Willem Herman (Wim) Papiermole was born in Aalten on 5 November 1922, the son of Harmen Jan Papiermole and Dina Swienink. He studied medicine at Utrecht University.
War years
During the German occupation, Papiermole was confronted in 1943 with the declaration of loyalty required of Dutch students. He refused to sign it and had to interrupt his studies. To avoid arrest and forced labour, he went into hiding at De Koekoek farm in Dale with the Ter Horst family.
On 18 October 1944, Papiermole again faced a difficult choice. The German occupiers threatened to execute hostages if men did not report for labour deployment. In a 2004 interview, Papiermole said that he then came out of hiding in order to save his father. The same interview project records that during the Hunger Winter of 1944–1945 he was visited in Aalten by former professors from Utrecht who had travelled to the east of the country because of food shortages.
General practitioner in Bredevoort
After the war, Papiermole completed his medical training. On 1 July 1953, he succeeded Dr S. Bijlsma as general practitioner in Bredevoort. Bijlsma had worked there since 1947. Papiermole took over both the medical practice and its associated pharmacy. The practice was at Ganzenpoelendijk 1.
The practice included a large wooden pharmacy cabinet. It had originally been made for Dr Bijlsma by a carpenter and cabinetmaker from Bredevoort and moved to Ganzenpoelendijk when Papiermole took over the practice. Papiermole used the cabinet throughout his years as a general practitioner and dispensing doctor. Recollections from former staff and patients show that he often addressed his patients in the local dialect.
Retirement and legacy
Papiermole retired from his practice on 1 April 1986, after almost 33 years as a general practitioner in Bredevoort. The pharmacy was subsequently taken over by Apotheek Engelbregt on Bredevoortsestraatweg in Aalten. The old pharmacy cabinet remained in Papiermole’s possession.
He was married to Jeanet Kool. Willem Papiermole died on 20 June 2014 at the age of 91. After his death, his family donated the pharmacy cabinet to the Aalten Museums. It was formally handed over there in 2015 in the presence of his wife Jeanet Papiermole-Kool, relatives and several former practice assistants.