Willem Arondeus 1894 - 1943

Willem Arondeus, pencil, 6 x 8 inches, 2015.

Willem Arondeus was an openly gay artist, writer and Nazi resistance fighter from Holland. He used his artistic skills to create forged identity papers for Dutch Jews. He led an attack on the Amsterdam General Registry Office in an attempt to destroy as many of the original documents as possible and managed to destroy thousands. Unfortunately he was later caught and executed by firing squad.. In his last message he said "Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards".