Henk Sneevliet - A Life in Documents

• 1907-1912: Social Democracy
• 1913-1917: Indonesia
• 1917-1918: Article Zegepraal on the Russian revolution
• 1920-1921: Eastern orientation of the Comintern
• 1921-1923: Representative for the Comintern in China
• 1924-1940: Return to The Netherlands
• 1940-1942: Resistance
• Personal life
• Sneevliet Commemoration Committee

1940-1942: Resistance

During the Second World War Sneevliet was one of the founders and the leader of a resistance group against the German occupation of the Netherlands, the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front (MLL-Front), an underground continuation of the Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party (RSAP). The Front was largely engaged in producing and distributing propaganda for socialism and in opposing the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He was tracked down and, together with six MLL Front comrades, executed by shooting at the Leusderheide near Amersfoort on 13 April 1942. In 1946, Sneevliet's widow, Mien Sneevliet-Draaijer, received a letter from the Dutch queen Wilhelmina in which she confirmed Sneevliet's important resistance role during the Second World War and his great sacrifice for the "freedom of our beloved country."

Copy of the minutes of the interrogation of Henk Sneevliet on 7 March 1941 by the German occupying forces of the Netherlands. Sneevliet was accused of illegal activities. (Dutch text)
Henk Sneevliet Papers, inv.no. 677 (pdf, 10Mb)

Henk Sneevliet, 1941
Call number BG A13/113 (pdf, 289Kb)

Copy of the document of accusation against Henk Sneevliet and other comrades, and the sentence to be shot to death, 9 April 1942. (Dutch text)
Henk Sneevliet Papers, inv.no. 680 (pdf, 2Mb)

Copy of a farewell letter by Henk Sneevliet to his family (Bep and Sal Santen and their daughter), 11 and 12 April 1942. (Dutch text)
Henk Sneevliet Papers, inv.no. 681 (pdf, 865Kb)

Poems written by Mien Sneevliet-Draaijer, 13 April 1942. She was arrested together with her husband. The poems were written in her cell, and smuggled out. She was deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp, but survived. (Dutch text)
Collection Memorial Hall for the First Congress of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai (pdf, 1.1Mb)

Copy of the Dutch journal De Telegraaf of 13 April 1942 with an article on the execution of Henk Sneevliet and six fellow condemned men. De Telegraaf was a conservative newspaper, appearing with approval of the German authorities. (Dutch text)
Henk Sneevliet Papers, inv.no. 682 (pdf, 1.2Mb)

Letter from "P.D.A." to the editors of De Vlam, 6 November 1945.
The writer was in prison in the same block of cells as Henk Sneevliet and the other members of the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg front; he reported on Sneevliet and his comrades during their last hours just before the execution. (Dutch text)
Henk Sneevliet Papers, inv.no. 792 (pdf, 2.3Mb)

Letter from Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands to the widow of Henk Sneevliet, Mien Sneevliet-Draaijer, in which the queen expressed her condolences on the loss of Sneevliet, 3 August 1946. (Dutch text)
Henk Sneevliet Papers, inv.no. 730 (pdf, 457Kb)