Hartog Napoleon Andriesse (Hans), born on April 1, 1921 in Eindhoven, was involved in resistance activities in 1941 and 1942. In May 1942 he goes into hiding in Rotterdam as Nicolaas Pol, to escape the anti-Jewish measures of the occupying forces. When it becomes clear that he has to work for the Germans, he leaves for England on 6 September 1942.
Hans travels alone and goes to Belgium via Maastricht and Eysden and reaches Charleroi the same day. With the help of two Chinese, he takes the Wehrmacht train to Paris the next day, where he spends the night in the Chinese quarter. The Chinese give him money to continue his journey.
On 9 September he reached Bayonne. In the evening he continues to the border town of Hendaye. There is a bridge to Spain, but it is blocked by barbed wire and closely guarded. A French worker takes him to a small hotel. When the owner proves to be reliable, a man comes to explain to him how to cross the Pyrenees. The next afternoon the man takes him to a border river.
Hans crosses the Pyrenees alone in the area of Hendaye-Irun, on the Atlantic side. He reaches Portugal and is part of a football team of Dutch Escapees for England (Engelandvaarders), which goes to Plymouth via Gibraltar. They arrive there on September 1, 1943. Hans is tested but rejected as a n apprentice pilot but then became an officer-air traffic controller in the Royal Air Force. In 1945 - he is then stationed at Gilze-Rijen airfield as captain in the K.L. as chief traffic controller - he waved farewell.
Hans Andriesse has been awarded the Cross of Merit and the Resistance Memorial Cross. He passed away on February 4, 1990
Text: Museum Engelandvaarders in Noordwijk
tekst is afkomstig van het Museum Engelandvaarders te Noordwijk.