My grandfather is seen sitting here in the middle of his family in happier times.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Taeke van Popta
On Remembrance Day, at the Memorial, I thought of my paternal grandfather, Taeke van Popta, who died during WW II in Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp near Berlin. Taeke was involved in the underground movement against the Nazis. He was betrayed by the Nazi-sympathetic mayor of IJmuiden, the Netherlands, and died of dysentry. After the war, the mayor was tried, convicted and shot for his crimes, inluding the betrayal of Taeke.