Exhibition- Righteous Among the Nations- Willem Arondeus
Willem Arondeus was born in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 20th century, with a dream of becoming a successful artist. However, he Is more known for his part in the Dutch Resistance Movement. Arondeus identified himself openly as a homosexual. After the Nazis occupied the Netherlands in 1940, they inflicted their Nazi laws which prohibited any “inappropriate relationship” between men. Arondeus, who felt the dangers threatening the existence of his community, decided to produce fake identity papers to help homosexuals, Jews, and minority groups escape the Nazis. Arondeus and the Resistance Movement issued thousands of identity papers, but the Dutch registration office opposed a major problem for them. To eliminate that problem, the members of the Dutch Resistance Movement decided to burn the registration office building. The Resistance Movement, led by Arondeus, entered the Registration building in Amsterdam disguised as Dutch policemen. They chose a late hour while the Registration Office was empty, so no innocent people would be harmed and drugged the guards. They destroyed as many papers as they could and planted a bomb in the building. The next morning on March 27th, the bomb exploded and most of the building was destroyed. More than 800,000 identity cards were burned in the explosion. This operation saved the lives of many people and brought the Dutch Resistance Movement a symbolic victory over the Nazi occupation. However, numerous resistance members were caught and executed, Arondeus among them.
In 1986 the Yad Vasem Institute acknowledged Willem Arondeus as Righteous Among the Nations.
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