Designer Memmorial center WCF Hageman.....
October 1944
An attack by a resistance group on a car owned by the German Wehrmacht gave the German occupier a reason to take retaliation measures against the municipality of Putten a small city in the middle of the Netherlands. In the night of September 30 th, a resistance group fired upon a car of the German whermacht. Inside the car were 2 officers and 2 corporals. Soon a gunfight was taking place between the resistance group and the Germans. The 2 corporals managed to escape. One of the officers escaped and ran to a farm nearby even though he was heavily injured, from there he was transferred to Harderwijk. He died there the next day. The other officer was captured by the resistance group and taken away as a hostage. The German Werhmacht raided most of Putten and a part of Nijkerk on sunday October 1st Putten was surrounded by German troops by command of general Friedrich Christiansen. Women and children were brought to the church, while men were locked seperately in either the school or eierhal. The women and children were released in the evening on the condition that they would return the next day with some food for their men. On the second of October most women and children returned. All men between the ages of 18 and 50 were taken to the concentration camp in Amersfoort. All women and children received the order to evacuate the village within 2 hours. Assisted by the Dutch SS approximately about 110 buildings are burned down by German troops in the evening and night. The next day many of the inhabitants were found standing in front of the ruins wich were once their homes. In Amersfoort A few men were set free. Some 600 men are transported to the concentration camp in Neuengamme on the 11th of October where they arrive late in the evening of the 14th of October. A part of the men ended up in Ladelund and several other camps, which were a part of Neuengamme. Most of them died / passed away. They become the victim of malnutrition, , slavery, exploitation and infectious diseases, non-existend medical assistence some lost their lives during bombings.
Only few returned after the liberation. The sad balance which can be made up is the following:
| Total amount of men deported | 659 |
| Released in Amersfoort | 58 |
| Deported to Neuengamme | 601 |
| Jumped out of the train on the way to Neuengamme | 13 |
| Arrived in Neuengamme | 588 |
| Returned to Putten after liberation | 48 |
| Passed away in German concentration camps | 540 |
| Killed during the raid | 7 |
| Passed away shortly after the return | 5 |
| Total number of victims | 552 |