Gerardus Mooyman

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Gerardus Mooyman

Gerardus Leonardus Mooyman (23 September 1923 -2 January 1987) was a Dutch volunteer in the Waffen-SS.

[edit] Biography

Gerardus Mooyman was born in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. He grew up in a very pro-German household. His father was a small time retailer whose business suffered greatly during the great depression, resulting in his joining of the NSB in hope of a better future. Mooyman spent his youth hearing superlatives about Hitler and Nazi Germany and admiring the German victories across Europe.

His father wanted Mooyman to work in the family business but he preferred a military career, so in 1941 he volunteered to serve in the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands, and was sent to the eastern front as an anti tank gun commander. In the battle at Lake Ladoga he destroyed 13 tanks, for this action he was the first non-German to be awarded the Knight's Cross. By the end of his service on the front he was credited with destroying 23 Soviet tanks.

As the first non-German to be awarded the Knight's Cross the Nazi propaganda widely published his story in newspapers and magazines, he was congratulated personally by Himmler and, like a showpiece, he had to show up at dozens of receptions, parties and parades. He was illustrated as an example to the Dutch youth.

By the end of the war Mooyman rose to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. He was arrested at Bodegraven in March 1946, put on trial in 1947 and charged with active military collaboration for his service in the Waffen-SS. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Mooyman became disillusioned with Nazism as soon as he learned about the holocaust and other war crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany.

Mooyman was released after 3 years in prison, after which he moved to Hoogkerk where he became the owner of a paper-hanging business and the secretary of local football club. He was married and had one daughter.

Gerardus Mooyman died in a car accident in 1987.