Karel Pekelharing

Karel Pekelharing, born April 6th, 1909 in the Netherlands was a brave gay resistance fighter during WW II. And yes, he was also a ballet a dancer. As a choreographer and member of the National Dutch Ballet, he began to act out against the Nazi regime in 1941. He joined the Dutch resistance and was sought on charges of antifascism and communism. He fled the Netherlands and lived secretly in Germany. When his identity was discovered, he returned to the Netherlands in 1942. He continued to work as a dancer, poet, and novelist while fighting the fascists. By 1943 he had joined the resistance cell Raad Van Verzet. He worked with Willem Arondeús on the attack on the identity card registry that saved the lives of thousands of Jews. Later while with his cell, he also attacked a prison to free other resistance members. Not long after he was tracked down in Amsterdam by the SD (the SS Intelligence branch). He was sentenced and executed on the same day on June 10th, 1944. Karel’s bravery was finally acknowledged with a stolpersteine in 2021.