Jan van Zanen to discuss Hans Anker’s wartime history book

The Mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, will participate in a discussion with author Hans Anker on September 4 regarding the book ‘Burgemeester in oorlogstijd’ (Mayor in Wartime). The event will be held at the De Vries Van Stockum bookstore in The Passage.

Anker’s book explores the true story of Hanton Pieter Kleppe, the mayor of Sint Philipsland during World War II. The narrative begins in July 1944 following the crash of an American bomber and follows Kleppe’s refusal to cooperate with German occupiers. After being wounded during the Battle of the Scheldt, Kleppe returned to find a resistance leader had taken his position. The book examines Kleppe’s long struggle for rehabilitation against accusations of war crimes and the administrative chaos of the post-liberation purification processes in the Netherlands.