Untold battles – Dutch voyagers

A project at the Dutch National Archives launched on March 21, releasing the untold stories of 2,150 Dutch fighters of the Nazi regime.

They call themselves Engelandvaarders (English Voyagers); the hundreds of men and women from the Netherlands who undertook demanding, lengthy journeys to reach Britain and join the Nazi opposition.

Many travelled over water, crossing the North Sea, and some took the routes through Sweden; not everyone made it, but each traveller marked a historic effort to end the Second World War.

Approximately 300 men and 75 of the English Voyagers were Jewish and faced life-changing and tragic circumstances, as they fought for freedom.

“What these people did was true resistance and they were considered the heroes of their time,” said the English Voyagers project´s leader, Pepijn Lucker. 

The project was established in collaboration with the National Holocaust Museum to honour the Dutch people who escaped the country during the Second World War to become secret agents for the British Special Operations, dedicating their lives to the pursuit of democracy. 

Visit the National Archives to find out more https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/