Arnhem resistance figure Wilbrink, 99, rejects doubts about his Dachau past
Willem Wilbrink, 99, has responded for the first time to doubts that he was ever held in Dachau, saying he did not make it up, while the Dachau committee says it never happened.
Willem Wilbrink, a 99-year-old from Arnhem, has reacted for the first time to doubts about his war record. He is deeply saddened by them and rejects the suggestion that he invented his story. "Ik ga dat toch niet allemaal fantaseren?" he said, meaning: "I'm not going to make all that up, am I?"
Two researchers, independently of each other, have serious doubts that Wilbrink was ever imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp, as he himself says. The Netherlands Dachau Committee (Nederlands Dachau Comité) concludes that this "in reality never happened".
Wimar Jaeger of the committee said: "The events he has in his head are very unlikely."
Wilbrink has always said he was in the resistance during the Second World War.
Nederlands Dachau Comité
The Dutch Dachau Committee is an organisation dedicated to preserving the memory of the Dachau concentration camp and the Dutch citizens who were imprisoned there. It organises commemorations and provides educational information to ensure the victims and the history of the camp are remembered.