On the way from Drenthe

The Van Tol family, consisting of father, mother and 5 children, originally from Bodegraven, were on their way to Amsterdam from Drenthe with their ship ‘Maria’. They had a load of potatoes with them. On 7 April 1945, the skipper was warned in Kampen not to sail any further. Allied aircraft were shooting at everything that sailed on the Zuiderzee at the time. However, he ignored this and was indeed shot at between Nunspeet and Harderwijk and the ship, the Maria, sank. A rescue operation was launched from Nunspeet, camping De Oude Pol. The children Annie (6), Tonnie (2) and Beppie (11 months) survived the shooting and could be saved. Jan van Tol and his wife were killed, as were their 9-year-old son Bep and 7-year-old son Joop. Mother Marie van Tricht and son Bep are buried in Harderwijk. Father Jan and son Joop are buried at Nunspeet-Oost Cemetery, Joop in grave III-719 and Jan in III-720. In the photo from left to right: Bep, Annie and Joop.