![]() ![]() He used his artistic skills to create false identity papers. Bringing in others to the cause, Willem arranged for Dutch Jews to be hidden in people’s homes. ![]() Willem was especially committed to saving Amsterdam’s Jewish community. WIllem published illegal anti-Nazi pamphlets calling for mass resistance against the Germans. Willem immediately joined the resistance movement, and urged his fellow artists to fight against the Nazi occupation. In 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. Willem was a well-respected author who published a popular biography of Dutch painter and political activist Matthijs Maris. He was commissioned to paint a mural for Rotterdam’s town hall, in a style that combined modern abstract painting with a traditional Dutch motif. On his own, Willem took odd jobs and eventually became a successful visual artist and writer. Their rejection led Willem to run away from home. In a time when nearly all gay people were in the closet, Willem’s parents could not accept his choice to live openly. From a young age, he was a talented artist and his parents encouraged his creativity, until he came out as homosexual at age 17. Willem Arondeus was a Dutch resistance fighter who gave his life trying to protect his Jewish countrymen from the Nazis.īorn in Amsterdam in 1895, Willem was one of six children. ![]()
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