Another Waalpainting has been completed in Nijmegen! On a garage door at Kitty de Wijzeplaats, a square named after a perished Jewish woman from Nijmegen, three Nijmegen resistance women shine in the colours of the Dutch flag. This painting is a tribute to all Nijmegen women who played a role in the resistance in the city during World War II.
According to historian Erika Manders, the project is an important step in highlighting the essential commitment of women in the resistance: ‘With this painting, we want to contribute to the necessary adjustment of the image that the resistance was mainly a male affair.’
Resistance women
The Waalpainting highlights three notable resistance women from Nijmegen:
- Henriëtte Witteveen-van Gaalen (aka ‘Oranje-Marie’): owner of hotel-restaurant De Bonte Os on Molenstraat. On Queen Wilhelmina's birthday, she openly hung the Dutch flag outside. She also hid people in hiding and radios in the Bonte Os, and the hotel-restaurant became the meeting place for members of the Nijmegen resistance.
- Nel Peters: started as a courier for the illegal newspaper Je Maintiendrai and soon played a central role in the Nijmegen resistance. Together with others, she founded the Nijmegen branch of the LO, the National Organisation for Assistance to Divers, and when the top of the Nijmegen resistance had to go into hiding in 1943, it was she who helped shape the movement again.
- Jo Heinsius: had a pharmacy on Molenstraat (opposite the headquarters of the Grüne Polizei at the time). In the house above the pharmacy, she hid Jewish people in hiding, the daughters of an Amsterdam journalist friend. Jo Heinsius unveiled the monument to Kitty de Wijze on 4 May 1995, symbolising all Nijmegen Jews who perished in the death camps
Waalpaintings
The Waalpaintings project, set up by historians from the Radboud Institute for Culture and History (RICH), makes Nijmegen's urban history visible through street art in the city centre, created by artists from the region at locations that have a direct connection to the historical stories shown. The painters of Women in Resistance are Esther Aarts (design), Charlotte van der Wiel and Hanne Hoogendam. Information on all Waalpaintings can be found at www.waalpaintings.nl.