD (
van Welzenes, of Tj. Elsinga?).
After this I arrived in the Rochussenstraat 381a with Mrs. SMILDE. Lacking a second address I started in the house where I lived as well. After having worked a month at No. 381a I had to leave as Mrs. SMILDE did not dare to take the responsebility any more.
As I had no other addresses I continued at No.83. After a time I thought this became too dangerous as BERT was building up his safe-house at the same address. After a lot of trouble I was given a WT-address and safe-house at the same time at Lisplein 30, with the STIENSTRA family. KOOS also came to my aid and organised a WT-address for me at Statenweg 124d with the STEFFERS. But after having worked fourteen days at No. 124d the inmates became afraid and I left.
Then I continued to send from No. 38, this suited me very well as I had good contacts there. I was also at this address during the big "razzias". I slipped through these by putting my hands in plaster of p..ris for a few days, this was done by Dr. DEEN.
I also had to leave the STIENSTRA family, as this was an old address of PAUL (
van Beijnen?).
PAUL was arrested during these days and so I thought it was advisable to disappear.
I went then to the BAK family (Farm outside Rotterdam). Also there I had to leave soon as I was warned that there were DF-cars in the neighbourhood.
I then went to the Mathenesserweg 118b. This address was not ideal as it was situated next door to a Wehrmacht barracks and over and above this (
house) was also used by two other boys employed in falsying P.B's (ID cards). But I could not do otherwiseas there was nothing else!

It was at this address that I was arrested after having worked for about fourteen days. The block of buildings in which I found myself was surrounded by about 150 to 200 soldiers. They had even dispersed themselves on the roofs and balconies. Escape was hopeless, so after having sent QUG we  hid the set and codes as well as possible together with the arms, as it was impossible to start anything against such a superior force with a pistol and two handgrenades.
In the house at the time was one of the couriers DIDI (
Gaazenbeek) and myself. Only after a quarter of an hour the Germans entered the house. After having made a thorough search and having broken up quite a good deal did they find my sets, and a confession was forced out of us in a sadistical manner. It took them, however, until about seven or eight in the evening before they found out I came from England. What I went through between twelve and eight, however, I would rather not describe.

After this we were taken to the SD building at The Hague, where I thought I would again suffer, but this was not too bad. I was given soup, bread and wine also cigarettes. I was interrogated here until four o'clock in the morning after which we were taken to SCHEVENINGEN, to the well known "ORANJE HOTEL"!
I tried to escape but they were too watchful. What further happened in the prison I would rather tell personally, one thing I would like to mention the Dutch guards should be torn to bits!

I also nursed TOBO (
Tobias Biallosterski) here, who in my opinion would have recovered if he had been taken to hospital.

In prison I had to lie and practice deceit until I was sick of it. I also starved there, so much so that we ate the patato peels if we could get them. This became better after about two and half months when I received the parcels sent to me by the MOERMAN family, about three times a week, this came as an angel from heaven.

On the 21st of April I was released , it was impossible to tell you for what reason, this should be asked to Herr HOUBROK the man who looked after my business. Although I have cheated him left and right and he knew this, he always treated me correctly.

After being released I went to NOORDWIJK aan Zee to my home. I was forbidden to go to ROTTERDAM and had to promise not to contact or be involved in any organisation. Even so I tried to break through via LEIDEN to the other side of the front, in which, however, I did not succeed. After the liberation I proceeded to ROTTERDAM where I met WITTE PIET (
SOE agent Piet de Beer) who took me to APELDOORN, from there I was sent to UTRECHT and from there with a lot trouble to BRUSSELS where nothing seemed to be organised. From BRUSSELS to LONDON, very hearty reception, never to be forgotten!

When I left England I was promised that we should have the best operators possible. However, this did not seem to be the case, procedure very bad, also morse. Also from time to time one had to wait about five minutes, etc. Luckily I also had a good operator occasionaly, when they were good, they were very good.

After working for about five months in Holland I was asked by FRANS (KP leader) to organise an internal WT-Net, also a town WT-net. With regard to the internal net, nothing ever came of it, except EINDHOVEN. Town traffic was very well organised, working on this were COR WEST (
Cor van Bijsterveld) and ADRIE MOERMAN. MOERMAN made himself very useful by repairing sets, he was also the leader of the town-traffic, which worked extremely well. During this time I also instructed certain people in firing Stenguns etc. I had been asked to do this by GEORGE of the L.O.
DIDI GAAZENBEEK deserves an extra word of praise. She worked very hard, carrying my sets, and also always taking my messages to BERT (
SOE Agent de Goede) through all kinds of weather. Nothing was ever too much for her. What happened after our arrest should be well investigate, according to me she does not deserve the bad reputation she has been given, on the contrary.

Further I hope that this report will give you an idea of my work, if there are any points which need clearing up, I should like to give them by worth of mouth. I should also like to hear something about my work, whether it has been good or not, I should like to have the right answer to this


28.5.45                                                                                                   w.s. THEODORE


                                                 INTERROGATION OF Arie VAN DUYN               4th June, 1945
                                                                        
                                                                  @ THEODORE
                                                                  @ NOL
                                                                  @ CRIBBAGE

Source (Arie van Duyn) was arrested on the 19th December, 1944. Prior to this he had moved to Mathenesserweg 118 towards the end of November , where he lived in the same building as FOLKERT (Elsinga) whom he had first met in the end of August or beginning of September when FOLKERT was living in the Rauwenhofplein.

On December 18th source had decided to make a very strong complaint about the way in which he was being treated; he had been constantly asking the KP to provide him with weapons and with more safe houses, since he was faced with the very uncomfortable predicament for a WT operator of having to live and work at the same address. On this day he saw RUMMY (
Bert de Goede) and told him that if the KP still refused to do anything to help him he would pach up the work altogether and clear out.

The next day, 19th December source had just finished transmitting on his morning schedule, about 12.00 hours, when his courier TIENE (
Didi Gaazenbeek), who was keeping watch from the window, saw that the building was being surrounded by soldiers. Source immediate reaction was to think that they had come for him, so he hid the WT set in a cupboard, but unfornunately the door of the cupboard did not shut very well. Source and TIENE, and FOLKERT who happened to be with them, having come to bring some apples, then busied themselves with some innocent pursuits; time went by and as no one came to the door of the flat they began to feel somewhat reasured, but, about ½ hour after the first alarm there came a ring at the bell, source opened the door and found some soldiers who immediately came into the flat. The officer in charge of the party apologised for their intrusion and explained that they were looking for a German deserter; the soldiers thereupon started to search the flat and immediately saw the cupboard which was not properly shut, on opening it and looking inside they of course found the WT set.

Having found the WT set all thought of the deserter was forgotten and source and his companions were immediately questioned by the Wehrmacht officer, source denying that he had anything at all to do with the set and stating merely that he was an electrical engineer by trade. During this questioning the soldiers searched the whole place pulling up the floor boards and breaking open everything that they could see; in the course of this search they found all the rest of source's equipment and a great number of forged documents, since a part of the building was used for this purpose by FOLKERT and his father (Tj. Elsinga).

The Wehrmacht officer then began to question source very intensively; he was handcuffed and then hung on a pole between two tables and severly beaten up, at the same time TIENE and FOLKERT were being interrogated in different rooms. Source still kept to his story of being an electrical engineer and knowing nothing of what happened in the building, but in spite of this his interrogator showed him an identity card which they had found and asked him if he recognised the photograph, it was a new card which had been prepared for RUMMY whose name, De Goede, the Germans knew. Source denials were not believed by the Germans and again he was severly beaten up.

Source now admitted his real name and also told the Germans that that he was an agent  who had come from U.K. When he said this the Wehrmacht broke off the interrogation and shortly afterwards Sturmscharführer HAUBROK arrived from the SD; this officer immediately stopped any form of harsh treatment and told source that he was sorry for the way in which he had been handled since it was something which he personally would never allow. He then began to interrogate source in a very friendly way.

First of all HAUBROK took the pencil from source's pocket and said, that he did not have to say that he came from the U.K. as the pencil would be quite enough to show it, and if it was not there were always his clothes to give them the final check, since the clothes of British agents were the only ones that never bore any name labels; all this was perfectly true and made source feel rather foolish. HAUBROK then started to question source and asked whether he had seen Col. de BRUYNE and Major LIEFTINCK lately, whether the the headquarters of the Organisation were still in Baker Street (which was actually something which source himself did not know), and whether Major BINGHAM was keeping well. Source answered in the affirmative to all these questions although he had never actually seen Major BINGHAM, but HAUBROK did not seem to know Major DOBSON and so he thought that it was the best thing to do.

HAUBROK then went on to question source about the names of other agents in de field and asked him to identify the names which were written on a piece of paper which had been found during the search of the flat (
waarschijnlijk het papiertje dat Didi Gaazenbeek trachtte te vernietigen); these names were actually those of the different organisers who sent messages by source's WT, but only their Christian names were written down, without either surnames or addresses. HAUBROK did not seem te know these names and source told him that he could not give any more information on the list since it contained all that had ever been told to him, HAUBROK told him that he did not worry about a WT-operator, as it was the organisers he was interested in; he asked how long source had been in the field, and was told "About three weeks" which was approximately the time that source had been living at the address at which he was captured, he told his interrogator that during this time he had sent "hundreds of messages". While HAUBROK was interrogating source two other SD officers, FRANK and BAUER were interrogating TIENE and FOLKERT, and it appears that TIENE had told BAUER how long source had been in Holland because he came in and told HAUBROK, the latter was, however, not very upset and told source that he was quite used being told lies. "You agents always do that on the first day, but I will get the truth out of you sooner or later".

After this preliminary interrogation source and his two companions were put into a car and driven to the flat which was the SD mess in The Hague, arriving there about midnight on the 19th December. On arrival there the three interrogating officers HAUBROK, FRANK and BAUER each took their own prisoner into differtent rooms, source going with HAUROK. Soup, bread and butter, wine and cigarettes were provided and while source was eating his meal HAUBROK indulged in general conversation with him. This conversation was aimed at finding out details of source himself and also at instilling a good deal of propaganda. HAUBROK said how barbarous the British were with the way in which they were bombing the towns of Germany out of existance, but the American airmen were worse because they never hit the target but only bombed civilian dwelling houses; he enlarged a good deal on this theme by saying that when the American airmen bailed out over the continent, they were often killed by the infuriated population, and anyway it was not much lose because they were such uncivilises people and so prone to comit rape and other crimes. From these topics the conversation turned to the Russians who HAUBROK described as barbarians with which opinion source agreed. HAUBROK was at pains to explain that "You people who come from England do not know what is going on, if you did you would not be fighting against Germany, but for Germany".

He then went on to say that is was, in any event, a waste of time to fight against Germany because all the agents who were sent to Holland were very quickly captured, in fact most of them jumped to German Reception Committees and were arrested on landing (
Englandspiel). Some fifty or so had been caught in this way and they were now all in Haaren where most of them had come round to his way of thinking and were now helping the Germans (not true, almost all of them had already been murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp). HAUBROK said that he was surprised to hear that source had been working for so long as six months as he did not think that any agent could evade capture for more than three months at the most. To other questions source denied having any knowledge at all of dropping grounds, since, he said, that it was not his business to look after such things, and he put his estimated total of arms in the Rotterdam area  at 30 Stenguns. HAUBROK continued to ask more questions, all the time being extremely friendly and pleasant, and showed some interest in the time for which source had been away from Holland before returning there as an agent. He then started to ask about other agents.

When HAUBROK started to ask about the agents with whom source had been trained source realised that he would have to give some names and so he started off with a few Christian names, KEES, DIRK, KARELS, etc saying that he never knew any surnames; however HAUBROK knew better than to believe that tale, so source hit upon the names of some agents whom he knew had been shot down and never reached the field, and gave the full names and descriptions of KEES, DUIKER and BOREL, he also described three other agents whose names he gave in the knowledge that they had left the organisation, POSTMA, STEENSTRA and one man, whose name he could not remember then and cannot remember now, but whom he described as "NOSE" (Gerrit Reisiger). HAUBROK asked whether source knew what the missions of these people were going to be. Throughout the interrogation he took all his own notes.

(NOTE: From HAUBROK's note-book which is in our possession we know that these names and descriptions were given by source, and were given so accurately that the Germans were able to identify the corpses of  DUIKER, WESS and BOREL, and also to identify "NOSE", STEENSTRA and POSTMA; they recognised also the body of NIJHOF from source's description of him).

At time throughout this interrogation FRANK and BAUER were present, but they did not ask any questions. HAUBROK also asked source about many people whom he did not know; he has forgotten the names od these now, but does remember two who were called "TIGER" (
Cnoops) and "BLONDE BOB" (Celosse), the former being South-African.

(NOTE: HAUBROK's note-book shows that "TIGER" was TONY VEN a farmer from S. Africa who was born on 20.5.07 at Elandsfontein)

Source said that HAUBROK had a good many papers but very rarely had to refer to them - he seemed to know everything.

During the interrogation, which never varied from its very friendly level, HAUBROK told many tales of how agents had been caught. On one occasion he said that he had been having a drink in a hotel, wearing civlilian clothes, and he soon got into conversation on with a man and they started having drinks together; in a little while the man offered HAUBROK a cigarette which he immediately recognised as one of the "black" cigarettes which are sent from U.K. in the blue packets. The man by this time was getting fairly drunk and had no place to sleep for the night so HAUBROK offered to put him up, driving him round to the SD flat in his car and giving him a bed for the night. The next morning HAUBROK put on his uniform and arrested his guest at breakfast (who is this agent?)

He said further that many people had been arrested because of the stupid habit of the British Authorities in sending their agents out with standard fountain pens, knives, scissors and watches which were always immediately recognised by the SD; source realised that he had one of each of these articles and again felt foolish, and genuinely agreed with HAUBROK when he said that he did not consider that it was fair on the agents. Gradually HAUBROK was talking more and more sense and fitting source into the general picture of resistance activities. He than proceeded to administer another very severe shock to source again stressing the number of agents who had been arrested, giving proof for his words. Source admits to thinking that it was not right that he should not have been told all this before he left the UK and thinking also that "He was a damn fool to have worked so hard for the KP when they had done so little for him in the provision of safe houses, etc".

Throughout the conversation HAUBROK was trying to turn source against the KP and said that LANGE JAN (
Jan Thijssen) had been given away to the SD by OD and KP. When LANGE JAN had come to Rotterdam from Amsterdam the SD had received a telephone call from the OD and KP saying that he was on his way and giving the number of the car in which he was travelling.

HAUBROK did not seem to know who RUMMY (
Bert de Goede) was or what he did; he asked source whether there were any other WT-operators and source said that there were not, but HAUBROK did not believe him and told him that it must be a lie because they had dicovered more sets in other places, though he did not say where.

The interrogation lasted until 04.00 hours, for the whole of which time HAUBROK was extremely friendly. Source described HAUBROK as 1m.60, fat, which fat checks and round face, dark blond hair cut short, blue grey eyes, aged 35 but looks 40. Speaks little Dutch but understands the language well; the interrogation was carried on in a mixture of Dutch and German. Source repeatedly stated what a very nice man HAUBROK was and later in this report it will be seen that he seems to have ample cause to think so.

When the interrogation was over source TIENE and FOLKERT were all put in a car with BAUER and one guard and the driver and taken to the Oranje Hotel at Scheveningen where source was put into cell 606 and allowed to go to sleep. No one bothered him the next day until HAUBROK came at about 18.00 hours (
20 December 1944).

At the next interview HAUBROK did not ask very many questions, confining his attention to questions about RUMMY and KOOS (
Luke Mulholland) and advising source to tell the truth "Or you will know what may happen"; however, he seemed satisfied with the answers that he got and said "I have seen so many agents that I don't blame you for not telling the truth"; "I will get it out of you in time because I have so much information that I can tell what is right and what is wrong"

After this interrogation source met TIENE and FOLKERT (
20 December 1944) in the passage and found that they too had been well treated; they were allowed to speak together but only if they spoke loud enough for BAUER, who was present to hear what they said. Source remembers asking TIENE how she was and whispered to her whether she had mentioned EDU (Richard Barmé) and COR (Cor van Bijsterveld) and receiving a whispered reply that she had not. He does not remember, however, telling TIENE what to say. but states rather curiensly that "somehow he knew that TIENE knew that he had told the truth about himself", which he had in fact done after being assured by HAUBROK that his family would not suffer from his arrest (his family was never troubled by the SD). Source further adds that HAUBROCK would check his own and TIENE's statements against each other and they always seemed to fit very well, though why he cannot say since neither of them ever mentioned any names.

Source's next interrogation came in the afternoon of the same day when he was handed over to the Grüne Polizei for his signals interrogation. When source went in for this interrogation all his sets, plans, etc, were on a table in the room together with the traffic of the last few days; the messages were not in his code but one of them was signed by LODEWIJK (SOE agent Joop Luijkenaar). At first the interrogation officer (May?) did not believe that source could not decode the message but, as he began to see how things worked he realised that source was telling the truth, "Well, we can't do anything about it, can we; however we will send them off to experts and see if they can do anything with them". The officer then said that he thought that the British were playing a rotten trick on the Dutch agents because they always picked upon amateur operators to send to the field, "they never get a skilled man because a skilled man would know the risks and would not take the job".

The signal officer then asked source to work for the Germans. At first it was suggested that he should go back ..ts job and just carry on with it, working for the Germans at the same time; source explained that this was impossible because he only sent messages for RUMMY and KOOS and had no other job. When this point was appreciated the Germans went on to the sentimental propaganda line giving source plenty of cigarettes "because they wanted him to feel at home", and suggesting that he should operate for the Germans, thereby safing his life. They asked many questions about the Internal WT Network, which source told them did not work, and the interrogation was kept up until 04.00 hours.

On the next day, 22nd December, source again was interrogated by HAUBROK who told him that on the previous day he had been out with TIENE (
21 December 1944) in a car to collect source's other WT-sets, TIENE having consented to go when he had promised that none of the people living in the houses where the sets were, would not be harmed (this promise was kept). Some of the sets were hidden at a farm (belonging to BAK) and the old farmer would not show them where they were hidden, but some of the labourers found the sets in a haystack and after wards set light to the farm when the owner had gone away (not right). HAUBROK then asked source if he knew ADRIE (Moerman) and would not accept No for an answer, since he said that source must know him since he made sets for him. Being given this lead source stuck to it and remembered ADRIE hoping that HAUBROK would not realise that ADRIE was an operator; source did not then know that ADRIE had been arrested.

ADRIE later told source that the Germans did discover that he was an operator on the Internal Network, but he did not know how they found out unless it was because MARIJKE (Elsinga, sister of Folkert) talked too much, MARIJKE being his fiancee who was arrested with him. Source was shown ADRIE's set and the poems, which source had written himself; source was not questioned on this code method but was asked about some of ADRIE's crystals which were missing (these MARIJKE had been successful in stuffing behind the cushions of a chair when they had been arrested).

Another agent of the B.I. had also been arrested about this time (
who?) and source was shown all his sets which were of a type quite unknown to him (Paraset).

Very soon more arrests took place. On December 27th a man was caught in Utrecht (?Karels) (Reisiger) and this man had a very big nose so the Germans immediately thought that it was the "NOSE" described by source, but source got over the difficulty by saying that he had only seen him once or twice before because this man had come to the field much later. Next to be arrested was EDU (Barmé) about whom source says he had said nothing: however, EDU said that he was the assistent to NOL (van Duyn) and this was the only time that source saw HAUBROK in a rage, he came into source's cell in the middle of the night and took him to the interrogation room where EDU was. Source pretented not to recognise EDU but EDU came up to him and greeted him (EDU was arrested on February 9th 1945). A few days later source says that HAUBROK apologised for his bad temper on this occasion and said that he had been thinking it over and it was really very sporting of source not to have told about EDU. COR (Bijsterveld) was also arrested and HAUBROK then told source that he had thought that he had caught about 50 percent of the agents, but now he was quite prepared to think that he had not caught 5 percent.

One day HAUBROK told source that he had let TIENE (
Gaazenbeek) out of prison in order that she could get in touch with RUMMY and persuade him to hand over his weapon stores to the SD. HAUBROK asked source what he thought the chances were of TIENE being able to speak to persuade RUMMY to meet him, HAUBROK, because he genuinely thought that if he did so he would be able to persuade RUMMY to give up working against the Germans. Source said that it might be some use and it might not  and HAUBROK said that in any event there was no harm in trying if it would work. TIENE was given her absolute freedom and could contact HAUBROK by telephone. It was only afterwards that source learned that she had been told that he and the others would all be shot if she did not do her job. In point of fact this threat was never carried out in spite of TIENE's arrest by the KP and her failure to discharge her mission in circumstances in which the SD could not know that she had even tried.

To these many curious conversations which source had with HAUBROK must be added another; it appears that source was often asked what he thought of the SD, to which question he had no hesitation in saying that they had always treated him very properly and well. Where upon HAUBROK said that they were going to try and send (him) back to the U.K. in exchange for a German prisoner in British hands, "and then he could tell the English how good the SD were". This fantastic scheme never came to anything because, so source says, they received word that an exchange could not be effected for a Dutchman but only for an Englishman. Source was also told one day, rather as a joke, that there was someone who would give the SD weapons in return for prisoners that they wanted released.

Source who continued to be housed in the Oranje Hotel at Scheveningen received a good deal of preferential treatment. For the first ten days he was alone in cell 606, but after that he was put into a cell with two B.I. agents, VAN ALEBEEK (
B.I. WT-operator) and JAAP (B.I. agent Martin Wiedemann). Two days after (?) KARELS (SOE WT-operator Gerrit Reisiger) was captured source was put to share a cell with him, and when TOPS (SOE agent Tobias Biallosterski) was brought into the prison, being badly wounded, source asked if he might share a cell with him so that he would be there to help him; this request was immediately granted, and WIM (SOE agent Wim Hoogerwerff) was put in with KARELS who was a nervy type and could not bear to be alone. Source who is always putting in a good word for HAUBROK says that he was doing his best to get TOPS to hospital but was not succesful in this, he did however arrange for special fruits to be sent in for him (Biallosterski). Source soon found that he had to be up day and night with TOPS so he asked if he might have some help, and immediately another B.I. agent TONY VISSER was added to the party. TOPS came in on 15.2.45 and died on 25.2.45 and after his death source and VISSER were moved to cell 607 where van ALEBEEK joined them later, at source's request when JAAP (Wiedemann) was sent to Germany.

About the second week in March source, VISSER and VAN ALEBEEK began to do some work in and about the prison, and very soon they were going out and about on their duties, they were always accompanied by a guard but often went quite far afield, into Scheveningen, and with vegetables etc to the SD building in The Hague. (
Why have they not tried to escape, afraid of reprisals upon those who were still inside the prison?)

Finally on 21st April HAUBROK came to source's cell and told him that he was free. Actually source and VAN ALEBEEK were released on that day and TONY VISSER on the following day. HAUBROK told source not to go to Rotterdam or he would be shot by the KP and if they did not shoot him the Germans would, and that he must take good care to stay out of trouble in the future. It was then late in the evening, too late to be out and about so HAUBROK said that source and VAN ALEBEEK might stay the night as guests at the SD flat in The Hague, which they did, being given breakfast the next morning and being allowed to make some pancakes before they left. On leaving source was given an "Entlassenschein" from the prison which stated that his other papers had been lost, he was also given back Fl. 28 of the Fl. 2000,- odd which he had had when arrested. Finally HAUBROK told him of a good address to which he could go where he would be well looked after if he was in need of somewhere. On leaving SD headquarters source went to his halfsister in Voorburg and then went to the address which had been given by HAUBROK in Warmond; it turned out to be the house of a family called MENTEN who were very well off and were very kind to source and would accept no payment for their services. This family were very surpriced when they heard that source had come from the UK and source says he understood from them that Mr. MENTEN was in some way "in the case of the British Agent who ever went to Holland, some time in 1941".

Source described the relations with HAUBROK and said that he had been very well treated, on New Year's Day HAUBROK sent then to the prison a small bottle of gin as a present and he arranged for them to get Red Cross parcels of food. This treatment apparently had an effect upon the Dutch guards who behaved very badly at first but soon came to be very afraid of source and his official friends, so that at the end they could not do enough to please him. Asked to account for this source said that he thought that perhaps HAUBROK wanted him to give a good account to the Allies and that was why he took so much trouble. Certainly when COR (
Cor van Bijsterveld was not shot) and EDU (Richard Barmé) were shot he came and apologised and said that he had nothing to do with it and had been powerless to stop it. Source thinks that the name HAUBROK may have been an alias, he says that he tried to get into touch with him again after the liberation of Holland but when he went to The Hague he heard that the SD had been moved to Scheveningen and he never heard what became of HAUBROK.

When source went to Rotterdam after being set free from prison everybody treated him very coldly and ZWARTE WIM (Wim P.J. van Dijk, RVV) would hardly speak to him though he did tell him how he could get into touch with TIENE, and no objections were raised subsequently when after the liberation of Holland source and WITTE PIET (SOE agent Piet de Beer) took her away and back to her mother. The coolness of his reception may have something to do with the story which source has heard, that he was seen on the streets of Rotterdam with the Germans denouncing people. Source does not know how this story could have started or by whom it was started, it is not unlikely that it was in some way connected with HAUBROK's remark about being shot by the KP in Rotterdam, but on the other hand that remark may have been made as a result of the capture of the KP archives by the Germans: in these archives was a note to the effect that TIENE (Didi Gaazenbeek) had been shot by the KP.

Just before he left the prison source was shown a book containing the photographs of about 30 to 40 agents who had been taken in the Rotterdam area, and he was also shown a correct photograph of "Your friend LODEWIJK (
SOE agent Joop Luijkenaar)"

Source is emphatic in declaring that he convinced that TIENE did not turn traitor. He says that everyone has to tell the Germans a certain amount, and she could have only told a limited amount of things, knowing what source himself had said; had she been a traitor or broken completely there was hardly any limit to the amount of harm which she could have done because she knew so many people in underground work.


                                                                                                
Source: HS6-742
                                                       
                                            
To: BSS/A                                                                                                             ADP/33B
From: AD/P                                                                                                             11.6.45

                                                               VAN DUYN

1.
I refer to your BSSA/KV/3275 of the 6th June. From the legal point of view my reactions are as
follows.

2.
The evidence against VAN DUYN lies in:

(a)
The statement of ROB (SOE agent Marinus van der Stoep) that VAN DUYN walked through the streets followed by two S.D. man whose job it was to identify and have arrested any members of the resistance movement whom he met.
It is not clear whether ROB saw this himself or is merely speaking of hearsay. In the latter case the statement might be of some value or of none according to the reliability of the people who actually say they saw him. As ROB is dead he can neither speak as to what he saw himself or help us to find those who mat have seen him. I would stress, however, that if it is hearsay it may be a mere rumour without real foundation.
It is denied by VAN DUYN.

(b)
... (redacted, meaning Bert de Goede) has much evil to say of the woman TIENE (Gaazenbeek); nothing at all against VAN DUYN, except that TIENE while under interrogation by K.P. stated that VAN DUYN had told her to tell the truth. This statement of TIENE's would not carry much weight since she was then in imminent peril of death for her misdeeds and might well try and throw the blame on to VAN DUYN.



3.
VAN DUYN denies any allegation of active collaboration with ther Germans. It is true that he was at liberty in Holland before his interrogation and was able to ascertain exactly what we knew and to trim his statements accordingly. This may render his interrogation less acceptable as a factor clearing him but, on the other hand, does not greate any positive evidence against him.

4.
VAN DUYN admits that he and the SD officer HAUBROCK (Haubrok) got on very well together. VAN DUYN attributs this partly to HAUBROCK's intrinsic decent nature and partly to his - HAUBROCK's - cleverness. It is more probably that HAUBROCK is a clever man who realised that he got get more out of VAN DUYN by kindness than by cruelty.

5.
If we pursue this matter further with enquiries all over Holland we might get evidence to show that VAN DUYN was not as clever as he thought and did give away information of value. That, however, will take the matter no further unless it were also shown that he did it mala fide and not accidentally. If ROB were alive we should doubtless try and ascertain the origin and reliability of the report of VAN DUYN's alleged walk through the street. As, however, he is dead, we have no starting point, and I cannot help feeling that if it had a reliable foundation vouched for by living witnesses the Dutch would have seized VAN DUYN when he contacted his former associates as they did with TIENE.

6.
It appers that VAN DUYN did magnificent work before his arrest, for which he has been awarded the M.B.E. If the award had not been gazetted we might have asked that it be held up for a time in case anything further emerged. As it has already been gazetted I think no further action should be taken. I have spoken to N-Section and warned them that it would be undesirable for ... (redacted, meaning Bert de Goede) and VAN DUYN to be decorated at the same time.
HAW/KV/3259                                                                                             4th June, 1945

                                                            Arie VAN DUYN.


Now that this agent has returned to the U.K. it has been thought necessary that he should undergo a security interrogation, in view of certain evidence which has been forthcoming against him.

The evidence in question has been obtained from two chiefs witnesses, both of whom when they were in the U.K. were looked upon as being agents of the highest integrity, whose statements were all proved to be extremely accurate. It is important to note that both these witnesses gave evidence not on hearsay, but on their own first-hand experiences.

1.
The head of the Rotterdam branch of the K.P. Magnus van Schelven @ ROB (
SOE agent Marinus van der Stoep), stated on the 24th January, that:
"He was not at all surorices to see the names, etc which RUMMY (
Bert de Goede) says are known to the Germans, because he says that he knows that CRIBBAGE (NOL) (Arie van Duyn), who was arrested on or about 20th December 1944, told all that he knew to the Germans almost at once, and that TIENE (Didi Gaazenbeek), the courier, did the same.

At the time of TIENE's enlistment by CRIBBAGE there had been some questions as to whether or not she was a suitable person for the work which she was to do, but CRIBBAGE had been loud in her praise and very anxious to have her services; she had been taken on on the strength of this and everything had gone well right up until the time of the arrest. They had never had any doubts about or fears for CRIBBAGE security and the first thing that they knew of anything being wrong was the news of his arrest. Within half an hour of the arrest of CRIBBAGE and TINE, TINE was, seen by members of the organisation driving round Rotterdam in a car with the GESTAPO, pointing out all the addresses which she knew. Very shortly afterwards, CRIBBAGE, himself made a public appearance walking alone in the street, but followed at about 15 yards by two SD man, his job being to go up and speak to any person he knew to be engaged in resistance work, and all people so accosted by him were immediately arrested".

2.
... (
redacted, meaning Bert de Goede) who was a liaison officer and WT-operator to the K.P. in Rotterdam, when interrogated on the 24th February, stated that:

"CRIBBAGE was arrested on either the 21st or 22nd December. On this day he was transmitting from his room as usual, and TIENE his courier followed the normal practice of keeping watch from the window. During the transmission she saw about 70 Germans surrounding the block of buildings. As she gave the alarm, a boy called ... (redacted, meaning Folkert) came in upon a prely errands, bringing some apples, and he also confirmed that the block of buildings was surrounded. The WT-set and other gear were immediately hidden and the three occupants of the room engaged themselves upon some innocent pursuit; after a few minutes there was a ring at the bell, and TIENE answered the bell to find some Germans there led by an NCO, who asked if they might come in as they were looking for a German officer who they said was a deserter from the barracks which were situated in the next block. The Germans who were Wehrmacht personnel made a search of the flatwithout finding anything, but just as they were going away the NCO happened to see on the table ... (redacted, meaning Folkert Elsinga) identity card bearing his real name, and immediately recognised it as belonging to a man who had escaped from the concentration camp of "VUGHT". The German asked ... (redacted, meaning Folkert) if it belonged to him, but he denied it and was immediately asked to produce his identity card, which he did; the two cards were then compared, and although in different names, obviously bore photographs of the same man. Thereupon the NCO sent for the SD who arrived and made a thorough search of the whole place, pulling up the floorboards and tapping the walls. The sets were discovered, together with other material, and the three occupants of the flat were arrested, being taken to the SD offices and from there passed on to The Hague.
The buildings where this took place was Mathenessweg 118, and the flat above that, which was occupied by CRIBBAGE, had formerly been used for the making of false identity cards.

Source had actually been in the neighbourhood of this house when CRIBBAGE's arrest took place, and had seen the whole block surrounded by German soldiers; he had naturally gone away in the opposite direction, but had not been unduly alarmed since there was no reason for him to suppose that CRIBBAGE was in any particular danger. Source first heard of the arrest on the Wednesday after they took place, and on the next night an unsuccessful attack was made on the SD offices. Source says that it was threeweeks later that he heard that TIENE was at liberty, and he understands that the Germans took het by car from The Hague to the suburbs of Rotterdam, and then set her down by the road, waiting nearby until she succeeded in getting a lift into the town. Immediately on her arrival in Rotterdam TIENE got in touch with COR who was a WT-operator recruited for the internal network by source; TIENE went to this man's house where she saw his wife, and waited intil COR came home, then she told him that she must seen source. COR duly delivered this message and source arranged to meet TIENE at a house which was not known to the SD. The meeting was arranged so that TIENE should wait on a corner which could be observed from the house at which the meeting was to take place, and where source already was. He could thus from the window observe TIENE's arrival, and whether anyone came with her or was shadowing her. At the corner TIENE was picked up by one of source's men on a bicycle and he took her round the town, through many streets until he was shure that there were not being followed. He then brought her to the house where source already was.

On arrival at the meeting TIENE was in a very emotional state, and told source that he had to hand over all his arms in the various dumps to the SD by Friday night, and that if he did not do this the three agents who had been arrested and about thirty other members of Resistance who were in the hands of the SD would be shot. Source refused to comply with this request, and immediately handed TIENE over to the custody of the KP whereupon she was taken away and immediately interrogated by Group-4, source being present. During the course of this interrogation TIENE stated that when she was capured by the SD she was questioned by a German officer named HAUBROK. She had told the Germans that she was the fiancee of CRIBBAGE, and they had undoubtedly used this fact to secure from her a great deal of information, though TIENE maintained that when at SD HQ she had passed CRIBBAGE in a passage, and he had whisperedto her instructing her to tell the truth.

Among things told by TIENE to the Germans were the addresses of the two further houses from which CRIBBAGE worked, though she said that she had only consented to tell these to the Germans on being assured that the occupantswould come to no harm. In addition to giving them the addresses, TIENE had actually driven with the Germans to the two houses with them, when they went to secure the sets. One of these was a farm which belonged to an old man called BAK, who refused to tell the Germans where the sets were hidden; TIENE asked whether the Germans who were with her would pay some money for this information, and when they said that they would she went to one of the farm labourers who immediately produced the set from a haystack, drawing the reward of 200 Gulden on the spot. While this was taking place the old farmer managed to make his escape, and when they found that he had gone, the Germans told the labourer who had produced the set that he might take what he liked from the house, which was promptly looted. So far as the guarantee of immunity given by the Germans to TIENE is concerned, it must be said that no efforts weremade to look for BAK, and so far as source knows the people who lived in the other house and who also knew what CRIBBAGE did, have so far remaind unmolested. At the end of her interrogation by Group-4, source told her interrogators that if they wanted to shoot TIENE he could not stop them, but she would certainly be of no use to anyone at all if she was dead, and strongly recommended them to take her to a safe house, which they did. TIENE is still held in custody in this house by the KP. Source, although he has no absolute knowledge, gives it as his opinion that CRIBBAGE has been executed; and this may well be true, since it is fairly clear that the Germans quickly obtained from CRIBBAGE most of the information that he was in a position to give them".

It may be thought that the disaster which followed upon the arrest of Van DUYN and the courier TIENE, may be in great part contributable to TIENE, but in this connection the following very important point should be borne in mind.
TIENE before starting to work for VAN DUYN had some years activity in Resistance to her credit, and knew a very great many of the personalities connected with the members of other resistance organisations. This fact should be sufficient to show that TIENE was not guilty of gratuitous treachery, since had she so wished, she could have given a great mass of information upon people whom she knew to the Germans, which information never in fact came into their hands. All that the SD found out from the arrest of VAN DUYN and TIENE were the safe houses, addresses and contacts of VAN DUYN. Had TIENE been guilty of treachery on her own account, it is unthinkable that she would have stopped short on this point and not given away the rest of the very valuable information which she had.

A perusal of the attachedreport on VAN DUYN's interrogationby the Special Security Section, ample bears out the views which were held upon the necessity of such interview. In reading this reportit should be borne in mind that it has proved to be quite impossible to interrogate VAN DUYN thoroughly, because during the period which elapsed between the liberation of Holland and his return to the UK he got to know exactly what we knew about him.

The story which he tells and which is recountedin the interrogation report is so exceedingly naive as to be almost beyond believe, but at the same time it does leave a very strong impression. The theory that the reason underlying HAUBROK's good treatment of VAN DUYN was his wish to reinsure against the end of the war, hardly bears inspection, since it is quite unthinkable that he would have only reinsured with one or two agents, whils still pursuing the most active and successful enquiries into the Resistance Movement and being quite obviously, inspite of anything he may have said, responsible either directly or indirectly for the execution of COR and EDU,

It is not thought necessary to draw any deductions from this interrogation, since due to VAN DUYN being forewarned it is difficult to do so, and it is considered that circumstances surrounding VAN DUYN's imprisonment are sufficient to speak for themselves, the more so when the whole story is rounded off by his being the guest at SD headquarters on the night after his liberation from prison. It is not thought probable that VAN DUYN his long term mission for the Germans in this country, but is is pointed out that it would appear to be only proper to show the interrogation report to the Dutch Authorities for their own interest and information.
P
SERIAL NO B4303                   PRIORITY NIL           SECTION DUTCH
TO ME 27                               1 JUNE 45
PREFIX NIL                             VIA DIRECT              ORIGS NO 67
WDS 95

DOBSON FROM DADLEY STOP FOLLOWING AWARDS HAVE BEEN APPROVED
AND ACTUAL INSIGNIA HELD BY BRIGADIER STOP MILITARY CROSS TO
MULHOLLAND ALIAS PODEX AND STEMAN ALIAS BEZIQUE STOP MBE MILITARY
RPT MBE MILITARY TO DE GOEDE ALIAS RUMMY AND VAN DUYN ALIAS CRIBBAGE STOP IN VIEW OF CERTAIN FACTS OF SUSPICIOUS NATURE
WHICH WILL PROBABLY EMERGE AFTER INTERROGATION OF CRIBBAGE
BY SECURITY STILL HELD BY THEM PLEASE SIGNAL YOUR COMMENTS
STOP IF YOU CONSIDER NECESSARY IN CERTAIN CASE THE PUBLICATION OF THE AWARD IN THE GAZETTE COULD BE STOPPED STOP HOPE TO GET CRIBBAGE REPORT SOON

THI 010912GMT
TP AT 0919GMT DMS AS
L 3 W 3 PODEX RPT PODEX
SEC LST LINE LST WD GET RPT GET
KKK
WEVE ALREADY HAD 4303
THE PREVIOUS 3 4303 HAS BEEN BLANKED
TELEGRAMS
FLASH
SRL B1846/73                PRIORITY ROUTINE            020930Z  JUNE
FROM M E 27


59

DADLEY FROM DOBSON STOP
REF YOUR 67 DECORATION CRIBBAGE MUST RPT MUST GO THROUGH AND
IS AWARDED FOR WORK CARRIED OUT IN THE FIELD AND VALUE OF WHICH
NOT EVEN SECURITY CAN DENY STOP WHAT EVER SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
TOOK PLACE ROTTERDAM ASSURE ME LITTLE OR HARM DONE AND IF
THERE IS ANYBAXXXXXX BLAME IT SHOULD FALL ON TINE RPT TINE STOP HAD HER CRIME BEEN SERIOUS RESISTANCE WOULD HAVE HAD NO SIN EXECUTING HER STOP EVERY ONE IS FULL OF PRAISE OF
CRIBBAGE WORK AND HE SHOULD BE TREATED AS A HERO AND NOT RPT
NOT AS A CRIMINAL STOP REF YOUR 69 WILL TRY MAKE ESTIMATE SOONEST AND REVERT BUT TYPES ARE NOT RPT NOT IN MY PROVINCE STOP

PAD NO 5986A  WDS 111   LETTERS 520

TP AT 20 21042/107Z JUNE PH AS
OK RLSE 021043Z JUNE PH KKK
SRL NO B 4346                       PRIORITY NIL                 SEC HOLLAND
TO ME 27                               VIA DIRECT
PREFIX NIL                            2 JUNE 45                      ORIG NO 76

DOBSON FROM DADLEY STOP REPORT REQUESTED BY 0900 FOURTH
JUNE RPT FOURTH JUNE ON PROGRESS MADE IN THE RECOVERY OF WT EQUIPMENT
STOP PLEASE SIGNAL STOP YOUR FIVE NINE DECORATION CRIBBAGE DEFINITELY GOING THROUGH

35 WDS
THI 1330 GMT
TP 0211345 ML AS
KKKKKKK

   PH
RLSE 02ERT ML
Field Name: CRIBBAGE alias NOL alias THEODORE
Training Name: DUVEEN                                                      Interrogated by: Capt. P.B. WHITTAKER
Real Name: VAN DUYN                                                        on: 15th. JUNE 1945
Circuit or Group: KP in ROTTERDAM                                       Code: D 26


MISSION:

WT-Operator to BERTHE (Bert de Goede), KP organiser, and KOOS (Luke Mulholland) RVV organiser. He left U.K. on 6th July 1944 with BERTHE and KOOS, and was arrested on 19th December 1944, being set free from prison on 21st April 1945 and returned to U.K. in the middle of May.


INTERROGATOR'S NOTE
.

This agent has been the subject of a special security section interrogation and his information is thus unreliable. The security report (ref. RAW/KV/3259 dated 4th June 1945) concludes ".... it is considered that circumstances surrounding VAN DUYN's imprisonment are sufficient to speak for themselves ... it is nor thought probable that VAN DUYN has a long term mission for the Germans in this country ...."


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. ARRIVAL.

Informant was despatched by parachute with BERTHE and KOOS on the night of the 6th - 7th July 1944 and made a good landing in the vicinity op EPE. It was a blind drop and the pinpoint was located exactly. They went straight to the home of some friends of BERTHE, o short way from EPE; the following day took a train to EDE encoutering no incident en route. KOOS went on to Rotterdam and there made certain arrangements, as a result of which after about a fortnight, several Dutch Police arrived at their house and staged an arrest of BERTHE and CRIBBAGE, taking them to Rotterdam as their "Prisoners". They thus successfully reached the city without having to risk being picked up in one of the enemy sweeps on the youthful population and being deported to Germany. In Rotterdam, they settled down in a safe house, the address of which they already knew. Other Dutch policemen recovered the WT equipment which had been buried near the scene of their landing, and brought it to Rotterdam.


2. SITUATION IN THE AREA.

The local population was described as helpful but with no ideas of security or discretion and so, with the best intentions in the world, was liable to do more harm than good. CRIBBAGE mentioned that the Protestants were especially helpful.


3. COVER.

CRIBBAGE took papers with him from London which described him as a ship's carpenter. These were never shown yo any authorities but were condemned as useless by the organisation, which obtained a fresh set for him, changing his cover occupation to that of an electrical engineer.


4. ORGANISATION.

Informant was unable to give any information about organisations already in existence. He only knew that he was the WT-operator to BERTHE the KP organiser, to KOOS the RVV organiser and that he also received and transmitted messages occasionally for another organisation called L.O.


5. RECRUITS.

He knew nothing of recruiting. (But see para. 10enlistment of TINE as his courier.)


6. TRAINING.

Informant says that he gave instruction to certain people whom he understood were leaders of sections, in Security (this took the form of lectures on the lines of the instruction he had received at Beaulieu), in Sabotage (in which he was hampered by the lack of stores), and in weapon training (he had only one stengun and one pistol available). He gave this instruction either out doors or in a building belonging to a baker, where he said people could come and go freely, to five or six people at a time, usually in the afternoon.


7. PAY.

When agents required money, they asked for it, and if there was any available, they got it, If there was none available, they had to do without.


8. SECURITY RULES FOR THE ORGANISATION.

CRIBBAGE was unable to give any details of security rules but stated that the security there was very slack and that it was difficult to maintain. The organisers for whom he worked did not have any idea of their responsebilities towards a WT-Operator.


9. PREMISES.

He experienced much difficulty in the matter of obtaining suitable premises in which to live and from which to work. His organiser had no idea of what was required and, although CRIBBAGE asked him not to send anyone direct to the house from which he was transmitting he (the organiser) actually moved in to live in the house himself. CRIBBAGE protested but realised that it was useless, so left the house and found another one.

Another part of the house was used by other members of the resistance who forged documents.


10. INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Neither the telephone nor the Post were used, the messages being brought from the organiser usually by a girl courier and occasionally by the organiser himself. When the courier was used it was her custom to visit a certain address in order to pick up the message. At this address a signal, working as follows was used: a pot of flowers was placed on the window-sill, to the left to signify danger, to the right to signify safety. The messages were carried by the courier already coded. The courier was described by CRIBBAGE as being a girl of much experience in clandestine work and was enlisted by him. In the special security inerrogation it is recorded that the head of the Rotterdam branch of the KP, referring to this courier said, "At the time of TINE's enlistment by CRIBBAGE there had been some questions as to whether or not she was a suitable person for the work which she was to do, but CRIBBAGE had been loud in het praise and very anxious to have her sevices; she had been taken on on the strength of this and everything had gone well right up until teh time of the arrest ...... within one hour of the arrest of CRIBBAGE and TINE, the latter was seen with members of the Gestapo driving round Rotterdam in a car, pointing out all the addresses which she knew.

Attemps were being made to organise an internal WT-network, operating between certain towns. CRIBBAGE was to be an operator of this circuit, but at the time of his arrestit was still in its very early stage.


11. EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS.

      WT.

CRIBBAGE spoke of the many technical difficulties which he experienced in maintaining contact with the Home Station. He said that the HOme Station operators were no use. With regard to the precautions which he would have liked to havetaken during his transmissions, he said that he should have insisted on being provided with guards and to have insisted on as many spare sets and alternative houses as possible. No guards were provided and the only arrangements which he had made wereto ask the courier to keep her eyes open for DF-cars in the district, and to tell him at once if she were to see anything suspicious.

He says that during the few days previous to his arrest he felt that something was wrong and reported the matter, but no notice was taken.

He never kept copies of his messages any longer than five days.


    INNOCENT LETTER.

He did not use this system himself but thinks that KOOS used one in order to correspond with Londen after having been deported to Germany; he does not know whether it was successful, or any other details.



12
. ENEMY COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE IN THE AREA.

The National Police were extremely helpful and, as noted in para 1, assisted informant to reach Rotterdam and transport his set and WT equipment for him. The younger members of the Police Force had to join up on account of their Nazi sympathies and were not so riliable as the older members.

There were also members of the NSB in Rotterdam. He mentions also the presence of the Grüne Polizei.

When passing through controles one must not show any nervousness, but must look the official straight in the eye and act almost aggressively.

He was successful in avoiding deportation to Germany by pretending to have a broken leg; he got forewarning of the rafle and persuaded a doctor to encase his leg in plaster. When the Germans came to the house in which he was living they sympathased with him about his injury.

He always took routine precautions against being followed or searched in the street.


13. CASUALTIES.

Informant was arrested on the 19th December 1944. At the time, he was in the middle of a midday "sked"; the courier, who was with him, warned him that a large number of Germans were approaching and in a very short time the house was surrounded by about 200 of them. He broke off his transmission, hid his set and the two of them went to the kitchen where they engaged themselves in preparing lunch. The Germans, who were Wehrmacht personnel, forced their way into the house under the pretext that they were looking for a German deserter. They soon discovered the set, which had been hidden in a cupboard the door of which had not been properly closed, and both TINE and CRIBBAGE were taken away under arrest. They were seperated and CRIBBAGE says he was ill-treated and beaten. He attributed his arrest to D.F.

      Effect of the Arrest.

It would appear that a number of addresses were dicovered by the Germans as a result of the arrest and confession of the courier TINE (they saw Didi Gaazenbeek trying to destroy a piece of paper with this information on it, the Germans took it and confronted her with the information found on the paper). She told of two transmission houses from which WT equipment was recovered.



14. INTERROGATIONS.

At first he said that he was an electrical engineer and knew nothing whatsoever of the WT-set which had been discovered, but eventually admitted that he was a WT-Operator and that he had come from the U.K. When he admitted this, they stopped treating him harshly and a member of the SD came to him. This was STRUMSCHAR-FUHRER HAUBROK who interrogated informant in a very friendly manner. He first pointed out that it was quite useless to withhold any information as they knew everything already. The very pencil which CRIBBAGE had in his pocket, said HAUBROK, as well as the clothes which he wore, were sufficient to give him away at once. He asked him about Major BINGHAM, Major LIEFTINCK and Colonel DE BRUYNE, and also whether the HQ in London was still in Baker Street.

He was taken to the SD flat in The Hague and was very well received there, being provided with a meal, wine and cigarettes, and the interrogation was characterised by the pleasant and amiable atmosphere. He was questioned about other agents with whom he had been trained and they queted the names of some whom he knew had never reached the field. HAUBROK gave many illustrations of the efficiency of the German C.E. Service (Counter Espionage) and told CRIBBAGE how successful he and his men had been and how foolish the British and their agents were.

He was interrogated by the Grüne Polizei on technical matters concerned with his WT equipment. They would not at first believe that he was unable to decode messages unless he had the appropriate one-time-pad, but after he had explained how it worked, they realised that he was telling the truth. They asked him to work for them, but he explained to them that it was impossible to do so and maintained his cover at the same time.

In prison he was given preferential treatment and finally on the 21st April HAUBROK came to the cell and told CRIBBAGE that he was free. He was warned not to go to Rotterdam and was told that he might stay the night as a guest at the SD flat in The Hague; he was provided with an "Entlassenschein", which stated that his papers had been lost.

Asked why he thouht he received this treatment, informant explained that he believed that HAUBROK was trying to make sure of his post-war career and did not wish to run the risk of being treated as a war-criminal. He said that he (CRIBBAGE) got on very well with the SD peole because he flattered them, pretended to admire their efficiency and success, and never contradicted anything that they said.


15. OPERATIONS.

No information.


16. RECEPTION COMMITEES.

No information.


17. PARALLEL CIRCUITS.

Informant says that besides the KP and the RVV there were also, in Rotterdam, the OD and the LO organisations, about which he knew nothing, but for which he transmitted messages to London.


18. PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES.

Allied propaganda and news emanating from the BBC and the RAF leaflets were widely distributed and were enthusiasticly received. He comments that it would have been better idea to have arranged for the RAF leaflets to have been distributed through resistance organisations, as very frequently they were collected by the Germans and destroyed.


19. CRITICISMS OF THE MISSION.

He commented on the absence of a search of himself and his equipment by some responsible person immediately prior to leaving the U.K. He discovered, shortly after his landing, that under the lapel of his jacket was a little Red Cross Flag which he had bought in Gerrard's Cross a few days before his departure from the U.K.


20. SUGGESTIONS.

Future WT-Operators should be warned that they should, in no circumstances, consider themselves as important people in an organisation; but that they should, nevertheless, insist on their rights in matter of obtaining a sufficient number of safe houses and suitable premises for transmissions.
                                                       
PARLEMENTAIR ENQUETE COMMISSIE 1940-1945, ZITTING VRIJDAG 24 MAART 1950.
Verhoor van: DINA ELISABETH GAAZENBEEK, oud 26 jaar wonende te Ede, secretaresse.


Q: Is het juist, dat u in 1944 contact hebt gehad met vanuit Engeland in Nederland gedropte agenten?
A. Ja.

Q: Wie waren dat?
A: Bert, Loek en Nol.

Q: Kent u ook hun werkelijke namen?
A: Bert is De Goede, Loek is Mulholland en Nol is Arie van Duin.

Q: Hoe bent u met hen in aanraking gekomen?
A: Door Bert. Ik had met hem samengewerkt bij "Je Maintiendrai", voordat hij naar Engeland ging.

Q: U kende De Goede dus reeds van de tijd, voordat hij naar Engeland was gegaan?
A: Ja.

Q: Wanneer is hij naar Engeland gegaan?
A: Ik kan dat niet met zekerheid zeggen; misschien eind 1942 gebin 1943. Hij is via Zweden weggegaan.

Q: Is hij na zijn dropping weer bij u gekomen?
A: Met Loek en Nol. Zij zijn dus met hun drieën gekomen. Ik werd in het huis van Bert geroepen.

Q: Hebben zij u toen gevraagd hulp te verlenen?
A: Ja.

Q: Vertelden zij direct dat zij gedropt waren?
A: Nee, zij hebben mij eerst een verhoor afgenomen.

Q: Hoe bedoelt u dat?
A: Bert was niet in de kamer, en Loek en Nol zaten daar met een pistool voor zich. Zij vroegen mij, of ik ondergronds werk deed, waarop ik "Neen" heb gezegd. Ik dacht toen, dat zij spionnen van de SD waren. Toen ik niet door de mand viel, hebben zij er later Bert bijgehaald en toen was alles goed.

Q: Waarom vroegen zij dat?
A: Omdat zij wilden proberen, of ik loslippig was of dat ik meteen zou bekennen, dat ik ondergronds werk deed.

Q: Van hun kant was het dus een methode om te proberen, hoe ver zij met u konden gaan?
A: Ja.

Q: Zij wilden u dus als het ware "testen"?
A: Ja.

Q: Hoe is het verder gegaan?
A: Bert is thuis gebleven, Loek is meteen naar Rotterdam doorgegaan en Nol is naar mijn huis meegegaan. Een week of twee is hij bij ons geweest; toen zijn de jongens opgehaald en ik ben naar Rotterdam meegegaan.

Q: Wat was de bedoeling daarvan? Hebben zij u gezegd, waarom zij naar Rotterdam gingen en waarom zij wilden, dat u meeging?
A: Toen zij gingen, hebben zij mij het gezegd.

Q: Welke mededelingen hebben zij daaromtrent gedaan?
A: Zij werkten voor een Engelse dienst en ik moest als koerierster bij de zenddienst werken.

Q: Hebben zij u nog bijzonderheden omtrent hun opdracht verteld?
A: Bert en Loek waren liaison-officier, Bert voor de KP en Loek voor de RVV en Nol was de operator.

Q: Hoe lang is dit werk ongestoord doorgegaan?
A: Tot 19 December 1944.

Q: Wanneer waren zij gekomen?
A: Einde juni (
1944)

Q: Hoe land bent u bij hen in Rotterdam geweest?
A: Ongeveer een half jaar.

Q: Hebt u zich hoofdzakelijk beperkt tot koerierswerkzaamheden?
A: Ik werkte ook bij de zenddienst, ik codeerde en ik decodeerde.

Q: Hebben zij u de code medegedeeld?
A: Ja.

Q: Ik meen, dat op een gegeven moment de zender is gepeild op een adres aan de Mathenesserweg, waarbij u en Van Duin gevangen zijn genomen.
A: Ja, en nog iemand, die bij ons in huis was.

Q: Wie was dat?
A: Dat was ElZinga, het was zijn werkelijke naam.

Q: De Goede en Mulholland zijn toen niet gevangengenomen. Is dat later ook niet gebeurd?
A: Neen.

Q: Wat hebt u ervaren, toen u werd gevangengenomen? Bent u mishandeld?
A: Ik heb wel een paar klappen in mijn gezicht gekregen, maar ik ben niet zo mishandeld als Nol en Elzinga.

Q: Bent u door Haubrock verhoord?
A: Ja.

Q: Alleen door Haubrock of ook door anderen?
A: Ook door anderen, het waren er ongeveer vier.

Q: Hoe bent u te spreken over Haubrock en zijn behandeling?
A: Hij is altijd even correct tegen mij geweest.

Q: De klappen waren dus niet van hem?
A: Neen, zodra hij kwam, hield men op met de mishandelingen.

Q: Was dit bij de mannen ook het geval?
A: Ja.

Q: Gebeurde het in uw aanwezigheid?
A: Neen, apart.

Q: Wat wilde Haubrock van u weten?
A: Adressen, etc.

Q: De adressen waar werd gezonden?
A: De adressen, waar werd gezonden, hadden zij toch gevonden, want daarvan had ik een lijstje. De zenders waren op verschillende adressen ondergebracht en om dit enigszins goed onder controle te houden, had ik ze opgeschreven.

Q: Ging u van het ene adres naar het andere om te zenden?
A: ja.

Q: De zenders bleven dus op hetzelfde adres staan, maar u gebruikte ze afwisselend?
A: Ja, en zij werden ook nog wel verplaatst.

Q: Uit het papiertje kon Haubrock dus opmaken, hoeveel apparaten er waren?
A: Ja.

Q: Hoeveel apparaten waren er?
A: Ik zou het niet precies kunnen zeggen, misschien drie of vier.

Q: Wat heeft Haubrock vervolgens gedaan?
A: Hij is er heen gegaan en hij heeft de zenders in beslag genomen, maar hij heeft de mensen niets gedaan.

Q: Hebt u dat later gehoord?
A: Ja.

Q: Haubrock zal u dit zelf misschien hebben gezegd. Maar hebt u later kunnen nagaan, of het inderdaad zo was gebeurd?
A: Ja, hij is bij de familie Steffens geweest en toen moest ik mee, omdat deze mensen niet wisten, waar de zender stond.

Q: Heeft hij u bij deze tochten meegenomen?
A: Alleen naar de familie Steffens.

Q: waren op het papiertje, dat bij u was gevonden, ook de adressen aangegeven?
A: Ja.

Q: U hoefde ze dus niet meer mede te delen?
A: Neen, die wist hij.

Q: wat is er verder gebeurd?
A: Wij zijn 's morgens om ongeveer half één gevangengenomen, de hele middag zijn wij verhoord en 's avonds zijn wij naar Scheveningen gebracht. Toen werden wij weer verhoord, maar men probeerde het op een andere manier, met heerlijke boterhammen, een glas wijn en dergelijke.

Q: Wanneer zijn de adressen bezocht waar de andere zenders waren?
A: Misschien een paar dagen daarna.

Q: Wat is er gebeurd, nadat de zenders in beslag waren genomen?
A: Ik kreeg nog enige kruisverhoren.

Q: Wat wilde men toen van u weten?
A: Men wilde meer te weten komen; men was al een halfjaar van ons bestaan op de hoogte; dat heeft Haubrock mij gezegd.

Q: Wist Haubrock ook, dat De Goede en Mulholland respectievelijk met de KP en de RVV contact hadden?
A: Hoe bedoelt u dat?

Q: U hebt gezegd, dat De Goede gedropt was voor de KP en Mulholland voor de RVV. Was Haubrock hiervan op de hoogte, toen u gevangen werd genomen?
A: Dat weet ik niet zeker.

Q: Zou hij het niet van Van Duin, of Elzinga hebben gehoord?
A: Hij heeft het absoluut niet van één van hun tweeën gehoord.

Q: Hoe heeft het zich toegragen, dat Haubrock later op een andere manier heeft gewild, dat u hem met De Goede in verbinding zou brengen?
A: Wij hadden Haubrock een correspondentie-adres genoemd, dat, volgens ons, opgeruimd was. Hij is naar dat correspondentie-adres gegaan, waar men waarschijnlijk vergeten had het door te geven, in ieder geval lagen er nog brieven, waarop er toevallig een bij was voor Bert, waarin een afspraak stond. Op een bepaald uur moest hij ergens in Rotterdam komen.

Q: Het was dus een brief, bestemd voor De Goede, waarin hen werd voorgesteld ergens te komen?
A: Ja, later heb ik van Bert gehoord, dat hij verhinderd was en dus niet kon komen, wat zijn geluk is
geweest.

Q: Is Haubrock naar dat adres gegaan?
A: Ja.

Q: Bent u toen ook meegeweest?
A: Ja, ik moest mee.

Q: Wist u, waar het om ging?
A: Dat stond niet in de afspraak vermeld.

Q: Ik bedoel, waar het voor Haubrock om ging, namelijk dat hij DE Goede wilde treffen.
A: Ja, dat heeft hij mij gezegd.

Q: Heeft Haubrock u gezekgd, dar hij De Goede wilde proberen, of heeft hij iets anders gezegd.
A: Hij heeft het op een andere manier voorgesteld. Haubrock wilde proberen contact te krijgen met Bert en dan wilde hij met hem praten.

Q: Waarover.
A: Ik weet het niet, dat heeft hij mij nooit gezegd. Haubrock heeft gezegd, dat hij met De Goede wilde spreken, maar hij zou hem nietgevangennemen.

Q: Wat dacht u daarvan?
A: Ik geloofde het natuurlijk niet.

Q: Heeft Haubrock nooit gezegd, dat hij van De Goede droppingsterreinen van de RVV te weten wilde komen.
A: Het is mogelijk, maar ik kan het mij niet herinneren.

Q: Wanneer bent u vrijgelaten?
A: Ik denk, dat ik eind Januari 1945 ben vrijgekomen.

Q: Hoe heeft zich dat toegedragen.
A: Heel typisch. Haubrock heeft mij met de auto weggebracht tot een brug op de weg van Voorburg naar Rotterdam. Ik heb toen een auto aangehouden en toen mocht ik meerijden naar Rotterdam.

Q: Wat is aan uw vrijlating voorafgegaan? Heeft Haubrock gezegd, waarom hij u vrijliet? Heeft hij een afspraak met u gemaakt?
A: Ik moest proberen met Bert contact te krijgen. Haubrock heeft de voorwaarde gesteld, dat ik moest terugkomen en als ik het niet deed, zouden er vijftig jongens worden doodgeschoten. De jongens van de KP hebben mij toen laten onderduiken.

Q: Heeft hij u gezegd op een bepaalde tijd terug te zijn?
A: Dat kan ik mij niet herinneren.

Q: Hij moest toch een bepaalde tijd vaststellen, want het dreigement was, dat anderen zouden worden doodgeschoten als u niet terugkwam
A: Ik kan mij niet meer herinneren, of hij een bepaalde tijd heeft genoemd.

Q: Heeft Haubrock gezegd, waarom hij met De Goede in contact wilde komen? Heeft hij toen ook gezegd, dat hij De Goede niet zouarresteren?
A: Ik geloof niet, dat hij dat heeft gezegd.

Q: Zijn bedoeling was dus, dat u hem het adres van De Goede zou mededelen?
A: Ik moest vragen, of Bert genegen was een bespreking met Haubrock te hebben.

Q: Heeft Haubrock gezegd, waarom hij die bespreking wilde hebben?
A: Neen.

Q: Wat veronderstelde u?
A: Ik was bang, dat hij, als hij Bert te pakken zou krijgen, hem gevangen zou nemen.

Q: Heeft Haubrock niet gepoogd die vrees bij u weg te praten door te zeggen, dat hij hem niet gevangen wilde nemen en alleen maar met hem wilde spreken?
A: Ja, dat heeft hij mij welgezegd, maar dat geloofde ik natuurlijk niet.

Q: Wat hebt u gedaan, toen u naar Rotterdam bent gegaan.
A: Ik ben naar de familie Steffens gegaan, daar heb ik de nacht geslapen en toen heb ik getracht contact te krijgen.

Q: Hoe heeft zich die geschiedenis verder toegedragen?
A: Ik ben gegaan naar Cor in Schiedam. Ik heb met hem een afspraak gemaakt, dat ik Bert op een bepaalde dag ergens zou ontmoeten, en daar ben ik toen heengegaan. Ik heb Bert toen alles verteld en daarna en daarna hebben ze mij laten onderduiken.

Q: Bent u niet gevolgdtoen u daar heen ging?
A: Ik heb er wel op gelet.

Q: Had u zelf de overtuiging, dat u op dat moment niet werd nagegaan.
A: Ik was ontzettend bang, dat ik werd gevolgd, maar ik moestcontact krijgen.

Q: Met wie hebt u het gesprek gehad, waarbij werd besloten dat u moest onderduiken?
A: Met Bert en nog iemand, waarvan ik mij de naam niet herinner. Ik meen, dat hij voor meester in de rechten studeerde. Voorts was er een stenotypiste bij, die alles opnam.
Dit gebeurde in het huis van Pontier op de Bergweg.

Q: Waar bent u verder gebleven?
A: Ik ben toen gegaan naar een zekere heer Formenooy in Nieuwekerk aan de IJssel, waar ik ben ondergedoken tot het einde van de oorlog.

Q: Hebt u verder geen last meer gehad?
A: Neen.

Q: Wat is het voor een verhaal, dat Haubrock bij of door middel van de familie Steffens een papier in handen heeft gekregen, waarop werd medegedeeld, dat u wegens verraad was geliquideerd?
A: Dat heeft men expres gedaan, opdat ik niet zou worden achtervolgd, en ook voor de jongens in Scheveningen. Men heeft Haubrock medegedeeld, dat de KP mij had geliquideerd, waardoor de jongens konden worden gered, die nog in Scheveningen waren.

Q: Was u er van op de hoogte, dat men dit op deze manier heeft gedaan?
A: Neen, dat heb ik later gehoord.

Q: Hebt u, toen men zei onder te duiken niet gezegd, dat de gevangenen in Scheveningen gevaar zouden lopen te worden doodgeschoten?
A: Ja, dat heb ik gezegd.

Q: Wat zei men toen?
A: Bert zei, dat dit toch niet zou gebeuren en anders was er niets aan te doen. Ik moest onderduiken en mocht niet meer terug.

Q: Waarom?
A: Zij waren bang, dat de Duitsers het er bij mij uit zouden slaan en dat ik iets zou verraden.

Q: Van wie hebt u later gehoord, dat men het op deze manier heeft gedaan?
A: Het kan of Bert of Nol zijn geweest, dat weet ik niet precies meer.

Q: Hebt u het na de oorlog gehoord?
A: Ja, want tijdens mijn onderduiktijd hen ik geen contact meer met Bert gehad, wel met de illegale groep in Nieuwekerk aan den IJssel

Q: Hebt u weleens gehoord, of Haubrock de mededeling, dat u geliquideerd was, heeft geloofd of niet?
A: Ja, dat geloof ik wel. De laatste week in de cel is er een dame bij mij geweest, mevrouw Daalden van Eddekinge, waaraan Haubrock het heeft verteld. Na de oorlog is zij bij ons thuis geweest en toen heeft zij verteld, dat hij er ontzettend van onder de indruk was.

Q: Haubrock is dus later weer naar het adres van de familie Steffens gegaan?
A: Schijnbaar wel, dat weet ik natuurlijk niet.

Q: Van die dame hebt u gehoord, dat Haubrock, op grond van het bericht, geloofde, dat u wegens verraad was geliquideerd?
A: Ja.

Q: Hebt u de drie agenten na die tijd nog ontmoet? U hebt zoëven gezegd dat u De Goede nog hebt gezien na de oorlog.
A: Ja, en Nol en Loek ook. Nol en nog een paar anderen hebben mij na de oorlog, in Mei 1945, weer naar Ede gebracht.

Q: Is het u ook bekend, wie die truc heeft geregeld?
A: De truc van Haubrock?

Q: Neen, dat u wegens verraad zou zijn geliquideerd.
A: Neen. Na de oorlog was ik passief voor alles, niets interesseerde mij, ik was geestelijk volkomen geknakt.

Q: Waardoor in hoofdzaak?
A: In de cel kreeg ik dysentrie en toen ik was ondergedoken kreeg ik geelzucht en een leveraandoening.

Q: U bent er dus nooit achtergekomen, wie dit in elkaar heeft gezet?
A: Neen, het interesseerde mij niet meer en het werd thuis verboden over illegaliteit te spreken, omdat ik er niet meer tegen kon.

Q: Ik dank u zeer voor de inlichtingen, die u hebt verstrekt, en ik sluit het verhoor.

Haar gevangenschap in het Oranje Hotel is Didi Gaazenbeek niet in de koude kleren gaan zitten. Het heeft haar na de oorlog nog jaren gekost om hier overheen te komen. Vele tientalle jaren later brak het haar nogmaals op. Mogelijk door deze traumatische ervaring kon zij bepaalde vragen tijdens dit verhoor niet beantwoorden. Terwijl zij wel wist dat Haubrock als de dood was voor een uit de hand lopende guerilla oorlog en vroeg daarom of Bert bereid was zijn wapenopslagplaatsen aan hem over te dragen.

Ook heeft Didi terecht veel last gehad van de beschuldigingen dat zij verraad zou hebben gepleegd.

Wat wel opvalt is dat geen van de verhalen, die van Didi Gaazenbeek, van  Arie van Duyn en van Otto Haubrok niet overeen komen. Wel in grote lijnen, maar niet in detail.

Waarom Bert zo'n vijandige houding ten opzichte van haar heeft aangenomen, is niet duidelijk. Wel is bekend dat hij nadat naar bevrijd gebied was overgestoken, ook op was van de stress.

                  w.mugge@home.nl


                       
06-09-2019