Around Lake Nannewijd | Liberation route

Many special stories can be experienced on this walking tour between Heerenveen and Joure. Numerous locations on and around lake Nannewijd harbour the traces of people who contributed to the liberation of Friesland or who, like Frisian Canadian soldier Gaele Visser, were involved in the liberation of Western Europe.

In November 1944, for instance, Lykele Faber was dropped at Haskerhorne with Peter Tazelaar as secret agents to maintain radio contact with London, organize the Frisian resistance and help set up locations where weapons and ammunition could be dropped by parachute. Haskerhorne is one such place.

Lykele Faber's story is again closely linked to that of pilot John Gordon Fraser, who had to make an emergency landing with his plane just south of Lake Nannewijd, managed to go into hiding with the help of the resistance and assisted Faber until liberation. 

In the run-up to the liberation, fierce battles were fought with the retreating German occupiers near Scharsterbrug, just south of Joure where one Canadian Soldier, Lucien Potvin, died. First with the resistance, shortly afterwards with the Canadians. It also meant the end of Richard Jung, the Czech who ended up in Friesland after wandering through Europe and emerged as a courageous resistance fighter, always willing to voluntarily do the toughest and most dangerous work.

Liberation Route Europe is a transnational memorial. A route that connects memorial sites and stories from all over Europe. For more information, visit www.liberationroute.com