Kraneweg 100A

Hessel van der Zee was born on March 2, 1918 in Groningen. His father, Wilhelm van der Zee (1890 – 1931), is a trade correspondent. His mother, Jantina Johanna Adema (1892 – 1967), comes from a family of teachers.

Hessel has a job as a government clerk at the Public Prosecutor's Office.
He comes into contact with the resistance for the first time when, as a former conscript, he decides to go into hiding. Initially he does courier work for the Groningen resistance woman Siet Tammens (1914 -2014). When Siet is in danger and goes into hiding, Hessel shifts his illegal activities. He joins both the “zero group”1 and the “k-group”2. Hessel usually dresses up as a nurse; his pseudonym is “sister Jo”. The disguise is very functional. When Hessel, as an ambulance driver, transports people in hiding, voucher cards and weapons, his colleagues often do not recognize him.

The group around Hessel played an important role in the raid on the Hoitsema printing works in Groningen (14 May 1944).
In the summer of 1944, a few weeks later, things go wrong. A student seeks contact with Hessel's group; he has drawings of a German bunker in Delfzijl and wants to pass them on to the resistance. A meeting is arranged. Then it turns out that the student is working with the SD. On the way to the meeting, Hessel feels danger and manages to escape. His fiancée, Femmigje Anna van Veenen, courier, is arrested together with other people present3 and taken to the House of Detention. The next day, Hessel is arrested at his hiding place.
Before being deported first to Kamp Amersfoort and then to Vught (August 2, 1944), Hessel and Femmigje married in the House of Detention in Groningen.

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