Mrs J.H.D. Rolandus Hagedoorn

Den Haag 27 Mar 1897 – 27 Jan 1973 ◐

Mrs J.H.D. Rolandus Hagedoorn, of Overstraat B 363, Amerongen, known to the Allied servicemen as "Mrs. Hagedoorn", in her own form for the Americans of 28 May 1945, which spells her "Ronaldus-Hagedoorn" (her file, p. 2)

About: Johanna Harriet Doedenia Meeter, widow of Jan Derk Rolandus Hagedoorn, of Amerongen, who hid Capt. Charles Noble at Christmas 1944 and a captain she called "George Nikol". Noble left her house for the crossing of 2 January 1945, on which he and Murphy were taken.

Unit or role: "Underground Amerongen" on her form (p. 2); a helper of Allied servicemen, grade 5 with the Americans and the British (below).

Where: Overstraat B 363, Amerongen, in 1945 and 1946 (her form; the British index); ◐ the house Noble calls "the LINDENHOF" (Noble), which no source puts at that address; Vierhouten in 1927 and Amerongen in 1941 (family notices, below); Zweerslaan 9, Ede, in 1973 (De Telegraaf).

Evidence: ✓ Her helper file with the Americans, US National Archives 286684186 (her form, p. 2; her statement, p. 4; the summary, p. 5); ✓ Capt. Charles Noble's escape report (Noble); ✓ the British index of Dutch helpers (page R/7); ✓ her marriage, 1920, and her husband's death, 1935 (the records); ✓ her death notice, 1973 (De Telegraaf); ◐ Noble's later account (unpublished private papers, shared with us privately).

• ✓ Birth. Born at The Hague on 27 March 1897, by her form ("Hague 27-3-97") and the Americans' summary ("27-3-97, The Hague") (p. 2; p. 5); the register of the Resistance Memorial Cross gives the same day (below).
• ✓ Marriage. Johanna Harriet Doedenia Meeter, 23, daughter of Doedenias Meeter and Aaltje Last, married Jan Derk Rolandus Hagedoorn, 49, "agent der Rijksverzekeringsbank" (an agent of the state insurance bank), a widower, at The Hague on 7 July 1920 (marriage, index, deed B949).
• ✓ Vierhouten, 1927. When her mother, "AALTJE LAST, Weduwe van D. MEETER", died at The Hague on 2 November 1927, the notice was signed from "Vierhouten: J. H. D. ROLANDUS HAGEDOORN—MEETER. J. ROLANDUS HAGEDOORN" (De Nederlander, 3 November 1927, read on the page).
• ✓ Widowed, 1935. Her husband died at Nieuwer-Amstel on 7 June 1935, aged 64 (death, index, deed 50); her death notice of 1973 calls her "sinds 1935 weduwe van JAN DERK ROLANDUS HAGEDOORN" (since 1935 widow of …) (De Telegraaf).
• ◐ Amerongen, 1941. On 15 September 1941 the notice for Jan Christiaan Rolandus Hagedoorn, "onze geliefde Broer en Zwager" (our beloved brother and brother-in-law), carries her name, from Amerongen, beside his sister "M. VAN DER HAM VAN HEYST—ROLANDUS HAGEDOORN" of The Hague (De Telegraaf, 16 September 1941). That he is her husband's brother is our reading: the notice says only "Broer en Zwager", and the link is the shared surname and Margareth's death record naming the same parents as Jan Derk (below).
• ✓ In 1945 she was a widow with four children, aged 18, 16, 15 and 13 (her form). None of them is named here: some may be living.

Capt. Charles Noble, a doctor of 133 Parachute Field Ambulance (Noble), was hidden at Amerongen in the last days before the crossing that he and Murphy were both in. Her statement, as taken down for the Americans (it speaks of her in the third person):

Charles Noble, parachutist, came down near Arnhem 18 Sept., was brought by Luuk about 25 Dec. and was hidden by Mrs. Hagedoorn until 5 January. Then he too was collected by Esveld for a crossing. He was caught, however, and Mrs. Hagedoorn heard later that he had been maltreated by the Germans on the Wolvenplein at Utrecht and later in Brunswick.

— Mrs J.H.D. Ronaldus Hagedoorn · her statement as taken down for the Americans, answer to question 10 · 28 May 1945 · US National Archives, RG 498 · her helper file, p. 4

• ✓ Noble's report, written in September 1945, has her by name, misspelt: at the end of six days in an empty house at Leersum "I was taken to a house in AMERONGEN - the LINDENHOF, where Mrs. ROLAND-HARE-DOORN-METER and her sister in law, Mrs. Van HEYST looked after me for 8 days" (Noble). ◐ "ROLAND-HARE-DOORN-METER" is very probably Rolandus Hagedoorn-Meeter, misheard: the surname and her maiden name are both in it, and the Telegraaf notice of 1941 has her as "ROLANDUS HAGEDOORN—MEETER".
• ◐ Mrs Van Heyst is very probably her husband's sister Margareth Rolandus Hagedoorn, wife of Hendrik Pieter van den Ham van Heijst: the notice of 1941 has her as "M. VAN DER HAM VAN HEYST—ROLANDUS HAGEDOORN", a sister of Jan Christiaan, and she died at Amerongen on 28 December 1950, aged 77, a daughter of the same parents as Jan Derk (De Telegraaf; death, index). In 1941 she lived at The Hague; no source puts her at Amerongen in the winter of 1944.
• ◐ "Luuk", who brought him, is by our reading Herman Lucas van Loenen, Hendrik van Loenen's brother, whom Kluiters's list of field names gives as 'LUUK' and 'ALEX' (Kluiters; Hendrik van Loenen). Her statement gives no surname.
• ◐ "Esveld", who collected him, is not given a first name. Flip Esveld's statement has "G.H. ESVELD Jr.", ◐ Coen Esveld, taking her other guest to Maarn (Flip's file, p. 7; George Mikol). The Esvelds' mother, Mrs Esveld-Strubbe, hid Murphy and Hardy in the same village from 23 or 24 December to 2 January (her statement, p. 5; Hardy).
• ✓ The Americans' summary, 4 March 1946: "Provided housing, food and clothing for Charles Noble, English parachutist for 11 days from 25 December 1944 until 5 January 1946." (p. 5, read on the image; the second year is a slip for 1945).

◐ Noble's later account (unpublished private papers, shared with us privately), told long after the war, has the same house and its lady: from the farm at Scherpenzeel "I went by bicycle to a house in Amerongen called the 'Linden' house".

• ◐ Her household: "There was myself and the lady of the house, whose husband, I think had been the Mayor of Amerongen, and her four daughters." Her form of 1945 agrees on four children and has the eldest, her next of kin, a daughter, but does not give the others' sexes. ⚠︎ The other three being daughters, and the husband as mayor, rest on this account alone.
• ⚠︎ It has "an agreeable ten days reading from her library, and playing monopoly with the daughters at night", while across the Rhine the Canadian and German armies "were pounding each other. So every night there was a huge barrage while we played monopoly."
• It names no other evader there, and no Mrs Van Heyst. Its differences from the records are set out below.

Noble's report goes on from her house:

On 2 January the local Underground leader arrived and stated myself and 12 escapees were being taken through the line that night. At 4 p.m. I cycled with him in civilian clothes over uniform to the AMERONGEN FERRY, where the Rhine was crossed without incident.

— MI9 · Capt. C.B. Noble, RAMC · escape report, 23 September 1945 · the report

South of the river the party was fired on, and Noble was taken in a flooded field: "I surrendered." (Noble). Murphy was in the same party, and Schjelderup's report lost "Capt. NOBLE, Sgt. TEX (?), Pte. MURPHY" at the first shooting (Hardy, Schjelderup's report). The night is told on The crossing and recapture and Charles Noble.

What she heard later fits two places on Noble's own list of his prisons: the Gestapo prison at Utrecht from 18 January to 7 February 1945, and Arbeitskommando 7001 at Hallendorf, near Brunswick, from 6 March (Noble). Neither is the start of his captivity, and the Wolvenplein prison she names is not shown to be the Utrecht prison he lists.

Her statement opens with another guest: "Captain George Nikol, agent of the English stayed with Mrs. Hagedoorn for about one week. He was brought there by Esveld and also collected by him for the crossing." (p. 4). ◐ He is the George Mikol of Flip Esveld's statement, who by Flip stayed with "Mrs. HAGEDOORN" until 9 January (Flip's file, p. 7). Who he was, and when he crossed, is set out on George Mikol.

She "was never supported financially and always fed the Tommies out of her own store. Her food position at the moment is moderate.", and she had asked for priority for the repair of her house (p. 4).

• ✓ Her grade. Grade 5 with the Americans: the folder cover has "Grade. 5 / Conf. 16 20.11.45" (p. 1), the summary of 4 March 1946 a bare "5" (p. 5), and their list of Grade 5 awards (the Eisenhower certificate) "(3519) RONALDUS-HAGENDOORN, J. H. / Overstraat B 363 / Amerongen, The Netherlands" (the list, p. 133, read on the image).
• ✓ The British index has "ROLANDUS-HAGEDOORN, Mev. J.H.D.", "Overstr B 363,Amerongen", certificate 9251, grade 5 (page R/7, National Archives WO 208/5477, in John Howes's photograph; read on the image).
• ✓ The Resistance Memorial Cross. The 1985 register of its bearers has "Rolandus Hagedoorn - Meeter, Johanna H.D. 27-03-1897" (the register, p. 196, read on the page image).
• ✓ Her death. Her family's notice in De Telegraaf of 29 January 1973 announced that "JOHANNA HARRIET DOEDENIA MEETER" had died "op de leeftijd van 75 jaar" (at the age of 75); it is dated "Ede, 27 januari 1973", from Zweerslaan 9, and set her burial for 31 January at the Nieuw Eykenduynen cemetery at The Hague (De Telegraaf, read on the cutting). ◐ The notice's date is taken as the day of her death; it does not say where she died.

• Her name. "Ronaldus-Hagedoorn" on her American form and summary, "RONALDUS-HAGENDOORN" on their Grade 5 list, "ROLAND-HARE-DOORN-METER" in Noble's report; "Rolandus" in the civil records, the British index, the 1985 register and the family notices (sources above). This page uses Rolandus.
• How long Noble stayed.
  • Her statement: brought "about 25 Dec.", hidden "until 5 January"; the summary: "11 days from 25 December 1944 until 5 January" (sources above).
  • Noble's report: "8 days", ending with the crossing on 2 January, which every account of the party gives but Briere's, which has 1 January (Briere, p. 2; the crossing) (Noble; Charles Noble).
  • His later account: about ten days.
  • ◐ Her 5 January is three days after he left by every source but Briere's (four by his); why is not known.
• Who was in the house. Noble's report: her and her sister-in-law, Mrs Van Heyst. His later account: the lady of the house and her four daughters, and no sister-in-law. Her form: four children, aged 18, 16, 15 and 13, the eldest (her next of kin) a daughter and the others' sexes not given (sources above).
• Her husband. ⚠︎ Noble's later account has him, "I think", a former mayor of Amerongen. The records we hold have him an agent of the state insurance bank in 1920 and dead at Nieuwer-Amstel in 1935, and none of them makes him a mayor (the records).
• Who took Noble to the crossing. "Esveld" in her statement; in Noble's report "the local Underground leader", whose name he could not remember, who "stayed on the AMERONGEN - LEERSUM road and had spent some years in Canada" (Noble). ◐ Not shown to be the same man.

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