Cornelis den Boef

Cornelis den Boef enlisted in 1918 (at the age of fifteen!) with the fortification artillery in Naarden. He became unemployed after the capitulation in 1940 and joined the Amsterdam Police Battalion in 1942. He then went on to do regular beat work.^[1]

Late in the evening of 9 April 1944, night watchman Slegers drew his attention to a forced door panel at Prinsengracht 263. Den Boef inspected the premises at around a quarter to eleven, but found nothing suspicious inside. In her diary Anne describes how the people in hiding heard footsteps and the rattling of the bookcase.^[2] Den Boef reported his findings at half past eleven in the Warmoesstraat office.^[3]

In the early morning of 2 March 1945, he and some of his colleagues shot at coal thieves on the grounds of the Westergasfabriek.^[4]

Reports for the post-war purges described Den Boef as an untrustworthy person, who had also been a member of the NSB and Rechtsfront. On 11 July 1946, the Minister of Justice decided that all Den Boef's rights to pensions etc. had lapsed because of his disloyalty, as referred to in the Purges Decree 1945.^[5]

Source personal data.^[6] Addresses: Den Boef lived in the area of Ceintuurbaan from 1940 onwards. On 7 June 1944 he was registered at the address Cornelis Troostplein 23, the barracks of the Amsterdam Police Battalion.^[6]