Sjoerd Bakker

Geslacht: Man
Vader: Miente Bakker
Moeder: Trijntje van der Schaaf
Geboren: 10 Juni 1915 Leeuwarden
Overleden: 1 Juli 1943 Overveen, gem. Zandvoort
Religie: Ger. Kerk
Beroep: kleermaker, coupeur en ontwerper
Aantekeningen: Personal Information
Last Name: Bakker
First Name: Sjoerd
Date of Birth: 10/06/1915
Date of death: 01/07/1943
Rescuer's fate: murdered
tried/interrogated
Cause of Death: EXECUTION
Nationality: THE NETHERLANDS
Gender: Male
Profession: TAILOR
Rescue
Place during the war: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands
Rescue Place: Amsterdam, Noordholland, The Netherlands
Rescue mode: Other
File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/3381)
Commemoration
Date of Recognition: 19/06/1986
Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor
Rescue Story
Bakker, Sjoerd
Sjoerd Bakker, a tailor from Amsterdam, was an acquaintance of Willem Arondeus*, one of the masterminds behind the attack on the Municipal Population Registration Office in Amsterdam on March 27, 1943. The attack was meticulously planned; two of the participants were to arrive at the office at an unusual hour. Disguised as police officers, they would demand entry. Einar Berkovich, an assistant of Gerrit Jan van der Veen* was to obtain cloth and Sjoerd’s task was to sew the police uniforms. In the later stages of planning, it was decided that four members of the group, Rudolph Bloemgarten, Karl Gröeger*, Coos Hartogh*, and Samuel van Musschenbroek*, should also wear police uniforms for the execution of the plan. Sjoerd willingly made these extra disguises with cloth obtained by Berkovich. Only a few weeks after the attack the entire team was arrested. The secret had not been well kept and it turned out that too many Nazi sympathizers had information about the assault. After the Germans had offered a reward for information, there was no lack of informers willing to talk. On April 1, Sjoerd, a homosexual, was arrested. On June 18, he was tried and accused of collaborating in the scheme. During the course of the proceedings, an attempt was made to plead mitigating circumstances on the grounds that Arondeus, also a homosexual, had encouraged Sjoerd to join the others since they were allegedly involved in an emotional relationship. However, Sjoerd refuted this claim and was sentenced to death along with the other 12 men implicated. He was executed on July 1, 1943. In 1984, the Queen of the Netherlands posthumously honored the entire group involved in the attack on the Municipal Population Registration Office in Amsterdam with the Resistance Memorial Cross.
On June 19, 1986, Yad Vashem recognized Sjoerd Bakker as Righteous Among the Nations.