De Dordtse Affaire

A considerable part of the history of the occupation of Dordrecht has been taboo since May 1945. This book reveals this hidden history and shows that there were more secrets and mysteries attached to the occupation than was long thought. Three Dordrecht men from the political police grew into notorious accomplices of the occupying forces. One of them, Harry Evers, allegedly played a double game. While he was known in various circles as a fanatical Jew-hunter and war criminal, Evers allegedly collaborated ingeniously with the top of the illegality. Because this top brass supported Evers to the bitter end, he was able to don the uniform of the Internal Armed Forces seemingly effortlessly after liberation. He even became head of the local National Security Bureau, while his immediate colleagues were incarcerated in internment camps. The various groups within the Dordrecht illegality became divided to the bone. Already during the occupation and also afterwards, a permanent and unbridgeable gap would develop. Fragment: During the last months before liberation, betrayal and terror reached unprecedented heights. Hunger was murdering people, while five years of Nazi propaganda had injected poison into many souls. NSB’ers, provocateurs, SS’ers and other followers saw the final catastrophe approaching and started behaving like desperadoes who had nothing left to lose or suddenly became fanatical resistance fighters. Frank van Riet shows with The Dordt Affair that there is still an open wound that, even after many years, does not want to heal. He presents startling discoveries and conclusions about resistance, persecution and betrayal in and outside Dordrecht. Frank van Riet (1964) previously wrote De bewakers van Westerbork and Handhaven onder de Nieuwe Orde, among others. This book was nominated for the mr. J. Dutilh prize.