Roelof Vlietstra: 'Engelandvaarder' (England paddler)

The Engelandvaarder Museum (https://www.museumengelandvaarders.nl/), which is located a few kilometres north of The Hague, commemorates those Dutch people who, between the Dutch capitulation on 9 May 1940 and the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, left the Netherlands with the object of reaching England to help with the war effort. The museum commemorates both those whose attempts succeeded and those whose attempts failed. The earliest of these attempts were made by people who paddled across the North Sea in canoes, hence the name 'Engelandvaarders' (England paddlers).

Roelf Vlietstra was one such individual. He was in the Dutch Navy when the war broke out and after the Dutch capitulation, on the advice of his commanding officer, he signed an affirmation that he would not involve himself in the war effort. Nevertheless, in January 1942 he received a call-up to work in the German shipyards, so he and a colleague, Cors Aelbers, decided to try to get to England to join the Free Dutch.

They left the Netherlands on 29 January 1942 and hid in a small cavity under one of the coaches of the Amsterdam-Paris express. In Paris, they made contact with the underground and were assisted in getting to the Swiss border. Shortly after crossing the border they were arrested and after an intervention by the Dutch embassy (working under the control of the Dutch Government in exile), they were confined to the canton of Geneva while their future was being decided.

Vlietstra got impatient and was persuaded by another Dutch exile (who later turned out to be a fifth columnist) that it would be quicker to get to England via Sweden rather than risking a journey across Vichy France. He and his new 'friend' then traveled to Basel where they managed [illegally] to jump onto a train that was heading for Germany. Once over the border, Vlietstra got off the train, but his 'friend' had disappeared. Nevertheless, he continued his journey northwards and was arrested in Frankfurt. Initially, he was paroled and the day before his case was up for review (18 June 1942), he made a second attempt to get to Switzerland and was arrested on the border.

He was returned to Frankfurt where he was interrogated and imprisoned awaiting trial. His trial took place on 25 January 1943 in the infamous Volksgerichtshof (People's Court of Justice) where he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for 'Landesverrate' (Treason). He served the first of those years in the Brandenburg prison and was then transferred to Dortmund where he was forced to work in the Hättenverein steelworks. After the works were bombed in February 1945, he was forced to march about 50 kilometres eastwards to Gütersloh where he was forced to work in the fields.

He was liberated by the Americans on Easter Day, 1 April 1945 and a month later was able to rejoin his unit. He was assigned to Squadron 860, an RAF squadron manned by Dutch personnel which was based in Fearn in Scotland. A few months later, the squadron was moved to St Merryn in Cornwall where he met Christine Burt, a young member of the WRNS. Within a year Squadron 860 had been transferred to Dutch control, he and Christine Burt had married, and he left the services of the Dutch Fleet Air Arm. Squadron 860 is still operational and functions as a Dutch air-sea search and rescue unit, but has retained its original RAF badge.

This story is narrated more fully in the attached PDF file.