#Story
The former Juliana school
Between 1923 and 2013 the Julian School used to be on the location where the new Willem-Alexander School has been since 2014. This school building was claimed by the occupying forces during the war and served as an Ortskommandantur. As a result, it was the place where several people from Tiel and the surrounding area were taken if they were arrested by German troops.
As the war progressed, German soldiers became more and more violent. In Tiel, Ortskommandant Martin Richter in particular was notorious. Under his responsibility, several serious warcrimes took place in 1944-1945. Best known is the so-called 'Tiel case'. This involved men who had been arrested for, in German eyes, serious offences. After their arrest, they were taken to the Ortskommandantur for interrogation.
It has never been known what happened to at least six of them. Probably they were murdered in the building and their remains were taken to an unknown destination. Some witnesses stated after the war that, in October 1944, they saw how bodies were taken away on a flat cart in the evening, after which the cart returned empty an hour later.
The school building was reinstated as a school after 1945. In 1994, the name changed to Prince Willem-Alexander School. When the building was demolished in 2013, its historical background was not taken into account.