How a Gay Artist Saved Thousands from the Nazis: Willem Arondeus
LGBTQ+ Lives: WWII and the Nazi Era
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10m
On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. As bombs fell over Rotterdam and anti-Jewish laws took hold, Dutch artist and writer Willem Arondeus refused to stay silent. Openly gay in a time of persecution, he joined the resistance and led a daring mission to blow up Amsterdam’s population registry, destroying thousands of identity records and saving countless Jewish lives.
Captured and executed in July 1943, Arondeus faced death with dignity, leaving behind one final message: “Tell people that homosexuals are not cowards.”
Decades later, he was posthumously honored as a Righteous Among the Nations, becoming a timeless symbol of courage, humanity, and defiance against tyranny.
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