TRANSLATION 14-8-44
INTERROGATION OF THE AGENT BRUIN IN COONECTION WITH
THE REPORT RECEIVED FRM S.O.E. SECURITY CONCERNING
THE EXECUTION OF THE ILLEGAL PRESS MISSION
Undersigned, Reserve 1st Lieutenant DE GRAAF, K interrogated on this day, the 14th August 1944, the agent BRUIN in connection with the mis-statements which occur in the S.O.E. Security report and which give a completely wrong impression of the Dutch Illegal organisation, the Council of Resistance (Raad van Verzet).
1. In connection with the following quotation:-
"Source was in contact with L.O. and knows that there is a liaison between the L.O. and the R.V.V. He had heard further, while he was in HOLLAND, that the R.V.V. had suffered a good deal of penetration by the Germans, although as far as he could tell L.O. was not affected by this. The information, nevertheless, prevented him from trying to make any contact with the R.V.V.
I questioned BRUIN and from his reply it seems that this point was wrongly interpreted by the writer of the Security report. "Penetration" that is to say the arrest of a few members of the R.V.V. was not at all the reason BRUIN did not make contact with the R.V.V; in reality the case is much simpler: BRUIN had no direct contact with the R.V.V. and also did not endeavour to establish a contact. Consequently he was not in a position to form an opinion of the R.V.V. He was on contact with the L.O. and there usually exists a form of "jalousie de metier" (professional jealousy) between such organisation is inclined to believe less favourable reports about the other.
2. Questioning BRUIN with regard to the following:-
"In 1943, Source had seen 3 leaflets issued by the R.V.V. which made it appear as though it was a very big organisation which was trying to co-ordinate Underground activity in HOLLAND. He added, however, that he had never seen any very big work of the R.V.V."
I have drawn the logical conclusion that the so-called "big-work" of the R.V.V. not being known to Source pleads in its favour, as an efficient organisation endeavours to keep its "big work" completely secret.
3.
"He states that the agents, who were subsequently sent to R.V.V. were sent by some other means than those which he proposed and that he thinks that the whole thing was wrong, since the general impression in HOLLAND is that the R.V.V. despite their own version of themselves, is in reality a very small organisation which is fairly thoroughly penetrated".
Like wise it is logical to assume that Source is not in a position to judge the way in which S.O.E. contacted the R.V.V. That BRUIN's indirect contacts were not used is a matter which only concerned the executors of the plans. In addition BRUIN denies emphatically having used the words appearing in the above mentioned paragraph. He declares that the writer of the report has completely misunderstood him. Should the R.V.V. been classified by the L.O. as a small penetrated organisation, then this should be regarded as the afore mentioned professional jealousy, and considered as worthless information.
4.
"When asked for his views upon connection between the R.V.V. and the RADIODIENST, Source stated that in his view, penetration of the R.V.V. must extend to the RADIODIENST, but that penetration of the RADIODIENSTneed not necessarily extend to the R.V.V. Source stated that he would not agree to go to the R.V.V. from what he has heard about it in HOLLAND, since he thinks it is penetrated and he is of the opinion that, if it is so, as he thinks it is, the enemy must have knowledge of the RADIODIENST".
When interrogating BRUIN on this point it appeared he was ignorant of the fact that the RADIODIENST and the R.V.V. were two completely separate organisations, working on their own, but had contact with each other through a complicated system of cut-outs. The RADIODIENST belongs to the information service of the B.I. Arrests occurring in either of these organisations does not mean direct "penetration" and certainly not a penetration which would necessarily extend to both organisations.
5.
"He had, however, come into contact with R.V.V. indirectly in another way through a relation of his called BALDER from a place named BROEK-OP-LANGEDIJK, who was very Protestant in outlook and had been working for the R.V.V. for about a year. Through him he had discovered that the R.V.V. had no escape route of its own".
Above mentioned Mr. BALDER is an indirect contact who does not supply us with any valuable information. The only probable statement BALDER could have made is that the R.V.V. had no escape routes to ENGLAND. I, however, had direct contact with the head Group of the R.V.V. and knew that this organisation had at least 3 escape routes at its disposal, as follows:-
a) The organisation SCHRARRER
b) The organisation SCHRADER
c) The organisation VAN TIENHOVEN
This shows that information concerning the R.V.V. need not necessarily be obtained from the agent BRUIN or the L.O. but via direct Head contacts.
Finally Source stated that contrary to the mentioned Security report he was aware of the fact that the R.V.V. had contact with the escape organisation of SCHRADER. Moreover the present Minister of Justice Mr. VAN HEUVEN-GOEDHART and undersigned had direct contact with the Head Group of the R.V.V. and they both have an excellent impression of this organisation. Capt, KLIJZING, who had an indirect contact via one MULDER organisation, fully agrees with the opinion that the R.V.V. is one of the most important Dutch resistance and sabotage organisations.
Completed in LONDON
14th August, 1944
Agreed by:
(Sgd) K. DE GRAAF
Res. Capt for A.D. Res. 1st Lieut. B.B.O.
(sgd) F.J. KLIJZING
Res. 2/Lieut for A.D.
(Sgd) T. Biallosterski
w.mugge@home.nl
10-10-2019