Anda Kerkhoven

Melisande Tatiana Marie (Anda) Kerkhoven (10 April 1919 in Saint-Cloud, France – 19 March 1945 in Glimmen, The Netherlands) was a woman who joined the resistance during World War II. She was an important courier of the De Groot'-group of Gerrit Boekhoven in Groningen. On 19 March 1945 she was shot by Dutch accomplices of the Sicherheitsdienst.

Early life Anda Kerkhoven was born on 10 April 1919, a daughter of Adriaan Rudolph Willem Kerkhoven and Constance Paulina Bosccha. Kerkhoven grew up in the Dutch East Indies in a relatively rich family: Her father owned a rubber and tea company named Panoembangan. The family made regular trips: Kerkhoven was born on a holiday in France, and later she wrote about trips she made to the Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

From an early age on, Kerkhoven was known for her clear opinion. Her strong beliefs on animal rights sometimes brought her into conflict with her father, who liked to hunt.

Education Until 1929, when her parents divorced, Kerkhoven went to a private school in the Dutch East Indies. Then, Kerkhoven went to primary and secondary school in The Hague, the Netherlands, but did final exams in the East Indies again. She also wrote illegal pamphlets about charity and morally correct conduct, which she reproduced and distributed through mailboxes herself.

Shortly after Christmas, on 27 December 1944, Kerkhoven was arrested by four members of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in her home in De Ranitzstraat in Groningen, after helping a 4-year-old Jewish girl to go into hiding She was subjected to severe physical and mental torture in the Scholtenhuis (nicknamed 'the porch of hell') in Groningen for months. Despite the pain and misery, Kerkhoven has, based on the available German records, always remained silent about the names and whereabouts of her fellow resistance fighters. Because of this, members of the SD gave her the nickname 'Katjang', meaning 'wicked girl'. After Gerrit Boekhoven and Dinie Aikema were also arrested in January 1945, almost the entire De Groot Group was rounded up.

In 2008, a planetoide discovered in 1990 by the Belgian astronomer Eric Walter Elst was named after Kerkhoven.

In November 2021, the Groningen city council moved to name its civic hall after Anda Kerkhoven.