Nol Burger

's-Gravenhage 1 Nov 1907 – ?

Arnoldus "Nol" Burger, Putterweg 48, Garderen

About: Arnoldus Jacobus "Nol" Burger, a carpenter, builder and estate agent of the Putterweg at Garderen and a radio man of the Raad van Verzet, who took in the doctor Dirk Eskes and his family in hiding and brought evaders to De Ruif. He also fetched paratroopers from Dove Jan's farm at Assel, where Murphy and Walsh hid in October 1944.

Unit or role: "Radio service R.V.V." on his own form (his questionnaire, p. 2); by Nelly Eskes's account a carpenter and "hoofd van het verzet in Garderen" (head of the resistance at Garderen) (Noordman, p. 19).

Where: Putterweg, Garderen: no. 103 in the advertisements of 1934 and 1937, no. 48 from the funeral notice of 1945 and his form of 1946 on (below); De Ruif, Garderen.

Evidence: ✓ his helper file with the Americans, US National Archives 286643158 (questionnaire, list, letter, read on the images); ✓ the Van Nispens' file, p. 3; ✓ Boeree, Kroniek van Ede (1947), p. 161 (checked on the page image); ✓ Nelly Eskes-Buis's file (her letter, pp. 6–7) and her account in Noordman, Schuilplaats de Veluwe (2019), pp. 17–24; the civil records in Open Archieven.

✓ The Hague's birth register has Arnoldus Jacobus Burger born on 1 November 1907, the son of Jacobus Burger, a house painter (huisschilder), and Nelletje van der Burg (the birth, index only); his own form of 1946 gives "Hague 1-11-07" (his questionnaire, p. 2). The Hague's family cards have him with Jacob Willem (born 1899), Johan Marie (1909) and Nelletje Jacoba (1910), all born at The Hague (the card). At the wedding of Johan Marie, son of the same parents, on 31 March 1937 he signed as a witness, aged 29, "aannemer van bouwwerken" (building contractor) (the wedding).

✓ His marriage, 1930. The banns list of the Haagsche Courant of 1 November 1930 has "A. J. Burger en W. Boeve" (the list, read on the page image; the same list in De Avondpost of the same day). Barneveld's marriage register, in Gelders Archief's index, has Arnoldus Jacobus Burger, a carpenter (timmerman) born at The Hague, son of Jacobus Burger and Nelletje van der Burg, marrying Willempje Boeve, born at Barneveld, the daughter of a day labourer, on 14 November 1930 (the marriage, index only; it adds an s to his surname and gives his age as 22, where his birth makes him 23). Her birth was registered at Barneveld: born at Garderen on 13 September 1902, to the parents of the marriage record (the birth, index only), the date on The Hague's second family card, which has the same couple and a child born in 1931 (the card). His form of 1946 gives his next of kin, aged 42 on the form (her birth makes her 43 that March), under her married name with Boeve (his questionnaire, p. 2); she is the "vrouw Wim" of Nelly Eskes's account (below).

✓ A list of births from the Barneveld registry in the Utrechtsche Courant of 23 March 1933 has a daughter "van A. J. Burger en W. Boeve" (the notice; read on the page image, where the item stands under the heading "BARNEVELD").

✓ Three children lost. Barneveld's death register, in Gelders Archief's index, has three children of Arnoldus Jacobus Burger and Willempje Boeve, the father a carpenter (timmerman) in 1939 and a contractor (aannemer) in 1942 and 1943: Jacob Willem, 1 year old, who died on 14 September 1939; Wilhelmina Nellie, 5, on 18 June 1942; and a child born and dead on 7 December 1943 (1939; 1942; 1943; index only). The names of the parents are those of the 1930 marriage. In March 1946 he was married with five children, aged 4, 6, 11, 13 and 14 (his questionnaire, p. 2).

• ◐ Rooms to let, 1933–1937. De Telegraaf of 11 and 15 July 1933 carried "Garderen Veluwe. Pens. aangeb. Rustige boschr. omg. Ap. z.-sl.kamers. Bill. pr., ook gem. t. h. A. J. BURGER, Putterweg, Garderen": a pension in quiet wooded surroundings, separate sitting and bedrooms at moderate prices, also furnished to let (11 July; 15 July; both read on the page images).
  • The same paper's advertisements of 19 April 1934 and 10 August 1937 give "A. J. Burger, Putterweg 103 I" and "Putterweg 103, tel 23", and that of 24 June 1937 "G 103 I, tel. 23" (1934; 24 June 1937; 10 August 1937; read on the page images in the 17 October 2026 triage).
  • ◐ The advertisements give only the initials, the street and the village; that this is Nol rests on his own later advertisements and form at Putterweg 48 (below).
• ◐ Estate agent, 1942. In June 1942 "A. J. Burger, Garderen" was on the pass list of the examination for estate agent (makelaar in onroerende goederen) of the Nederlandsche Broederschap van gediplomeerde makelaars, and the Koerier of 6 August 1942 has "A. J. Burger te Garderen" among three men sworn in as estate agents at the court at Zutphen (Het Vaderland, 12 June 1942; De Koerier, 6 August 1942; both read on the page images).
  • ◐ The lists give only the initials and Garderen; that this is Nol rests on the estate-agent advertisements of 1952 and after at Putterweg 48 (below).

Nelly Eskes, the wife of the Amsterdam doctor Dirk Eskes, wrote in 2004, in the account Noordman prints, how late in 1942 they came over the heath from Staverden to Garderen with "Joop de verzetsman", Dr Kruimel, and "We kwamen in huis bij timmerman Nol Burger en zijn vrouw Wim" (we came to live in the house of the carpenter Nol Burger and his wife Wim). They had "vijf kinderen tussen de twee en negen jaar" (five children between two and nine); the Eskeses had a sitting room downstairs with use of the kitchen and a bedroom upstairs; "Mensen met een hart van goud, streng gereformeerd. Nol was hoofd van het verzet in Garderen …" (people with hearts of gold, strictly Reformed; Nol was head of the resistance at Garderen …) (Noordman, p. 19). ◐ She gives no month for their coming. Her account has Dirk's call-up on 10 November 1942 and his going into hiding after it (p. 18), and Noordman's chapter puts it in the autumn of 1942 (p. 17), so "late in 1942" is our reading of the two.

• The hides at De Ruif. By the same account, "In het huis van Joop waren door Nol Burger schuilplaatsen gemaakt" (in Joop's house hiding places had been made by Nol Burger), and their first airman to be sheltered there was the Englishman Neville Fearneyhough (p. 19).
• Nieuw-Milligen. When "een paar dingen" (a few things) happened near Garderen, "Nol heeft voor ons gezocht en zo kwamen we terecht in Nieuw-Milligen" (Nol searched for us, and so we ended up at Nieuw-Milligen), in a converted garage in the woods; there "Nol Burger had in het bos in de omgeving van ons huisje een eenmans gat en een tweepersoons schuilplaats gemaakt. Onder de grond, gestut als een mijn …" (Nol Burger had made a one-man hole and a two-man hide in the woods near our little house, underground, shored like a mine …) (pp. 19–20).

Fearneyhough, May 1943. Nelly Eskes-Buis wrote to the Americans:

Our first contact with a member of the Allied Forces was in May 1943, to be exact on the third of May. Then we were staying at Garderen, with Nol Burger, Putterweg 48, Nol, as I will call him from now on, received a message from Wim van der Mast, Nieuw Milligen (address now: Hoenderlo), that his brother in law had brought them an Englishman: Neville Audrey Ferneyhough, … He was wounded, so Wim asked Nol to bring a dokter.

— US National Archives · RG 498, helper file of Nelly M. Eskes-Buis · her letter · the letter, p. 6

Her letter goes on that her husband was a doctor, the wounds were slight, and the next day he, Kruimel and she took the airman to Kruimel's summer house at Garderen (p. 6). Burger's own list has "Neville A. Ferneyhough", R.A.F., received from "W.[?] v.d. Mast, Hoenderlo" (our transcript's reading) and passed to "Dr. Kruimel", and his letter says "v.d. MAST had sheltered Neville Ferneyhough, from here I took him to Dr. Kruimel" (his list, p. 3; his letter, p. 4). ⚠︎ Burger's letter, Nelly Eskes's letter and Noordman (p. 65, where Dirk Eskes examines Fearneyhough and takes him on to Garderen himself) each put a different man or party on that move.

The raid on Kruimel's bungalow, 1943. Noordman's own chapter has the Germans raid Kruimel's house four weeks after Fearneyhough came. The daughter of the Jewish family hidden there, Marianne Happ in Noordman's text, escaped by the back door, over the heath, "naar het huis van Nol Burger. Deze had van de overval gehoord en was inmiddels ook al zelf op de vlucht geslagen" (to Nol Burger's house; he had heard of the raid and had meanwhile fled himself), and "[…] is door de vrouw van Nol doorverwezen naar de familie Eskes in Nieuw-Milligen om ook hen te waarschuwen" (Nol's wife sent her on to the Eskes family at Nieuw-Milligen, to warn them too) (Noordman, p. 65). ◐ Noordman gives no source for this paragraph; the story is told more fully on Johannes Kruimel's page.

His own list for the Americans names (p. 3, read on the image):

• Neville A. Ferneyhough (above);
• the Americans Frank B. McGlinchey and William H. MacDonald, with no one named as source or onward helper;
• the Americans Robert D. Fisher, down at Garderen on "19-5-44", and Walter Mallard Jr., received from "Johan van Oldenbarneveldt" (Dove Jan), both passed to "Dr. D. Eskes";
• Robert K. Bailey, R.A.F.;
• Lawrence R. McElroy and Robert Gelfand of Canada, "Collected with Dr. ESKES, Laren and transferred to Dr. KRUIMEL";
• Lt A. du Bois of the Dutch paratroops, passed to "Capt. King", and Sgt Raymond Holvoet, Belgian S.A.S., "arrested".

Nelly Eskes's letter tells Fisher's part: B. van Looijengoed of Nieuw-Milligen took him home for the night, "and the next day Nol and I took him to our house. He stayed with us from May 24 till June 19, 1944" (her letter, p. 7). His own letter adds that G. J. van der Top of Stroe (his spelling, here and on his form; Noordman has van den Top) sheltered pilots, among them William J. Lalley and "Mr. W.C. O'Barr ... (this one was delivered by me)" (p. 4).

I myself have not sheltered so many people in my house, this was difficult because of my children. I helped with transport, clothing, food etc. Lt. du Bois, who was dropped here, stayed in our house for some days. As a matter of fact there were many pilots here after the landing of Arnhem, we transported them during the night. I know hardly any of the names, every time other people came, Dr. Kruimel is able to give you many names.

— US National Archives · RG 498, helper file of Arnoldus Burger · his letter, Garderen, 8 March 1946 · the letter, p. 4

✓ Fetching men from Dove Jan. Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, Dove Jan, was the farmer at Assel whom Noordman names as having sheltered Murphy and Walsh (Noordman, p. 139); Walsh's report names no one, but has a week on a very deaf farmer's poultry farm in the Kootwijk area, moving to Garderen on 14 October (Walsh). Burger wrote:

Joh. van OLDENBARNEVELDT sheltered pilots and parachutists contineously [sic]; he lived very isolated and collected them most of the time himself. With Hoekstra and Huber I fetched sometimes parachutists from there, whom we took generally after a fewdays [sic] to Zandbergen, from where they were collected and went to an other address to wait for their crossing.

— US National Archives · RG 498, helper file of Arnoldus Burger · his letter, Garderen, 8 March 1946 · the letter, p. 4

• Pieter Hoekstra, who listed by hand two privates of the First Airborne, "Spud" and "Tom", received about 16 October 1944 from "Johan v Oldenbarnevelt" and handed to Dr Kruimel at De Ruif (his list, p. 9), gave that man's address as "p/a A.J. Burger" (care of A. J. Burger) (Hoekstra's file, p. 8).
• ◐ So Burger may have been one of the men who took Murphy and Walsh from Assel to Garderen; no form names him for that move (Kootwijk: Dove Jan).

✓ Bringing evaders to De Ruif. He was one of the men who brought evaders to De Ruif, by the account the Van Nispen family, who were living there, gave the Americans. The office noted from the son: "The Fliers were brought to the house by Dr Kruimel, Dr Eskes, Nol Burger … Mostly Dr Kruimel fetched them again" (the father's file, p. 3). The son's own form names "Nol. Burger, Garderen" first among the helpers he knew, and says the first pilot came on 1 January 1944 and the last left on 21 October 1944 (the son's form, p. 2). Jeane van Galen, who lived in the household, named him too (her form, p. 2). ⚠︎ The sources disagree on when Murphy and Walsh were at De Ruif: Walsh's MI9 report has them arrive on 14 October and leave about 21 October; the guestbook (8/10/44) and Noordman put the arrival about 8 October, and Verweij has them moved on to Sterrehoveke about 10 October (Walsh; October on the Veluwe; Van Nispen's account).

✓ Du Bois at his house, 17–18 October 1944. Th. A. Boeree's chronicle of Ede has him in its story of Abraham du Bois, the Dutch SAS lieutenant dropped at Garderen in the small hours of 17 October. Du Bois (hiding name Martien) and his radio operator Raymond Holvoet were taken to a bunker at De Ruif "door Tinus (den hoofdonderwijzer J. A. v. d. Bovenkamp) en Nol (Burger)", by the head teacher Tinus and by Nol, and that evening Du Bois "ging ... naar het huis van Nol". In the early morning of 18 October "twaalf Duitschers" stood at Nol's door for the usual requisitioning of bicycles; Barend, the courier, who lodged with Nol, put Du Bois at once into the hide above the sliding doors ("boven de schuifdeuren"). The Germans came into his bedroom and found nothing, and came back once more, so he stayed in his hide all morning, then put on a civilian suit and sat quietly in the family circle. A few days later he left with some paratroopers in Piet Hoekstra's charge for Capt. King (Boeree, p. 161, checked on the page image). In Boeree's life of Holvoet, "zij" (they) cycled with Nol to Huber's house, near Kruimel's, where Holvoet was taken in (p. 162, checked on the page image). Burger's own letter has "Lt. du Bois, who was dropped here, stayed in our house for some days" (above). ⚠︎ Whether Murphy was hiding at De Ruif when du Bois landed is not settled: Walsh's report has him at De Ruif from 14 to about 21 October, which takes in the drop; Verweij has him moved on to Sterrehoveke about 10 October, and Hardy found him there on 19 October (October on the Veluwe); the two are not known to have met (Abraham du Bois).

Others who named him. Lambertus Huber, at whose house Holvoet stayed, listed "Nol Burger, Putterweg, Garderen" among the helpers he knew, and named him with Dr Kruimel and a Mr Fels as witnesses to his claim for his and his wife's imprisonment from 27 December 1944 and for 100 pilot days (Huber's form, p. 8; his claim, p. 6). ◐ The widow Johanna Born-Lubbersen of Ermelo, who sheltered the radio agents J. W. Wiemers and C. du Corbier, has "via A.J. Burger." typed in a column of her questionnaire for the Americans; it gives no first name or village, so that this is Nol is our reading (her file).

✓ Dirk Eskes's grave, 1945. Dirk Eskes "Gevallen te Hattem op 4 April 1945" (fell at Hattem on 4 April 1945), says his widow's notice in Trouw of 28 May 1945, which set the funeral at Garderen on 1 June 1945, leaving from "Puttersweg 48" at noon (the notice). Nelly Eskes's own account says that after Dirk was found at Hattem "we" went to Hattem on the motorbike and got in touch with Nol Burger at Garderen, "die alles geregeld heeft" (who arranged everything) (Noordman, p. 23). Noordman's text, after the passage on the testament, has "Vanuit het huis van Nol Burger in Garderen hebben we Dirk op 1 juni 1945 in Garderen herbegraven" (from Nol Burger's house at Garderen we reburied Dirk at Garderen on 1 June 1945) (Noordman, p. 24; the "we" is not attributed), and the War Graves Foundation's reburial form says the grave was bought by "DE HEER A. BORGER, POTTERWEG 48 GARDEREN (ILLEGALITEIT)" (scan 4). ◐ "A. Borger" of "Potterweg 48" is Nol Burger by the house number and village; the form spells both differently.

He wrote in March 1946: "It is a pity that Dr. Eskes is shot, the family Eskes did very outstanding work" (p. 4). Robert Gelfand, writing to Nelly Eskes after the war, asked her to give his greetings "aan Nol Burger, Oom Joop en de mensen in het grote huis" (to Nol Burger, Uncle Joop and the people in the big house) (Noordman, p. 190; Noordman's Dutch, the letter not seen in English).

Albert Groen, writing to Nevil Fearneyhough in August 1945: "Uit Garderen zijn alleen Joop Kruimel en Nol Burger door de oorlog gekomen" (from Garderen only Joop Kruimel and Nol Burger came through the war) (Noordman, p. 70, Noordman's Dutch rendering of the letter).

His form for the Americans, 1946. His questionnaire is dated 8 March 1946, his address "Putterweg 48, Garderen (Gld.)", telephone 232, his movement "Radio service R.V.V." (p. 2). His letter of the same day thanks Lt Kiek for the tobacco and says "You asked my wife to ask me to give you an explination [sic]" (p. 4).

✓ Rooms and houses, 1948–1958. He stayed at Garderen. Het Parool of 6 July 1948 has "Vrijstaand ZOMERHUISJE te huur ... A. J. Burger, Putterweg 48, Garderen, tel. 232" (a detached summer house to let) (the advertisement, read on the page image). The Algemeen Handelsblad of 23 August 1952 has a country house for sale through "A. J. BURGER makelaar, Putterweg 48, telefoon 232" (the advertisement, read on the page image in the 17 October triage). Het Parool of 10 July 1954 names his pension: "GARDEREN, Vel. Pens. „West-End". ... Dicht bij bos en hei. A. J. Burger, Putterweg 48. Tel. 232." (close to woods and heath) (the advertisement, read on the page image). Trouw of 13 October 1956 has houses at Putten, Barneveld and Voorthuizen through "A. J. Burger, makelaar, Garderen, tel. 232" (the advertisement, read on the page image). The headers of the 1952 file and the 1956 file list more advertisements under the same name and telephone number, to 1958 and to 1963; those are not archived.

No record of his death has been found.

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