Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collaborator

[Ulysses31]

So she waits until she is too old and frail to be tried to admit murdering an innocent man, hope her long life has been plagued with regret

'I killed him': Woman, 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collaborator


# Later emerged victim had sheltered Jews and allowed Catholics to hold secret meetings in his home

# Killer meets grandchildren of victim to explain why she did it

A murder mystery which puzzled Dutch police for more than 65 years has been solved - with the astonishing confession of a 96-year-old woman.

Construction firm boss Felix Gulje was gunned down on his own doorstep ten months after the end of World War II in March 1946.

His death became a high profile case because he was being considered for a high political post but was also thought to have collaborated with the Nazis.

Confession: Atie Ridder-Visser (left) has admitted gunning down Feliz Gulje (right) on his doorstep in 1946, ten months after the end of the war

German soldiers on the march in Holland. The country was occupied from 1940 to 1945


Despite a large-scale investigation, which threw up several suspects, his assassin managed to remain at large, becoming a major point of contention among political parties.

That was until yesterday - six-and-a-half decades after the crime - with the startling revelation from frail nonagenarian Atie Ridder-Visser that she was the one who pulled the trigger.

The mayor of Leiden, Henri Lenferink, told reporters that a woman had confessed to the killing, saying it happened in the mistaken belief that Gulje had collaborated with the Nazis.

Leiden is located 30 miles to the south west of Amsterdam, where the family of Anne Frank hid from the occupying Nazi soldiers for two years between 1942 and 1944. After being discovered they were sent to concentration camps and Anne died of typhus in March, 1945.

Lenferink said he received a letter from the woman, whom he identified as Mrs Ridder-Visser, in January.

Two subsequent interviews with her and a review of the historical archives persuaded him that her story was true.

She told him that on the bitterly cold sleeting night of March 1, 1946, the then Atie Visser rang Gulje's doorbell, and told his wife that she had a letter to give to her husband.

Confession: The mayor of Dutch town Leiden (pictured) said a woman has admitted to being behind the murder


When he came to the door she blasted him in the chest. He died in the ambulance.

Visser had been a member of the resistance during the 1940 to 1945 Nazi occupation.

Rumours had been circulating that Gulje was working with the occupation authorities, and he had been targeted in the underground press.

His company did regular business with the Germans, and several employees belonged to a pro-Nazi organization. He was arrested after the war, but acquitted.

After his death it emerged that Gulje had sheltered some Jews and had given money to help hide others with other families.

A banned Catholic association also held secret meetings in his home, said Lenferink.

Ridder-Visser moved to Indonesia after the war, where she met and married Herman Ridder.

Childless, they moved back to the Netherlands several years later, also spending a few years in Spain.

Lenferink said police never suspected the woman in the killing.

After disclosing her role, Ridder-Visser met two grandchildren of her victim last month to explain what happened and why she did it, the mayor added.

He did not disclose details of that conversation.

He also said that Ridder-Visser will not be prosecuted.

Although the 18-year statute of limitations was lifted for serious crimes in 2006, prosecutors ruled that the change in law would not apply in this case.

'Even now, after 65 years, the murder should be strongly condemned,' Lenferink said. 'It is a case of vigilantism, and is unacceptable.'

But he appealed to reporters to leave her alone.

He added: 'Mrs. Ridder-Visser is a very old, very frail woman who hears poorly, is disabled and needs help.'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ollaborator-65-years-death.html#ixzz1OnHb7NgA

 

[mrtrebus]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

Another day another nazi related story for the daily mail.

 

[Marlo Manson]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

Damn she got away with Murder.. she thought he was a traitor for conspiring with the Nazi's when in reality he was aiding the people that were being hunted.

Now where I don't really follow or understand this story, is where she says on that morning of 3/1/46 she rang the victims doorbell and his wife answered the door.. Wouldn't she be a witness??

The wife maynot have actually witnessed the shooting of her husband, but she saw the woman in person when she answered the door, why the woman who committed the crime wasn't sought after and looked for, and an automatic suspect, is, well beyond me, how can the wife not mention this woman with a letter for her husband who rings the doorbell and all of the sudden, her husband is shot to death??

FFS how does the woman remain unsuspected and ultimately not even linked to the murder @ the time of the incident??? :dunno::eek:

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

Fail.

 

[grower_boy]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

^My thoughts exactly, Mr. Manson. That made no sense to me whatsoever. But then again, a mystery that took 65 years to "solve" isn't going to make much sense I guess.

 

[Will E Worm]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

So she waits until she is too old and frail to be tried to admit murdering an innocent man, hope her long life has been plagued with regret

A crime is a crime throw her in prison and make an example of her.

I'm tired of "Nazi hunters."

That war was a while ago. It's time to let it go.

 

[Petra]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

Here's the story from a dutch news channel for expats:

WWII Dutch resistance worker admits 65-year murder

An elderly former Dutch resistance worker confessed to murdering a suspected collaborator 65 years ago, only to find out years later her victim was in fact saving Jews from Nazi persecution, authorities said Thursday.

"At the beginning of the year I received a letter. It was written by a 96-year-old lady, almost 97, who admitted to murdering Felix Gulje in 1946," said Leiden mayor Henri Lenferink in a press release published on the town's website.

Atie Ridder-Visser confessed to shooting Gulje, an engineer, on March 1, 1946 in the university town of Leiden some 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of Amsterdam. His murder was never solved, Lenferink said.

Ridder-Visser, who later received a medal for her work in the Dutch resistance, at the time suspected Gulje of having collaborated with the Nazis who overran the lowlands country in May 1940.

Gulje supposedly repaired a bridge which the resistance had earlier destroyed, Lenferink said.

It was later proved that Gulje in fact helped Jews escape Nazi persecution, he said.

"The murdered Mr Gulje sheltered Jewish refugees under his roof in World War II. He also financially assisted other families helping refugees," Lenferink said, adding that Gulje was part of a banned Catholic workers' organisation.

"She (Ridder-Visser) said to me: 'If I had known, I certainly would not have done it. We did it based on the information we had at the time'," Lenferink told Dutch public television NOS.

"She said: 'In view of the information we had, we thought it to be natural to do it'," the Leiden mayor added, saying Ridder-Visser could not be prosecuted as the case was closed according to Dutch law, in March 1964, 18 years after it was committed.

But Lenferink added: "I would like to say that in my view, even 65 years later this murder should be strongly condemned."

"It was a case of own initiative and not acceptable. The action was not based on facts, but on wrong information," he said.

The sense I get from talking to people that were around after the war, and from the different museums around the country, things were a bit chaotic after the war. The dutch were trying to assemble the pieces so I'm guessing there wasn't much manpower to put on the case. And, being a suspected Nazi collaborator, I'm sure not many people cared at the time.

 

[Ulysses31]

Re: Dutch woman 96, confesses - after 65 years - to murder of suspected Nazi collabor

Here's the story from a dutch news channel for expats:



The sense I get from talking to people that were around after the war, and from the different museums around the country, things were a bit chaotic after the war. The dutch were trying to assemble the pieces so I'm guessing there wasn't much manpower to put on the case. And, being a suspected Nazi collaborator, I'm sure not many people cared at the time.

There must have been varying degrees of collaboration, it was pretty much a death sentence refusing to comply with the Germans so many people just did what they asked. Some of the cleverer ones may have appeared extremely compliant with the Germans so as to work against them in secret maybe by passing information to the resistance or sheltering people etc. This probably led to a fair amount of confusion as you had secret agents and then double agents and industrialists who collaborated with the Nazis in order to be able to help people like Oskar Schindler etc. I can imagine there being plenty of chaos following the war as the country lay in ruins and rebuilding and returning to normality was the priority, however I still feel the minute this woman found out the man she had murdered was not a collaborator and actually a hero she should have come forward and admitted her mistake and given his family some closure. Because there had been no known motive for the crime people could have assumed he was up to no good and that could further have tarnished his name and his family, now we know it was over a suspected collaboration that wasn't true it can dispell any other rumours but it's still 65 years too late.