Episode 13 of Woven in Courage brings listeners into one of the most haunting and transformative chapters of Fedde Visser's WWII story — the post-liberation trials of the men who brought terror to Groningen from inside the Scholtenhuis, the infamous SD and Gestapo headquarters.

In this powerful installment, we confront the atrocities committed by Karl Peter Berg, Willem Feldmann, Klaas Carel Faber, Pieter Johan Faber, Koop Koning, and Robert Wilhelm Lehnhoff, the executioner known across the north as de Beul van het Scholtenhuis. Through survivor testimonies, Dutch tribunal records, and the wartime journals of Fedde Visser of Group 2000, this episode exposes the brutal machinery of fear that operated behind the doors of that building — and the extraordinary courage of those who stepped forward to testify.

But standing in the shadow of horror is something unexpected:

a love story.

Amid a nation struggling to rebuild — with farms ruined, industry shattered, and the resistance searching for its place in peacetime — two young Dutch survivors met at a community dance where borrowed gramophones played across rooms that had once held only silence. From that fragile moment grew a partnership that carried them far beyond the war-torn streets of Groningen.

While the Netherlands wrestled with justice and recovery, their love deepened, leading to marriage in 1947 and the birth of their first child in 1952. And as the country strained under the weight of postwar reconstruction, they made a life-altering decision: to leave the memories and scars of the Scholtenhuis behind and seek a new beginning in Canada, stepping into a land of wide skies, steady work, and hope.

This episode holds both sides of that truth —

the darkness of what was done, and the light of what came after.

For listeners drawn to powerful human stories, historical justice, WWII true history, Dutch resistance accounts, or narratives of resilience and rebirth, Episode 13 stands at the emotional centre of the entire series.

If you’re new to Woven in Courage, begin with Episode 1 to follow Fedde's journey from occupation to liberation. Please follow, rate, and share the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, or wherever you listen. Your support helps keep these stories of memory and courage alive.

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