Interview with Martin Kentie, son of Cornelis Kentie, 2023
Gedenkstätte Wolfenbüttel
Cornelis Kentie
28 September 1919 – 25 October 1998
Cornelis Kentie after his arrest in Hanover, 1943
NIOD Amsterdam, archive 214, inventory number 621
Life before Imprisonment
Cornelis Kentie was born on 28 September 1919, in Rotterdam and grew up in a Protestant household. In 1941, he began working as a mailroom worker for the Dutch Post (P.T.T.). A year later, at the age of 23, he was forcibly transferred by his employer to the German Reichspost in Hanover. He arrived in Hanover by train on 19 November 1942. There, he was housed in various camps. In some, the workers lived in cramped conditions, and the hygiene and food supply were poor. The postal workers were starving, and unlike other workers, Cornelis Kentie did not receive food parcels from his family in the Netherlands.
Arrest and Conviction
Upon his arrival in Celle, Cornelis Kentie had to write this resume on 11 June 1944.
NIOD Amsterdam, archive 214, inventory number 621
About half a year after his arrival in Hanover, in April 1943, Cornelis Kentie was arrested. He was found with 47 field post packages for Wehrmacht soldiers at the front, from which he had stolen cake, cigarettes, and a fountain pen. Initially, he was taken to the Hanover police prison. On 21 May 1943, the Special CourtEstablished in each higher regional court district from 21 March 1933, the special courts served to quickly punish regime-critical behaviour. In so-called summary proceedings, several thousand people of different backgrounds were sentenced to death. Celle sentenced him to death. His justification that he had stolen out of hunger did not mitigate his sentence. Cornelis Kentie filed a clemency petition, which the Reich Minister of Justice granted in September 1943. His sentence was commuted to 10 years in prison. This mitigation of the sentence was an exception.
Imprisonment and Forced Labour
In June 1943, Cornelis Kentie was transferred to the Wolfenbüttel Prison. Originally, his death sentence was to be carried out there. He had to perform forced labour, working for the rubber processing company Schroers & Simmerling, among others. The work was hard, and the prisoners’ conditions worsened as the war progressed. Eventually, the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court in Hanover transferred Cornelis Kentie to the Celle PenitentiaryThe sentence of penal servitude was imposed as a prison sentence for criminal offences along with the loss of civil rights. The milder prison sentence was imprisonment. Under the Nazi regime, the punitive measures imposed in penal servitude, particularly forced labour and deprivation, were significantly intensified. at the end of May 1944. He contracted tuberculosis and was treated in the infirmary for four months. Due to the front line’s progression, he was re-transferred to the Wolfenbüttel Prison on 6 April 1945. On 11 April, US troops liberated the prison.
Cornelis Kentie after his arrival at the Celle Penitentiary, June 1944
NIOD Amsterdam, archive 214, inventory number 621
“I had never seen photos of him when he was young.”
Theo Kentie
son of Cornelis Kentie
2023
Return to the Netherlands
In June 1945, Cornelis Kentie returned to Rotterdam. Due to his poor health, he likely spent several months in the Red Cross auxiliary hospital on Mecklenburglaan in Kralingen. In the hospital, he met his future wife, who worked there as an assistant nurse. The couple married in November 1946, and their first son was born in June 1947.
Cornelis Kentie and his wife (right), probably in the summer of 1946
Still from the movie “Rode Kruis 1945”, Privatbesitz Theo Kentie
In Allied-occupied Germany, his sentence still applied, and the Chief Prosecutor continued to search for Cornelis Kentie. The case was closed in early 1946 as he could not be found. Cornelis Kentie resumed working for the Dutch Post (P.T.T).
Memories of Childhood
Martin Kentie
son of Cornelis Kentie
2023
At his supposed 25th service anniversary, it was revealed that the P.T.T. did not recognise his imprisonment time as service years. Due to his theft, he had been retroactively dismissed in December 1943. The Dutch authorities also continued to recognise the Nazi Special Court’s theft conviction, resulting in a lower pension.
Note from Cornelis Kentie listing his service years.
Privatbesitz Theo Kentie
Compensation
In September 1976, Cornelis Kentie applied to the Dutch Social Insurance Bank (SVB) for benefits under the Persecution Compensation Act (WUV). He had not applied for benefits under the Bilateral Compensation AgreementBetween 1959 and 1964, the Federal Republic of Germany concluded bilateral compensation agreements with twelve Western European states. These agreements included lump-sum payments intended to settle all compensation claims. The distribution of the funds was the responsibility of the recipient state. (Globalabkommen) in the 1960s, likely because he considered his chances of success to be low. The Social Insurance Bank gathered information from various sources, including the German Red Cross, the P.T.T., and the ITS Arolsen.
The central question was: Was Cornelis Kentie a victim of Nazi persecution? However, it was undisputed by the SVB that he had suffered physical and psychological damage due to his imprisonment. Ultimately, the Social Insurance Bank, in agreement with the Red Cross and the P.T.T., did not recognise Cornelis Kentie as a victim of Nazi persecution.
“And stealing cake is not resistance.”
Theo Kentie
son of Cornelis Kentie
2023
Letter from the P.T.T. to the Compensation Council for Victims of Persecution, 7 October 1977. The Dutch Post could not provide “detailed information about the forced employment” of Cornelis Kentie.
Privatbesitz Theo Kentie
Letter from the Dutch Red Cross to the Compensation Council for Victims of Persecution, 2 March 1977. The Dutch Red Cross did not recognise Cornelis Kentie as a Nazi victim under the WUV.
Privatbesitz Theo Kentie
“I still find that a great shame to this day!”
Martin Kentie
son of Cornelis Kentie
2023
Impact on the Family
The fact that Cornelis Kentie was never recognised as a victim of Nazi justice had not only financial repercussions for the family. His stigmatisation as a supposed criminal extended well into the 1970s. For his sons, it remains an injustice that has never been resolved to this day.
“Something was taken from him.”
Martin Kentie
son of Cornelis Kentie
2023
