I have now been following Jan van Boeckel’s trail for a year and two months. The amount of hours, kilometres, words, papers and gigabytes that have been invested in this Quest is absolutely staggering. Continue reading The Quest for Jan continues …
A Bavarian spin-off: A journalist in Bavaria has published a beautifully worded and moving newspaper article about Jan van Boeckel and about my quest for him. Continue reading In the Bavarian press
This week the display panel was officially inaugurated during a small, intense ceremony Continue reading Embracing the past at Saal
Facts remain the backbone of my story. This is a study of facts which needed to do to be able to understand any further research on this last phase in Jan van Boeckel’s life – and his death. Not the most inspiring of reading material, I wrote it because it might be useful for anyone else doing research on this place and time, and these events. Continue reading Slim Chances in Saal and Dachau
Starting in November 1944 prisoners from the main-camp Flossenbürg were transported to Saal, and a number of transports followed, including the one on the15th of February 1945 which brought Jan van Boeckel. Continue reading Ringberg Messerschmitt: Ring-Me
Later on I learnt that my uncle was indeed listed as NN, a ‘Nacht und Nebel’, prisoner who would disappear into darkness and mist never to be heard of again. In the case of the resistance fighter Jan van Boeckel they greatly succeeded. He is still a missing person. This storyline is my attempt to sabotage their succes. Continue reading Confronting tough truths
The Flossenbürg concentration camp itself is now a monument, although a few decennia back it was partly used as an industrial site. Along the perimeter there are homes of citizens on a terraced hill, which was part of the camp. Continue reading The book of names at Flossenbürg
Initially I went to Dachau as a gesture of respect to my uncle, who died when he was 22 years old at the hands of the Nazis in Germany. And I left Dachau with an incredible urge to find out how much really was known about his fate. That is the quest I am on at the moment. Continue reading From Holland to Bavaria: The quest starts at Dachau
