PvH War Grave Lever, Sneek General Cemetery

Jan Lever 1922-1944 (resistance fighter)

In 1931 Jan Lever moved to Sneek from Groningen with his parents, brother, sister and grandfather. Here they lived on Kleinzand. Jan first worked in Willem Santema's store. Then he became director of the Sneek radio station.

During World War II Jan was a member of the resistance group Lever. As director of the radio control center Jan traveled throughout the country. This enabled him to keep in touch with the resistance in other parts of the Netherlands. Jan had fled to Drachten after the Sicherheitsdienst raided his parental home on Kleinzand, which served as the headquarters of the Lever Group. There, however, the occupying forces had tracked him down. He then fled to Groningen. In Groningen he joined the Knokploeg-Slochteren. On July 21, 1944, as a member of this group, he was involved in a raid on the Slochteren distribution office. The officials and visitors of that office were locked up by the robbers, but one of them had a spare key. This person escaped and alerted the German authorities. While fleeing from the distribution office, a firefight with the Germans ensued. This killed Jan Lever.

Jan Lever's grave is in the General Cemetery in Sneek. In the Zuiderkerk and in the former residence of the Lever family on Kleinzand, now part of the Fries Scheepvaart Museum, a memorial plaque to Jan Lever hangs. The Famylje Leverstrjitte is also named after the family.