Tijmen and Aart van den Berg are remembered at the monument on the quay in Makkum. During the Second World War, the two brothers had an eel smokehouse, which also served as a cover for their acts of resistance.
The factory and eel smokehouse of Aart and Tijmen van den Berg in Makkum was inextricably linked to the resistance. Tijmen spoke German and he used that regularly in the village. If the Germans had arrested someone, he would go to the German officer with a bottle of gin or fish, to get the detainee released. People in hiding also found a place at the company and the resistance could also go to the Van den Bergs for weapons drops, who also had a cannery factory further down the Vallaat. The ammunition was canned at the company and the weapons were hidden in fish boxes, ready for further distribution.
On Saturday morning, April 7, 1945, the Sicherheitsdienst carried out a raid in Makkum. The local cannery factory of Van den Berg was also raided by the Germans. Several arrests were made in the factory and in the village, with weapons also found in the factory. Several men were arrested, six of them were executed the same day after severe torture. Makkum was the last village on the Frisian mainland to be liberated on April 18.
