Sabine had been warned. On April 15, 1943, Gerard Vinkesteijn’s sister, Isabel, sent Sabine a letter from her brother, smuggled out of the Utrecht jail where he was awaiting his sentence. In an accompanying note, she wrote, “The poor man carries his burden courageously.”
Gerard’s letter was written on both sides of two cigarette papers no bigger than 4 cm by 7 cm each, in miniscule handwriting.
With much effort and the help of a magnifying glass, I eventually managed to decipher the contents, seven hundred words in all.
Gerard wrote that he had been interrogated thoroughly about a little notebook that Sabine had sent him. Although he was punished severely, he stayed silent. He also brought up the subject of Sabine’s boss, who I will refer to here by the name “Piet.” Piet apparently was bragging about his work with the Resistance to anyone who would listen. “My opinion is that Piet is a bad Dutchman, who profits from the enemy. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.”
He also instructed her what to do in case she was arrested:
I think you are already well known. Perhaps they are not looking for you, but try and be invisible. If you have to, you can admit that Peter visited you with a message from Taro and that you suspected that I did some illegal things, but you did not know why some people visited you, and [you] therefore objected to further visits. What Bill (Roeske) has said about you I do not know, but it is known that he stayed with you and that there was a transmitter in your house. Bill has given a lot of information about you, but you have to keep denying that you knew anything about the transmitter or what Bill was up to. As far as I know there is no danger of you being arrested.
Bill was Cosmo Medici Roeske, who had spent two months in hiding with Sabine. While trying to escape to England, he was arrested, interrogated and executed. Somehow Gerard had found out that Bill had told the Germans about Sabine.
Gerard already knew by this time that he would be executed and asked Sabine to please keep writing to him:
I am allowed to receive limitless parcels and letters—I hope to receive many more letters with your cheerful gossip. I count on three or four more weeks in this world, so please hurry. I am also allowed photos. Broer will give them back to you later.
But Broer had by now also been arrested and was also awaiting execution. Gerard had no illusions about his own chances even though the legal process was still ongoing. He wrote,
This morning sentences have been announced. Death for the first 25. Tomorrow the appeals. Darling, I already know the decision and I am proud of it. Don’t idolize me, you know how difficult I can be. Keep your memories of me realistic.
Right at the bottom, he scribbles, “Lots of kisses G.”
Sabine should have been on her guard for her boss, Piet, when she arrived at work on the morning of April 28, 1943, and spotted a military car parked near her office. It was strange and worrying, but she soon forgot all about it. Inside all was calm and normal. Her boss usually arrived later in the morning. But that morning, within half an hour of her arrival, he phoned her, and they had a short conversation about nothing in particular. That was also strange, as normally he never phoned to check on her. But within minutes, the doorbell rang, and two men, one Dutch, one German, wearing raincoats and hats, came in and arrested her.
They escorted her to the waiting military vehicle that she had seen earlier and drove her back to her flat. Once there, the men turned her flat upside down, but, disappointingly for them, did not find anything of interest until they emptied her handbag and found her address book. Instantly they decided to take her in for questioning. She was instructed to put the address book back in her bag and take it with her. The men politely offered to lock her door when leaving, but Sabine asked them if they could first put her rather large potted plant on the landing so her neighbor could water it while she was away. To her surprise, they agreed, and while they were carrying the plant outside, she quickly hid her address book behind a cushion on the sofa.
Her interrogation in the infamous interrogation rooms at the Binnenhof, in the center of The Hague, did not take long. After a few hours of threats and much shouting, she was transported to Amsterdam.