“Homosexuals Are Not Cowards”: Today is the birth anniversary of gay Dutch patriot Willem Arondeus, who was born August 22, 1894.

 “Homosexuals Are Not Cowards”:

Today is the birth anniversary of gay Dutch patriot Willem Arondeus, who was born August 22, 1894.

Willem was a painter and writer, but when the Germans invaded Holland in 1940, he joined the resistance.

  Because of his skill as an artist, he was able to provide Dutch Jews with fake identity cards.

Unfortunately, fake cards could easily be checked.

  So, on March 27, 1943, Willem's unit—which included other gays—bombed the Amsterdam registry building in an effort to destroy the official records. 

The mission was only a partial success; only 15 percent of the records were destroyed. But that still amounted to 800,000 cards and thousands of lives saved. 

Five days later the unit was betrayed and its members arrested.

Willem had led the raid disguised in a German officer’s uniform. 

 To save the others, he tried to claim sole responsibility.  In vain.  A dozen of his fellow resistance fighters were sentenced to be shot along with him. 

Before his execution, he left a final message: “Tell people that homosexuals are not cowards.”

Willem Arondeus was one of the most dedicated and creative organizers of the Dutch Underground. 

But because he was openly gay, his family did not receive a medal for his services from the Dutch government until the 1980s, and his sexual orientation was frequently downplayed in books about wartime resistance.

For years, another member of the group—a heterosexual male—was credited with leading the attack.

  But fortunately another member of the group survived the war to set the record straight. 

 She was a prominent musician and lesbian named Frieda Belinfante.  

Arondeus, she said “was the great hero who was most willing to give his life for the cause.