This presentation, with lots of visual and audio material from those involved, tells the story of Stay Behind. This was an ultra-secret Cold War organisation, which was supposed to offer resistance in case of a Russian invasion. Its agents, often ordinary Dutchmen, sometimes lived double lives for decades.
Date, time, and location to be announced
Secret organisations
In the summer of 1983, a high school student throws a hand grenade inside a police station on the Veluwe. That summer, the police arrest five men. All were found with grenades, pistols and automatic rifles found in the forests of Gelderland. 'Secret weapons cache found again. Ministry of Defence won't say anything,' the newspapers headline.
Later, it turned out that the depots belonged to Stay Behind — a secret Cold War organisation designed to resist yet another invasion of the Netherlands. Members were often ordinary citizens, leading double lives for years: lawyer by day, trainee at MI6 by night. Even after its dissolution following the fall of the Soviet Union, Stay Behind remains ultra-secret. Archives are destroyed or non-public and the government stays silent. This podcast project explores exactly what Stay Behind was about, but also what its impact was. What was it like to be a cop, and how threatening is it to find a case of machine guns as a child?
About Linda van der Pol
Linda van der Pol is an investigative journalist at Investico, investigating financial crime and corruption. Her investigations have been awarded, among others, the European Press Award and the 'Tegel'. Nowadays, she's mainly investigating the Russian war in Ukraine. Partly at Radboud University, Linda is specialised in Dutch Language and Culture and History. For 'Ongekend Nijmegen' and 'Radboud Erfgoed' she delved into the highly secret resistance organisation Stay Behind.
