They Who Were Killed

Dutchmen listened to the cold Nazi voice on the morning broadcast from Hilversum: "In view of the fact that. . . ."

Saboteurs had recently wrecked a train, killing Nazi troops: Nazi officials had carefully selected 1,600 prominent Dutchmen as hostages. Their time was up. Continued the voice:

"Despite the very grave warning by the Commander of the Wehrmacht, Air General Christiansen, the perpetrators of the high-explosive attempt near Rotterdam have been too cowardly to give themselves up. The following five hostages have been shot this morning. . . ."

The five: William Ruys, director general of the Rotterdamsche-Lloyd Line; Alexander Baron Schimmelpenninck van der Oije, onetime aide-de-camp to Queen Wilhelmina; Eog Count Limbrug Stirum; Christoffel Bennekers, onetime police inspector of Rotterdam; a Rotterdam attorney named Waalde.

As reports came of the shooting of 96 French war prisoners for refusing to work in a German camp, of the execution of ten Poles for sabotaging railroads, of the slaying of three Norwegians for sheltering Russian marines, tight-lipped Dutchmen buried their five dead.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.