De eerste oorlogsjaren

It is not known exactly when Tobias began his resistance work, but from the Royal Victoria Patriotic School report number 17107 we do know the following:

“As early as 1940, Tobs joined the Order Service.”

He had come into contact with Jan and Siem Bakker, professional soldiers evacuated from Den Helder. Through these two, he again got in touch with Henny Meijer, who ran the underground newspaper B.C. Nieuws. Meijer was the owner of a chain of stores called Magazijn Nederland. Tobias helped stencil the newspaper and took care of its distribution. At the time, Tobs was living in Santpoort again with his mother and both brothers. In February 1941, the family moved to Kruidbergerweg 46, the house of his grandmother. Their own house at Kruidbergerweg 99 had been rented out for a longer period after they had moved to Amsterdam.

At the beginning of 1941, Tobias began helping to place Jews with farmers. He did this, among others, together with Jaap Balder, a carpenter from Broek op Langedijk, whom he had met through Balder’s brother-in-law, Mr. Broertjes, a tax inspector from Velsen. Balder knew many people willing to take in Jews. He was also a member of Group 2000 of Jacoba van Tongeren, with the membership number 1400.

According to Tobias himself, he was able to help between 40 and 50 Jews find hiding places. Among them was the family of Klara Oudkerk from Amsterdam; Tobias was engaged to her. Klara herself was hidden in the house of the Bangma family in Santpoort, at Wustelaan 94. The Jews in hiding were provided with false papers arranged by Henk Pelser. Henk lived in the Suyckerhofje at Prinsengracht 393 in Amsterdam and was a medical student at the university. He was also a member of the underground newspaper Het Parool. Tobias had met him because his girlfriend Sarah was a niece of Klara Oudkerk.

In the period of October/November 1942, Tobias himself came into contact with Parool, where he became involved in distribution. Through friends, he added more people to the distribution network. The distribution of Parool apparently took up so much time that he stopped placing Jews in hiding.

In april 1943 brengt hij Meijer in contact met mensen van Het Parool met als gevolg dat beiden kranten B.C.Nieuws/Je Maintiendrai en Het Parool gaan samenwerken. Tobias bleef tot zijn ontsnapping uit Nederland voor Het Parool werken.

In April 1943, he put Meijer in contact with people from Het Parool, with the result that the two newspapers, B.C. Nieuws / Je Maintiendrai and Het Parool, began to cooperate. Tobias continued to work for Het Parool until his escape from the Netherlands.

In mid-1943, Tobias went to live in lodgings on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam, together with Rein Bangma, whom he had come to know because his fiancée, Klara Oudkerk, was in hiding with Bangma’s parents. They lived above a clothing factory. From the outside, however, it appeared as though there was an office located above the factory.

During a visit to Balder on 10 June 1943, Tobias met the RAF officer Reginald Giddey, who was hiding with Balder.

From Giddey’s interrogation by MI-9 it appears that Giddey was first taken to Balder and then to the apartment of Tobias and Rein. He stayed there for fourteen days and was then taken by Tobias by train to Rotterdam. There he was accommodated with Miss De Ryckman, who was said to be a sister of Tobias. Who this actually was is unclear; it was certainly not one of Tobias’s sisters, as they were all in hiding. After Rotterdam, via Roosendaal, Antwerp, and Brussels, he arrived in Paris. There, as a result of the actions of the Belgian traitor Prosper Dezitter, alias Captain Jackson, he was arrested on 8 August 1943. He spent the remainder of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.

Another RAF crew member who was helped by Tobias was Kenneth Shannon. He left the Netherlands via a different route: Alkmaar, Amsterdam, Amersfoort, Zeist, Utrecht, and Eindhoven. Near Weert, the border was crossed, and the next stop was the town of Bree in Belgium. Via Brussels he traveled to Paris, where Shannon too was arrested through the actions of Dezitter on 3 August 1943. He spent the rest of the war in various prisoner-of-war camps in Germany.

Dezitter was sentenced to death in Belgium and executed on 7 September 1948.

According to the information Tobias provided about his family during his interrogation at the Royal Victoria Patriotic School, he stated that his brother Willem was living with his mother. This, however, is not correct: his brother Willem was in hiding on a farm in Sint Maartensbrug in North Holland. Mr. Kees Dekker wrote the following about this in an email:

“During his temporary stays with my grandfather Pieter Dekker in Sint Maartensbrug, I met Tobs and, as a small boy, played with him. Everything was kept in the strictest secrecy, as no one was allowed to know that he was temporarily in hiding there. His brother Willem stayed with us as a person in hiding from 1943 until the liberation. Wim and Tobs therefore met each other as brothers in Sint Maartensbrug (as did their mother, for me Aunt Guus). Wim became my closest childhood friend. After the war I spent a lot of time with him as a child in Santpoort, in the Biallosterski family home.
It is also the case that Tobs received Balder many times in my grandfather’s garden house. There were also contacts with the later mayor Van Hall and Feike de Boer (director of the NDSM) and Albert Kaan (later director of social affairs of Amsterdam).
Through Wim I also know that Tobs had contact in Sint Maartensbrug with Sicco Mansholt. My grandfather’s garden house was a coming and going of people from the resistance. My father Matthijs Dekker and my uncle Gerrit Dekker were also both involved in underground activities. In the years before going to England, Tobs had already arranged for Jewish families and individuals to go into hiding in our living area via my father and uncle.”

Tobias may have laid a foundation here that proved very useful during his second mission, namely his contacts with people such as Sicco Mansholt.

After some further research, it has emerged that Willem and Tobias were distant relatives of Pieter Dekker. Pieter Dekker was born on 30 May 1869 and died on 8 September 1956. He was married to Maartje de Graaf, born on 28 September 1869 in Zijpe and deceased on 31 October 1939. She was a younger sister of Willem de Graaf, born on 14 February 1868 in Zijpe. He married Elisabeth Cornelissen on 1 May 1892 in Anna Paulowna; she was born on 25 May 1871 in Anna Paulowna. Their daughter, Guurtje de Graaf, married Tobias Biallosterski Sr. on 10 May 1917 in Schoten. They had three sons: Wim, Tobias, and Bennie.

Reinder Lieuwes Bangma was also interrogated at the Royal Victoria Patriotic School; his file was given number 17108. He returned to Santpoort in October 1942 and also resumed his studies at the Nautical School in Amsterdam. The following can be read in the report of his interrogation:

Bangma remained at the Nautical School until the Christmas holidays of 1942. During these holidays his parents received a warning by telephone at about 04.00 hrs, stating that a house search was going to take place and advising Mrs. Bangma to send her four sons away from the house. The boys therefore left and shortly afterwards the Dutch Police arrived, one of whom had telephoned the warning to Bangma's parents.
Bangma went to stay with a Nautical School friend of his Bertus de Goede, Parallelweg 54, Ede. Meanwhile during the Christmas holidays Bangma had been brought into contact with "Het Parool" through Biallosterski (RPS 10707) who in turn had got to know through a Jewish girl Clara Oudkerk (dealt with in report on Biallosterski) who was hiding at Bangma's parents house since October 1942.
Bangma then helped to spread copies of 'Het Parool' in a small way. About March 1943 Bangma travelled to Amsterdam where Biallosterski introduced him to some of the members of the committee of "Het Parool" at the Atlanta Restaurant.
These were: Joop Stallinga, Jaap Lambeck and 'Maarten'.
The Committee of 'Het Parool' between April 1943 and October 1943 was composed as follows:

Joop Stallinga - this man also wrote articles and dealt with the distribution of the paper.

'MAARTEN', who looked after the financial side and also wrote articles.

Biallosterski & Bangma who were in charge of the distribution. (Tom & Popeye)

DESCRIPTIONS.

Joop Stallinga, member of SDAP. Address: Van Lennepstraat 117, or 119 Amsterdam. Age: 25.
Height: 1 metre 70. Build: Slightly hunch backed. Face: Reddish fair hair, freckled face, wears glasses.

Jaap Lambeck. Address: Gerard Springerstraat 15, Amsterdam. Age: About 30. Height: 1 metre 80. Face: Sparse hair, which is inclined to stand out stiffly. Wears false glasses. General: Generally wears PTT cap and has false papers showing him to be employed by the PTT.

'MAARTEN'. Zoomstraat 53, Amsterdam. Age: About 35. Height: 1 metre 80. Build: Slim. Face: Fair Hair.

'ERIK' @ Pieter 't Hoen. Address c/o Roosenburg, Berg 171, Neunen near Eindhoven. Age: 40 to 45. Height: 1 metre 85. Face: Dark skin, bald top with dark curly hair at sides, big nose.

When Bangma was introduced to the committee members at the Atlanta Restaurant he was asked if he was willing to take over the ditribution of "Het Parool" in Gelderland, De Betuwe including Arnhem, Nijmegen Apeldoorn, etc. Bangma agreed to take on this job and carried it out with the help of Bertus de Goede, although the latter was not a member of the committee, but knew many people who were willing to act as agents in the distributing of the clandestine paper. Eventually Bangma had about 40 agents in the area allotted to him. "Het Parool" was printed in The Hague, name and address of printers forgotten. The papers were then transported by the road transport firm 'Snelle Visser' of the Spui, The Hague. The papers were sent from the printers to the transport agents by 'bakfiets' (transport bicycle). The transport firm then delivered them by lorry to their agents in Amsterdam at the Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal. The transport firm was not aware that they were carrying clandestine papers. Thes bundles of papers were then fetched by bakfiets and taken to the distribution centre of "Het Parool" at Ouwerzijds Achterburgwal 118, Amsterdam. Although the centre changed from time to time.

'ERIK', who has adopted the alias of Pieter 't Hoen since Goedhart (Records) the original Pieter 't Hoen was arrested at the end of 1942. "ERIK" was really the head of the committee and wrote articles for the paper.

In April 1943 Bangma moved to Amsterdam and went to live with Biallosterski at this address (Oudezijds Achterburgwal 118). The windows had no curtains and had the appearance of being the office of the factory underneath. There was also a little notice over their doorbell stating "office". It was rather dangerous to use this place as living quarters as well as a distributing centre of "Het Parool". The paper appeared monthly between the 20th and 30th of each month. Earlier on in the month a stencilled copy of the BBC-News was issued. This started after the confiscation of private wireless sets in Holland (by the Germans).
About two months later the distribution centre was moved to a dis-used leather work shop in the Koestraat, Amsterdam. This was condemned and very old ramshacked building. Bangma, Biallosterski and Lambeck then took bundles of these papers personally to their various agents. The circulation was abbout 30.000 and plans were made to increase this to 60.000.
During this time Bangma assited Biallosterski to fetch the RAF pilots as described in the report on Biallosterski. They continued with their work until eventually they decided to try to escape as there was the danger of being picked up by the Germans and sent to work in Germany (Arbeitseinsatz). They also had the alternative of going into hiding which did not appeal to them at all.
The committee of "Het Parool" did not at first agree with their decision to escape but after a time came to the conclusion that it was too danderous to stay any longer.
In July 1943 they had moved to room in the Rozenstraat 19, Amsterdam. In September 1943, having resigned from "Het Parool", Bangma and Biallosterski moved to the house of Bangma's parents. (Wustelaan 94, Santpoort). If a search had taken place during their stay, they were to hid in a space behind a false wall in the house. However, no house search took place.

Bangma's brother Anton was on the committee of "Je Maintiendrai" and was in hiding at Zoomstraat 53, Amsterdam (same address as 'Maarten'). Another member of this committee was Adrianne (Adriaan) de Bak, who was in hiding at Bangma's parents house in Santpoort. Bangma stated it was De Bak and not Meyer who was brought into contact with "Het Parool" as stated in the report of Biallosterski. The committee of "Je Maintiendrai" consisted of the following people:

Anton Bangma.

Adrianne de Bak. Address: Rijksstraatweg Santpoort. Age 39. Height 1 metre 65. Build: Slim. Face Dark, dark hair. (This is possibly Adriaan de Back)

Cornelis van Paasen (student). Address: Peace Palace, The Hague. His father (now deceased) was employed there and his mother still continued to live there. From May 1941 to June 1943 "Je Maintiendrai" was stencilled there as some exellent electric stencilling machines were available in the building. Age: 26. Height: 1 metre 70. Build: Slim. Face: Fair hair.

Kees Vihoff (Dutch student). Age: 24. Height 1 metre 70. Face: Dark hair, wears glasses.

The history of 'Je Maintiendrai' is as follows. Meyer, mentioned in the report on Biallosterski founded the paper at Santpoort. Andriaan de Bak and Anton Bangma then joined the committee. Van Paasen of The Hague was brought into the committee by Meyer. About May 1941 Meyer was sought after by the Gestapo in connection with the hiding of Jews and therefore went into hiding himself. From that time he broke off contact with 'Je Maintiendrai'. From May 1941 to June 1943 the paper was stebcilled at the Peace Palace in The Hague. During 1943 'Je Maintiendrai' was brought into contact with 'Het Parool'. They were however seeking a method of printing 'Je Maintiendrai' instead of stencilling it and eventually found a printer, name unknown, in Leeuwarden. They changed over to printing 'Je Maintiendrai' in June 1943. During the early days of 'Je Maintiendrai' (Rein) Bangma assisted in the spreading of a few copies of the paper but apart from that did not carry out any important work.

In July 1943 many of the distributing agents were arrested in different parts of the country. The distribution had to be re-organised and Bangma and Biallosterski therefore helped in this re-organisation. It was not long before the distribution again reached about 15.000 copies. Just before Bangma left in September 1943, 'Je Maintiendrai' came into contact with another organisation, name unknown, and were making plans to increase the distribution to 60.000. Since the prcess of producing 'Je Maintiendrai' had been changed from stencilling to printing in June 1943, the paper had appeared twice monthly.
Whilst Bangma was assisting in the re-organisation of the distribution of 'Je Maintiendrai', he moved to Amsterdam for a couple of weeks during September 1943. He lived care of some friends, Ribbelen, Stationsweg 275, Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, about June 1943, Bangma and Biallosterski sought a means of escape to the United Kingdom. They would have liked to gone with the RAF pilot Giddy, but this they were unable to do so.
As stated in the report on Biallosterski, they met Willy Gutteling (Record) who in turn brought them into contact with ... (redacted) (Anton Schrader). The description of the journey to the Spui and the escape agrees with that given in the reports on De Bloois (RPS 17106) and Biallosterski (RPS 17107).

Klara Oudkerk. Born on 18 May 1920 in Den Helder. Her father was Hijman Oudkerk, born on 20 October 1886 in Den Helder. He married Debora Elte on 25 March 1919 in Den Helder. She was born on 30 June 1887 in Den Helder. After Klara, a son was born as well: Benjamin Hijman Oudkerk, on 25 April 1922, also in Den Helder. On 22 June 1922, the Oudkerk family moved to Amsterdam.