* Gestel July 1, 1916
† Amsterdam May 7, 1945
Maria Nella van Hooff, correspondent, died on the consequences of bullet wounds on May 7 1945 at 03:00PM at the Dam, 28 years old.
She was born in Gestel (now Eindhoven) as the 3th child of 5. Maria Nella married in 1938 in Rotterdam with the 3 year older Rotterdam Geert Jan Jager (1913-1972). After their marriage they moved to Amsterdam and lived there for short periods at different locations, from 1941 in the Valeriusstraat 284 in Amsterdam. Their only daughter was born in 1943.
In 1940 Maria Nella and Geert Jan Jager lived in Haarlem, Pleiadenstraat 148. At no 150 lived the Blei family. After the death of Maria Nella, Geert Jan wrote a letter to his old neighbours.
Amsterdam May 15 1945
Dear Bley Family,
By this letter I would like to tell you that my wife has been shot by the Germans on Monday May 7 at the N.Z.Voorburgwal, they fired from the Grote Club with machine-guns and pistols at the crowd. She was hit by an explosive bullet and succumbed to the awful injuries. Myself I was shot through my left arm. Especially for our little daughter it’s terrible for whom she is irreplaceable. Would you please tell Coen and Rietje what has happened. [Name daughter removed because of her privacy] is accommodated with strangers, who are taking excellent care of her.
Greetings,
Respectfully, Jager
In 1947 Geert Jan remarried with Aafje Blei, daughter of his previous neighbours.
My mother Francisca (Sisca) and Marie Nella (Mies) van Hooff were sisters. In our family nobody talked about the disaster at the Dam, at least to me, only that it had happened, and that the Domestic Armed Forces started the shooting. So the blame was clearly put by the Dutch people.
Aggi van Lieshout