{"id":198218,"date":"2026-10-03T11:34:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T09:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/persoon\/papiermole-harmen-jan-2\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T11:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T09:34:42","slug":"papiermole-harmen-jan-2","status":"publish","type":"persoon","link":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/person\/papiermole-harmen-jan\/","title":{"rendered":"Harmen Jan Papiermole"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Harmen Jan Papiermole was born on 14 October 1896 in Dale<\/strong>. He held a variety of positions in Aalten: he worked as a tram supervisor, bookkeeper and grocer, and during the Second World War was an authorised representative at the Driessen firm. He was also active in local associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From tram supervisor to shopkeeper<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the population register for 1920\u20131930, Papiermole is listed as a tram supervisor<\/strong>. He lived with his wife Dina Swienink<\/strong> at what is now Bredevoortsestraatweg 43<\/a>. In 1924 he became the owner of the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1930s he is described there as a bookkeeper and grocer<\/strong>. A grocery shop was associated with the address. The property remained connected with the Papiermole family for many years; the 1967 directory also lists H.J. Papiermole at number 43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Papiermole
Papiermole’s grocery shop at Bredevoortsestraatweg 43.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The church raid of 1944<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday 30 January 1944<\/strong>, the German occupiers carried out a raid at two churches in Aalten. Papiermole’s son Jaap, then eleven years old, saw a German raid van carrying detainees through the village. At that same moment his father approached. Harmen Jan was wearing a uniform jacket of the Air Raid Protection Service and stopped the vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a commanding voice he demanded to see the identity cards. He then selected one and pretended to the Germans that he was looking for the man concerned because he worked for him. The detainee was taken out of the van. After the vehicle had driven on, Papiermole returned the man’s identity card and allowed him to escape. A later newspaper article confirms this remarkable escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Raid
The church raid in Aalten, 30 January 1944.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In accounts of this story, Harmen Jan Papiermole is described as an authorised representative at the Driessen firm<\/strong>. The sources found so far do not establish with certainty which Driessen business was meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active in the community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Papiermole remained active in community life after the war. The 1950 directory names him as secretary of both the Aalten branch of the Groene Kruis<\/strong> and De Eendracht<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harmen Jan and Dina Swienink were, among others, the parents of Willem Herman (Wim) Papiermole<\/a>, who later became a general practitioner in Bredevoort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harmen Jan Papiermole (1896) was a tram supervisor, bookkeeper, grocer and authorised representative at the Driessen firm. During the church raid of 30 January 1944, he bluffed the Germans into releasing a detainee from a raid van.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":126522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-198218","persoon","type-persoon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/persoon\/198218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/persoon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/persoon"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/persoon\/198218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldaalten.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}