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Militaria Autumn Auction 2022
Lot 374:
SS-Rottenfuhrer G. Mooymann
Hoffmann Postcard Hoffmann postcard photograph of SS-Rottenfuhrer G. Mooymann. Bearing Hoffmann’s refernce number ‘R 101’ to the reverse.
Dimensions: 9,2×14 cm
Gerardus Leonardus Mooyman (Apeldoorn, September 23, 1923 – Anloo, June 21, 1987) was a Dutchman who enlisted in the Waffen-SS during World War II.
Mooyman was born in Apeldoorn and came from a Catholic middle-class family. His father was a milkman and became a member of the NSB during the crisis.
Mooyman volunteered for the SS-Freiwilligen-Standarte "Nordwest" in April 1941. His first frontline deployment was in January 1942 at the Volkhov in the Dutch Volunteer Legion. As commander of an anti-tank gun, he earned the Iron Cross 1939 Second and First Class for destroying some Soviet tanks. During the battle around Lake Ladoga in February 1943, Mooyman destroyed 13 enemy tanks in one day. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 20 February 1943. He was the first Dutchman and the first non-German to receive the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. In total he managed to take out 23 tanks
Mooyman was used by the Nazis for a publicity campaign and set an example to Dutch youth. In many places, streets and squares were named after him.
He then trained as an SS-Scharführer (non-commissioned officer) in Radolfzell in the summer of 1943. At the end of August 1943 he left for officer training at the SS-Junkerschule in Bad Tölz; he was a cadet in the 11th Kriegsjunkerlehrgang. In the spring of 1944 he returned to the front at Narva as SS-Standarten-Oberjunker (cf. ensign) and was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve (reserve second lieutenant) on 21 June 1944.
Mooyman became a US prisoner of war on May 4, 1945. A few days later he escaped and went into hiding in Germany. In March 1946 he was arrested in the Netherlands. During a transport from Scheveningen to Delft he escaped for the second time and was arrested again in August 1946. Mooyman appeared in court in October and was eventually sentenced to 6 years in prison, but was released at the end of August 1949. After his release, Mooyman lived a nondescript life as an independent entrepreneur in the city of Groningen. Mooyman was married and had a daughter.
The only time he came into publicity after that was in 1967, when he was interviewed by the magazine Revue. In this article he expressed his horror at the crimes of the Nazis, for which he considered himself partly responsible. He gave his Knight’s Cross to a collector. He died in 1987 as a result of a traffic accident near Anloo.
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Condition: As in the attached photos.
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