Walraven van Hall

Walraven "Wally" van Hall (10 February 1906 – 12 February 1945) was a Dutch banker and resistance leader during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. He founded the bank of the Resistance, which was used to distribute funds to victims of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and fund the Dutch resistance. Van Hall was executed by the German occupier in Haarlem shortly before the end of the war and buried at the Erebegraafplaats Bloemendaal. Early life Born into an influential Dutch family, Walraven van Hall initially studied to become an officer in the merchant marine, but after having worked for some years as third mate he was rejected because of his eyesight. Unable to work in the merchant marine, he moved to New York City in 1929. His brother, future Mayor of Amsterdam Gijs van Hall, who already worked at a bank, helped him get a job with a Wall Street firm. Having thus been introduced to banking, Walraven van Hall returned to the Netherlands and became a banker and stockbroker. World War II After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, a fund was established to help families of merchant-sailors (who were stranded abroad when war broke out). Van Hall was asked to help set up the Amsterdam chapter together with his brother Gijs. Because of his banking experience, Walraven van Hall was able to provide funding with the help of guarantees by the Dutch government in London. Soon thereafter, the Germans began taking anti-Jewish and forced labour measures; resistance against these measures increased. Van Hall, who expanded his fund-raising activities for all kinds of resistance groups, became known as the banker to the resistance. One of the ways in which Van Hall raised funds for the resistance was the "robbing" of De Nederlandsche Bank (Dutch National Bank). With the approval of the Dutch government-in-exile, the Van Halls managed to obtain as much as 50 million Dutch guilders. According to Nout Wellink, former president of the bank, this figure is comparable to a half billion euros in 2010. Together with his brother, Van Hall falsified bank bonds and exchanged them in the bank for the real bonds. With these, paper money was collected. This was done behind the back of Rost van Tonningen, president of the bank and a notorious member of the Dutch Nazi party National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB).