The Artist Who Was Shot by The Gestapo Poem by Paul Hartal

Born in Groningen in 1888,
the Dutch painter Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman
developed a unique art style
using letters, signs, handstamp, as well as screens,
which he overprinted and then painted with a roller.
His work was both abstract and figurative.
Werkman was a spiritual man who was influenced,
among others, by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber
and by Hassidic tales.
During the German occupation of the Netherland
Werkman set up a clandestine printing house
and called for resistance against the Nazis.
At the end of the war the Gestapo arrested Werkman.
They shot him in 1945 in the forest of Bakkeveen,
three days before Canadian troops
liberated Holland.