Bontjes van Beek

Born in Bremen in 1920, Cato Bontjes van Beek she is the daughter of the dancer and painter Olga Bontjes van Beek and the ceramicist Jan Bontjes van Beek. After her parents’ divorce, at the age of 17 she went to England to learn the English language. She devoted herself intensively to literary, philosophical, and religious questions.

After her return from England, she completed a vocational training in office technology and worked as an office clerk in Bremen. In the autumn of 1939, she moved to Berlin and began an apprenticeship as a ceramicist in her father's workshop. From the autumn of 1940, she organized with her sister Mietje assistance for French prisoners of war and for persecuted Jews.

Since 1941 she has been friends with Heinz Strelow and has connections to Harro Libertas Schulze-Boysen and other members of the resistance group “Red Chapel“. Together with Strelow she is involved in the dissemination of the “AGIS“ flyer. Cato Bontjes van Beek On September 20, 1942, Heinz Strelow is arrested; on Cato Bontjes van Beek October 1, 1942, Heinz Strelow is also arrested. Together they are sentenced to death on January 26, 1943. Heinz Strelow is murdered on May 13, 1943, and on August 5, 1943 in Berlin-Plötzensee.

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