Line-crosser is a Dutch concept from World War II. The name is used to refer to 21 people, mostly from Werkendam, who during the last months of the war maintained a secret connection between occupied and liberated Netherlands across the Biesbosch and the Merwede. They were part of the larger Biesbosch resistance group, and the Albrecht intelligence group.
On 6 November 1944 the Biesbosch, a difficult to penetrate area, became the front between the German and allied forces. The Germans would almost never go into this area and as such it was ideal for hideouts for refugees.
Later that month it was decided to create a water crossing in the area between occupied and liberated Netherlands. Across two different routes people, goods, information and medicine were transported. In total 374 crossings were made. It was mostly a military intelligence route, but also Jews and stranded pilots were helped. It is not known how many people were transported. One of the people who crossed was the British general John Hackett who had been wounded during Operation Market Garden. He would later describe his experiences in 1978 in the book 'I was a stranger'.
There were two main routes of 13 and 18 kilometers. Crossing were made in canoes or small boats, mostly rowed or with silent engines. At one of the places they used a raised basket next to a restaurant to indicate that a line-crosser was coming.
During the end of the war, after Dolle Dinsdag, several German troops deserted, mostly across "the bridge of saint Jan". These were often captured and at one point around 75 German soldiers were held for 8 weeks on boats in the area. These were later handed over to Polish allied forces who liberated the area. [1]
All 21 line-crosser were decorated after the war:
People were transported both in and out of occupied Netherlands. Not many names are known. The following agents crossed from occupied into liberated territory:
On Tuesday 4 December 1984 about 50 people of the Biesbosch resistance group meet. One of the people present was prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. There were commemorative meetings in 2010 and 2011.
On the bridge of saint Jan is a memorial text. There are several monuments dedicated to the Line-crossers, most prominently in Werkendam, [3] [4] Hank, Lage Zwaluwe [5] and Sliedrecht.
North Brabant, also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the west, and the Flemish provinces of Antwerp and Limburg to the south. The northern border follows the Meuse westward to its mouth in the Hollands Diep strait, part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. North Brabant has a population of 2,562,566 as of November 2019. Major cities in North Brabant are Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda and its provincial capital 's-Hertogenbosch.
Goes is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands on Zuid-Beveland, in the province of Zeeland. The city of Goes has approximately 27,000 residents.
Werkendam is a town and a former municipality in the southern Netherlands. The municipality, part of Land van Heusden en Altena, contained a large part of De Biesbosch area as is located in the province of North Brabant. On January 1sth 2019 it joined Woudrichem and Aalburg in the new municipality of Altena.
The naval Battle of Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place off the southern coast of island of Texel on 21 August 1673 between the Dutch and the combined English and French fleets. It was the last major battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, which was itself part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), during which Louis XIV of France invaded the Republic and sought to establish control over the Spanish Netherlands. English involvement came about because of the Treaty of Dover, secretly concluded by Charles II of England, and which was highly unpopular with the English Parliament.
Teylers Museum is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval Room (1784), which was built behind the house of Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702–1778), the so-called Fundatiehuis. Pieter Teyler was a wealthy cloth merchant and banker of Scottish descent, who bequeathed his fortune for the advancement of religion, art, and science. He was a Mennonite and follower of the Scottish Enlightenment.
De Biesbosch National Park is one of the largest national parks of the Netherlands and one of the last extensive areas of freshwater tidal wetlands in Northwestern Europe. The Biesbosch consists of a large network of rivers and smaller and larger creeks with islands. The vegetation is mostly willow forests, although wet grasslands and fields of reed are common as well. The Biesbosch is an important wetland area for waterfowl and has a rich flora and fauna. It is especially important for migrating geese.
The Merwede is the name of several connected stretches of river in the Netherlands, between the cities of Woudrichem, Dordrecht and Papendrecht. The river is part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and is mostly fed by the river Rhine.
Cornelis Pieter "Piet" van den Hoek was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II. Van den Hoek was one of the few knights of the Dutch Military William Order.
Kunst zij ons doel, or KZOD, is the name of an artists club in the Waag, Haarlem.
The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters and Paintresses, or De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, as it was originally known in Dutch, is a series of artist biographies with engraved portraits written by the 18th-century painter Arnold Houbraken. It was published in three volumes as a sequel to Karel van Mander's own list of biographies known as the Schilder-boeck. The first volume appeared in 1718, and was followed by the second volume in 1719, the year Houbraken died. The third and last volume was published posthumously by Houbraken's wife and children in 1721. This work is considered to be a very important source of information on 17th-century artists of the Netherlands. The Schouburg is listed as one of the 1000 most important works in the Canon of Dutch Literature from the Middle Ages to today.
The Timor and Dependencies Residency was an administrative subdivision (Residency) of the Dutch East Indies located in the Eastern half of Lesser Sunda Islands east of Lombok, it was separated in 1819 from the Governorate of Moluccas (Gouvernement der Molukken. Its capital was at Kupang.
Maria Catharina van Grunsven, also known as Riet van Grunsven or Riet van de Haterd-van Grunsven, was an armed member of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. One of 21 people who became “line crossers,” special agents who helped to maintain a secret connection between occupied and liberated Netherlands across the waterways of the Biesbosch and the Merwede, she operated as a courier for part of the larger Biesbosch resistance group, and the Albrecht intelligence group. During this resistance work, she was given the aliases “Ice Block” and “Trouble.”
The Stadstekenacademie was an 18th-century art academy in Amsterdam. It was the precursor of the Koninklijke Academie and the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten. Other Dutch towns such as Haarlem also had a drawing academy.
Altena is a municipality in the Netherlands, on a river island in the very north of the province of North Brabant, bordering the provinces of Gelderland and South Holland. Nearby cities are Dordrecht in the west, Gorinchem in the north, and Waalwijk in the south.
Onze Kunst van Heden was an exhibition held in the winter of 1939 through 1940 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Due to the threat of invasion in the years leading up to World War II, the Netherlands' government stored many items from the Rijksmuseum's permanent collection. The resulting empty gallery space was utilized by contemporary Dutch artists to exhibit and sell their art. It was organized by the director of the Rijksmuseum Frederik Schmidt Degener. The show was open to all artists, with each artist allowed to enter four pieces. 902 artists exhibited 3,200 works of art in 74 rooms and cabinets of the Rijksmuseum.
„De kunstenaar kan in tijden van maatschappelijke benauwenis weinig positiefs doen om rampen af te wenden, maar wel kan hij door mede te helpen nationale uitingen op het eigenaardigst naar voren te brengen het gemeenschapsbesef versterken. Wanneer de belangstelling van het publiek uitgaat naar deze manifestatie, die in zulk een omvang in Holland nog niet gezien is, dan zal menige kunstenaar zich op zijn beurt gesterkt voelen".
"The artist can do little positive in times of social distress to avert disasters, but he can, by helping to bring out national expressions in the most idiosyncratic way, strengthen the sense of community. When the public is interested in this event, which has not yet been seen to such an extent in Holland, many artists will feel strengthened in turn."
The Lage Zwaluwe-'s-Hertogenbosch railway or Langstraatspoorlijn is a defunct and partially open railway line in North Brabant, the Netherlands. It ran through the Langstraat from Lage Zwaluwe railway station via Waalwijk to 's-Hertogenbosch railway station. Part of the line had been repurposed for recreation. It has the nickname Halvezolenlijntje. The Moerputten Bridge is a unique piece of engineering.