The story behind the half sunken German ship in the Suriname river.

Since i was a young kid, i had much interest in the second world war, and my mother had a huge dictionary with historical battle ground stories with pictures, and every night i had my nose in those book, and read about every battles in those books.
For unknown reasons, was i very interested in the strategies of the generals, and i used little soldier armies to remake those battles. Every evening i used my room or the living room as a battle ground, and fantasized that the battle is fought, while i was sleeping. I think was around 7 year's old back then.

Then when one evening, i was at my grandma's house and she saw me playing with soldiers, and then she said.
Did you know that the Germans when to Suriname in the war?

I thought Suriname??? How was that possible? Because the Germans were fighting the wars in Europe and Northern Africa.But i never heard they had reached Suriname, so that made me very curious. She said yes, they were there alright and came there with a ship, i thought no way??? She smiled yes, the Germans came with a huge ship and wanted to fight there, but the Dutch soldiers managed to sunken there vessel. Then the German soldiers had to give up the fight and surrendered to the Dutch forces.

I thought Wow, it really was a world war and they even managed to reach the Suriname river, what is in the middle of Paramaribo in Suriname, South America. She repeated that the boot could not sink completely, because the river was not deep. And that everyone can see it half outside of the water. Then when i was 9 year's old, i saw it with my own eyes, and thought my grandma was right. Yes, even when i was 9, i only believe what i see or experience, and i there i saw it laying in the river.

So this was 31 years ago, and i still remember the conversation i had with my grandma, who unfortunately left this earth years ago. But to me i always believed her story, and always thought that the Germans came there to fight in Suriname and that the Dutch sunk the ship. And i know my grandma would not lie to me and i believe that she just shared what she had experience in those days. Because she lived there and experienced the situation, and there for i think that she just shared what she knew or heard from others. And my grandma never lied to me on purpose, she is a very strong Suriname woman with a strong feeling for justice, she don't like nonsense, lies or tell a different story on purpose.

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I assume that the story she told me when i was a kid, was the effect of telling the same story to ten people, on the 10th person is the story completely different, and i think that's what happened in those days, they did not have Steemit! So now you might wounder, if i now know the official story, and yes im 40 year's old now and learned to do some research. What was almost impossible back in the days, and what i found out is a story what could be compared with the Steven Mc queen movie Pappilion. The movie where Steven escapes from a prison in France Guyana. Similar story happened to the German crew.

The Story..
The story started in late August 1939, when German ships got the message to go a neutral a nearby harbor, what is not of the United states. Then on 5 September, one of those ships was the cargo ship the Goslar, who had a 38 man Chinese crew and with 15 Germans. The Captain did not wanted to take any risk to get torpedoed, because Germany was at war, but the Chinese crew wanted to move on. And they wanted to take over the ship, so the German captain Berkhoff asked help at the local police to arrest the crew.**

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Then the crew was taken to fort Zeelandia, and the other 15 Germans stayed free in Suriname and mixed them self, with the small local German community in Paramaribo. The police commander became friends with the ship captain and it was op and going to the Goslar. In those days was the Netherlands neutral and not in war, and in the months after 5 September the Germans became local friends.

That all ended on 10 may 1940, when Germany attacked the Netherlands.

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_ The governor made the decision to rally all the German citizens and to place them in camps, woman and kids where be spread apart. Then they when to the Goslar to arrest the German crew members, and give them a couple of hours to pack everything. _

That was the moment the Germans worked on a plan to sunk their own ship. And the water of the river when fast into the ship, and that capsize the ship onto his starboard side. The Dutch police who did not had a Dutch navy there, did not know what to do and could only watch how the ship turned on his side.

The crew members got taken prison and taken to a board school, what changed the mentality of friends into enemies.
That was a new situation for the people around the Germans population, because before that they were friends and neighbors. And then suddenly became enemies.

The man where taken to a Main building of the R.K. Internaat to Kopiweg beyond Lelydorp, what was leaded by Father Ahlbrinck. Then within a small time was the internaat changed into a small concentration camp, with barbwire around it. They put all the Germans there and service refusers in one place, and the German woman/kids were brought in a Jewish abandon settlement nearby. Where they only stayed for a small while, because the settlement had a mosquito problem, then they brought the woman and kids also in the concentration camp, and they adapted on the situation until three prisoners decided to leave.

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The escape!
Steering officer Anton Boyksen played a major role in this story, because he was also the one who open the sea cocks, to make sure that the Goslar would sink. And why he did that, is to me not clear because i can't find it anywhere, or il have to read his book. ( what i will do one day ). But if you know why, then feel free to share it here. But anyway the Goslar came from an American port and got the order to sail to a neutral harbor, and the closed near his point was in Suriname. That was because the captain was a afraid for torpedo attacks on German ships, there for it would be better to go to a neutral country.

But then Germany attacked the Netherlands and on the moment the Dutch police came to arrest the German crew, then they sink the ship. And it was also a regular cargo ship, it did not have any precious important items. So what im assuming is, that the German crew sink there ship, to make sure that they can't be send away, then they are forced to get arrested and must be accepted in Suriname, and the person who done that was Steering officer Anton Boyksen.

**With the escape he also played a important role, he and two other friends, Steering man Boyksen and the ship engineer Scharfenberg. Were working in the garden, and also sleep in the same small room house in the garden. Then on one morning in August 1941 they made a agreement with the prisoners to say, they would say to other guards that the three prisoners are still sleeping, and then the guards left. That prison was not like a regular prison, it was like in the movie of papillion, with Dustin Hoffman and Steven McQueen.

So the other prisoners kept the guards busy for one week, while on the same time three prisoners already left the area, and tried to flee to France Guyana, what was under the command of the Vichy France regime, who works together with the Germans. That means France Gyana would be safe zone, then they come to a point to cross a river.

On that moment they had traveled 8 days in a row, and walked more than 150 km threw the jungle and difficult roads. Then they came to the Marowijne river, and they only needed to cross that, but they had a no boot. So Anton Boyksen when alone to scout the area, to find a boot to cross them over the river and he saw nothing.

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But then he saw a local guy on a small fishing boat, and he approached him and said to him that he is an American and that he need a boot. And that there are two more Americans hiding, and that he needs a boot what was good enough for three people. The local guy called Soea , lived not far from that area he saw them, and he already heard about the story that three German soldiers had escaped, on that moment was the news already going around.

Then Soea said to Anton, look i can get a bigger boot, but show me first were your friends are. And then Anton and Soea when to see the two other Germans, and Soea told them to sit tight, that he would be right back. But Soea never came back with a boot, he came back with the police and that's how they arrested the three Germans.

Second escape....
One year later in 1942 Anton wanted to escape again, this time they dig a tunnel and tried to escape on that way. Unfortanly for him the tunnel collapsed and then he was forced to stay at that place, and since then he never tried again.

Only in 1947 when the war was over , were all Germans released and could they all returned home. And the only thing what left behind was the Goslar, they tried to remove it in 1950, but then it was broken in two halves.

Since then they had decided to leave the Goslar there as a monument, for the situations in the Second world war in Suriname. They gave the Goslar another name and is now Commonly known as Van Beekeiland, called the harbor police commander Van Beek who messed up the situation around the Goslar in 1940. But now they have plans to removed the ship, so that will be in the near future.

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So this was the original story of the Goslar, it was not a German Naval war ship to conquer Suriname. They were more people like you and me, who got stuck in a situation where they could not turn back home, and felt forced to stay in a foreign land, were they never came before. And some Germans stayed and started to love the country and never when back to Germany.
And Anton Boyksen when back to Germany in 1947 and wrote the book, punishment colony.

http://www.strafkolonie.nl/index.php?p=1_12_De-stuurman-van-de-Goslar

Now when i look back to the story and to the story what my Grandma told me, then i prefer the true story and not the nationalistic story what my Grandma heard from others, this story is a more human story about how situations could be in times of war. Friends could turn into enemies in a blink of an eye, and a strange country could change into a new home.
That is the legacy and the story of the Goslar, it was a story of friendship, love, respect what changed into hatred, racism and confusion and because the Goslar can't sink, will it remind Suriname always of that story what happened in the past.
I thank you all for reading.

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Sources
http://www.strafkolonie.nl/index.php?p=1_12_De-stuurman-van-de-Goslar
https://www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/nl/artikel/6273/oorlog-bracht-surinamers-welvaart-en-interneringskampen.html
http://www.suriname.nu/301ges/goslar01.html

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