- George Maduro
George John Lionel Maduro (born in Willemstad (Curaçao)),
July 15 1916 ; diedDachau concentration camp ,February 9 1945 ) was a Dutchstudent that served as an officer in the 1940Battle of the Netherlands and distinguished himself in the attack on The Hague.The miniature city of
Madurodam is named after him, as well as the Maduroplein area inScheveningen , inThe Hague .Maduro was born in
Curaçao as the only son in theJew ish family of Joshua and Rebecca Maduro. He departed forThe Netherlands and studied law atLeiden University . By a royal decision onNovember 21 1939 Maduro was appointed to second-lieutenant-reserve in the Dutch Cavalry. In theBattle of the Netherlands he was quartered with the DutchHussars inThe Hague as a reserve officer. Under his direction
German ground troops stationed inRijswijk were defeated and parachutists were captured.When the Dutch military capitulated, Maduro was captured by German troops and jailed in the
Oranje Hotel in Scheveningen.When he was released after half a year, the Germans had required that all Jews wear the
Star of David . Maduro refused to wear the star and joined the resistance movement. He tried to help Allied pilots escape to theUnited Kingdom viaSpain , but was caught for treason and placed in jail again. After he figured out how to escape, he rejoined the Dutch resistance. He was captured again, this time by the GermanGestapo . By way of a jail inSaarbrücken , he was transferred to theDachau concentration camp . Just before the liberation of the camp by American troops in 1945, Maduro died oftyphus . He is buried in the cemetery of the camp.In 1946 Maduro was posthumously granted the honor of Knight 4th-class of the Military Order of William, the highest and oldest honor in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands , because he had distinguished himself in the Battle of the Netherlands against German troops.He is the only Dutch person of Antillian descent to receive this honor.
A documentary about Maduro's life was made in 2001 by
Alfred Edelstein .Madurodam
After
World War II , Maduro's parents providedseed money for a miniature city calledMadurodam that opened in 1952 in The Hague. Madurodam is considered by the Maduro family to be a monument in honor of their only son. In 1993 a scale model of Maduro's birthplace was built in the park.External links
* [http://www.bevrijdingintercultureel.nl/antillen.html Antillen en WO II ] at www.bevrijdingintercultureel.nl (Dutch)
* [http://www.madurodam.nl/default.php?language=1&sqlmode=1&fid=479 Madurodam (English)]
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