On 4th May, The Kroonvaarders (an association of former KNSM employees), VOS, Association Ons Suriname and KNSM Island residents will commemorate the 247 merchant marine veterans of the K.N.S.M who became victims of World War II.
There will be speeches by the chairman of The Kroonvaarders, chairman of the Association Ons Suriname and the Alderman of Stadsdeel Oost. This will be followed by the laying of a wreath and flowers at the monument. Participants will then file past the monument. After the commemoration, coffee or soft drinks will be served to the invited guests.
In order to ensure that the ceremony can take place undisturbed, the front door in the vestibule of the Kompaszaal will be closed during the commemoration.
The hall is open from 14:30. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The KNSM memorial is located in LOODS 6 – Kompaszaal, KNSM Avenue 311.
Background
At the time of the German invasion on 10th May 1940, over 850 tankers, passenger and Dutch merchant cargo ships were at sea. The ships could not return to their home port as they would be confiscated by the occupying forces. The Dutch government, having fled to England to continue the fight against Nazi Germany from there, made a drastic decision. Every sailor in Dutch service was required to continue sailing until six months after the war, regardless of how long it would last. The ships and their crews were then deployed on the vital but dangerous process of transporting Allied troops and equipment. An estimated 18,000 sailors remained outside the Netherlands. All this time, the sailors had virtually no contact with their families and were uncertain about the fate of their loved ones. Many families suffered. It was impossible for the shipping companies to continue paying full salaries. Aid committees sprang up in various places. A resistance organisation, De Zeemanspot, managed to organise financial support. Later during the occupation, this aid was organised very professionally. The National Support Fund (NSF), also called the bank of resistance, emerged from the Zeemanspot. With financial guarantees from the Dutch government in London, families continued to receive enough money to make ends meet throughout the occupation.
Half of the Dutch merchant fleet were to be lost in the battle against Germany and Japan. They ran into sea mines, were hit by a torpedo or attacked by air raids. 3,400 Dutch sailors were killed. The ships of Amsterdam’s largest shipping company, de Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot Maatschappij (KNSM) (the Royal Dutch Steamship Company), also failed to return to home port. The vessels were used for Allied supplies, resulting in heavy losses. A total of 49 KNSM ships were lost; about two-thirds of the fleet. In the process, 230 crew members died. Another 17 personnel died due to other war conditions.
In 1947, a monument was unveiled at the KNSM headquarters, then located in the Scheepvaarthuis on Prins Hendrikkade. Five plaques bear the names of the 247 sailors who perished. Below them is an effigy of a man on the seabed, symbolically depicting death at sea. After being moved several times (the KNSM had long since been disbanded by then) the monument was given its final place in 2005 in the entrance hall of Loods 6 in the Eastern Harbour area, which has since been converted into a residential area. It is the location where ships used to depart and dock.
The memorial was given added prominence several years ago. It was previously not well-known that the victims at sea included Surinamese, Indonesian, Chinese and Antillean sailors. Thanks to efforts by KNSM’s chronicler, former helmsman Wim Wessels, who published a KNSM commemorative book in 2008, these names are now recognised. This has rectified a concealed aspect of history. The annual commemoration of the victims of KNSM on 4th May is organised by the association of former KNSM employees, called the ‘Kroonvaarders’, together with the Ons Suriname Association.