Jaap Sickenga

∗ 14-07-1918 Haarlem † 11-05-1942 Oranienburg (23)
- OD trial of Maastricht - Initial resistance - Intelligence - Ordedienst (O.D.) - Studenten -

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Jaap Sickenga was a student of the Dutch language, a poet and a Dutch resistance fighter in the Ordedienst during the Second World War. He and his friend Hans Zomer [1], who had returned from England with a radio transmitter, were arrested on August 31, 1941 as a result of the Englandspiel (England game) [2], because the transmitter had been spotted by the Gestapo. Sickenga and Zomer were arrested and taken to the Scheveningen prison, the so-called Oranjehotel. [3]
They had to stand trial in Maastricht before the military court that had been set up in the seized Third Minorite Monastery. [4]
Jaap Sickenga continued to write poetry after his arrest and death sentence. These poems were smuggled out and published illegally after his death while the war was still on. They appeared in the Geuzenliedboek 1940-1945 under the name of the first poem: Tusschen muur en geweerloop. (Between wall and gun barrel) [5]
One of these poems is on the monument in Maastricht at the place where he and his fellow victims were condemned (see photo). It reads:

We are threatened
with another death
than lead –

Indifference.
Who suffer from that
die before their time –

Jaap Sickenga, 5-5-1942

Ons bedreigt
een andere dood
dan’t lood –

Onverschilligheid.
Die daaraan lijdt
Sterft voor zijn tijd –

Jaap Sickenga, 5-5-1942

This person is listed in the “Erelijst 1940-1945” (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [6]

Footnotes