Arthur Wijnans

Arthur Joseph Wijnans ( * Padang, Kota Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia 21 July 1920 – † Neustadt in Holstein, Kreis Ostholstein, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany  3 May 1945) was an Indonesia-born Dutch chess player, study composer and member of the Dutch resistance against the Germans in World War II.

He took 3rd in Dutch Chess Championship in 1939, took 4th at Beverwijk 1940 (the 3rd Hoogovens, won by Max Euwe), won at Beverwijk 1941 (the 4th Hoogovens), and shared 2nd, after Arnold van den Hoek, at Beverwijk 1943 ( the 6th Hoogovens). At the end of World War II, he and other winner at Beverwijk, van den Hoek, were transferred to Germany. Wijnans went to Neuengamme concentration camp. He was killed during the allied bombardment of the Cap Arcona on May 3, 1945.

As a student of electrical engineering at the Technical University of Delft, he refused to sign a loyalty declaration in May 1943.

He was caught a few months later and transported to Germany.

He was never heard of again, and might have died during an Allied bombardment in 1945.

(Source: Endgame study composing in the Netherlands and Flanders)

Source: arves.org

Others: 9 endgame studies composed by Wijnans are selected on the Dutch Website ARVES

First picture: Max Euwe (left) playing against A. Wijnans; second picture: left is his fath

"Arthur was a tragic Dutch casualty of World War II. A chess champion and member of the Dutch resistance, he was arrested and deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp. During the dying days of the war, as Nazi forces scrambled to cover up their crimes against humanity, Neuengamme was one of many camps evacuated. Its prisoners were forced onto a death march, which eventually culminated in ships stationed in the bay of Lübeck. Over 9,000 prisoners were loaded onto three waiting ships: the Thielbek, the Athen, and the grand Nazi cruise ship, Cap Arcona.

On May 3, 1945, British RAF fighters attacked the German ships, not knowing they were filled with concentration camp prisoners. The Athen, already anchored in Neustadt, managed to escape the attack. Fate was not so kind to the passengers of Thielbek and Cap Arcona. As bombs struck the ships, they caught fire and quickly capsized. An estimated 7,000+ prisoners lost their lives on 3 May, mere hours before liberation, in one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War."