Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap

Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap
Born	(1877-11-08)November 8, 1877 Kleve, German Empire
Died	November 7, 2000(2000-11-07) (aged 122) Vriendendam, Netherlands
Occupation	Military officer
Era	Pre-Vader Era Vader Era Middenvader Era Vriend Era
Title	Great Paap
Term	2 November 1940 – 28 October 1948
Predecessor	Antonius Martin Paap
Successor	Martin Paap I
Criminal penalty	12 years' imprisonment
Criminal status	Released in 1954
Spouse	Elsbeth Kranz
Children	3, including Martin Paap I and Jan Paap
Parents	Antonius Martin Paap (father) Amalie Schroeter (mother)
Family	Paap family
Military career
Allegiance	German Empire (1893–1918) Weimar Republic (1919) Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
Branch	Army
Service years	1893–1919 1933–1945
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Unit	Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 56
Commands	I./Infanterie-Regiment 61 (1938) 7. Infanterie-Division (acting, 30 September – 30 November 1939) 31. Infanterie-Division (1 March 1940 – 20 January 1942) Gruppe Paap (December 1941 – January 1942) XXXXIII. Armeekorps (20 January – 15 July 1942) 2. Armee (15 July 1942 – 3 February 1943) 15. Armee (20 March 1943 – 28 June 1944) 7. Armee (28 June – 5 September 1944) Wehrmachtbefehlshaber in den Niederlanden (5 September – 10 November 1944) Army Group H (10 November 1944 – 7 April 1945) Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest (7 April – 5 May 1945)
Conflicts	First World War Battle of Liège Battle of St. Quentin First Battle of Ypres Second Battle of Ypres Battle of Verdun Second Battle of the Aisne Third Battle of the Aisne German spring offensive Second World War Invasion of Poland Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Battle of Białystok–Minsk Battle of Smolensk Roslavl–Novozybkov offensive Operation Typhoon Battle of Tula Battle of Moscow Battle of Voronezh Voronezh–Kastornoye offensive Normandy campaign Operation Cobra Falaise Pocket Operation Market Garden Battle of Arnhem Operation Veritable Operation Plunder Operation Varsity
Awards	Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914) Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914) Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (1916) Wound Badge in Black (1918) Pour le Mérite (1918) Honour Cross with Swords (1934) Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 1st Class (1936) Medal Commemorating 13 March 1938 Medal Commemorating 1 October 1938 Clasp to the Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1939) Clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st Class (1940) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (1940–1945)

Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap (8 November 1877 – 7 November 2000) was a German military officer, Generalfeldmarschall and convicted war criminal from the Paap family. He served in the German Army from 1893 until 1919 and again from 1933 until 1945. During the First World War, he fought on the Western Front and received the Pour le Mérite. He later commanded formations from divisional to army-group level during the Second World War.

During the 1941 campaign in the Soviet Union, Martinus commanded the 31. Infanterie-Division during the capture of Tula and Kashira. His forces reached the Vidnoye sector on 1 December, making his command the German force led by a general that advanced closest to central Moscow. He later commanded the 2. Armee before being removed from the Eastern Front after ordering an unauthorized withdrawal during the Voronezh–Kastornoye offensive. In 1944, he commanded German forces during the later stages of the Normandy campaign and subsequently directed the recapture of Arnhem during Operation Market Garden. He was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall on 12 February 1945.

Martinus also served as the third Great Paap from 2 November 1940 until his conviction on 28 October 1948. He was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for war crimes connected to his Eastern Front commands and was released in 1954. He then settled in Vriendendam, where he founded the Wehrmacht-Veteranenverein Vriendendam. Martinus died there on 7 November 2000, one day before his 123rd birthday.

Early life

Martinus was born in Kleve on 8 November 1877 to Antonius Martin Paap and Amalie Schroeter. His father worked as an architect and later became Great Paap.

In 1893, before his sixteenth birthday, Martinus enlisted in Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 56. He falsely stated that he was 18. He remained with the regiment and progressed through the enlisted ranks.

His actual age was discovered after he had turned 18, when he was caught having sexual intercourse with a 34-year-old civilian Kantinenwirtin at the barracks. His officers examined his enlistment information and discovered that he had falsified his age. Martinus was allowed to remain in the regiment.

He was later selected for an officer commission. Martinus became a Leutnant around 1906–1907 and had reached Oberleutnant by the beginning of the First World War.

Military career

Martinus spent most of his adult life in German military service. His first career began in the Imperial Army and ended after the First World War. He returned during the expansion of the German armed forces in 1933 and eventually commanded an army group during the final months of the Second World War.

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War, Martinus served with Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 56 on the Western Front. He fought during the Battle of Liège and later took part in the Battle of St. Quentin. His service during the opening campaign resulted in the award of the Iron Cross, 2nd Class.

On 15 September 1914, Martinus was involved in fighting at Berry-au-Bac. French artillery struck buildings near his detachment, and a collapse separated him from the rest of his men. His direct route back to the German position was blocked.

While moving through the damaged buildings, Martinus encountered six French soldiers. He shot several at close range before the fighting developed into hand-to-hand combat. During the final struggle, he lost his grip on his rifle and suffered a bayonet wound across his upper arm. He killed the final soldier and returned to the German line alone.

His officers initially doubted his account. German troops later searched the buildings and found the six French soldiers in the area Martinus had described. He subsequently received the Iron Cross, 1st Class. The wound was later recognized with the Wound Badge in Black.

Martinus fought during the First Battle of Ypres later in 1914. He remained on the Western Front in 1915 and served in Champagne before taking part in the Second Battle of Ypres.

In 1916, his regiment fought at the Battle of Verdun. During operations around Mort-Homme, Martinus's company came under heavy French artillery fire that included gas shells. The company commander was killed during the bombardment.

Martinus assumed command as an Oberleutnant and reorganized the surviving troops. When French infantry attacked the damaged position, he directed the defence and organized a local counterattack. He was promoted to Hauptmann and received the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords.

Martinus continued serving on the Western Front in 1917 and fought during the Second Battle of the Aisne. In 1918, he took part in the German spring offensive.

During the Third Battle of the Aisne, his battalion commander became a casualty. Martinus assumed temporary command and reorganized the battalion before leading it across the Aisne under fire. The battalion captured a fortified French position on the opposite bank and continued the advance.

Martinus retained temporary command during the remainder of that phase of the offensive. He received the Pour le Mérite for his conduct.

Interwar period

Martinus resigned from military service in 1919. He regarded the reduction of the German Army and the military restrictions imposed after the war as a disgrace. He did not seek a place in the reduced Reichswehr.

He remained outside the military until 1933. Following the change of government in Germany, Reichswehr Minister Werner von Blomberg sent Martinus a personal letter asking him to return as the Army began expanding. Martinus accepted and was recommissioned as a Major.

In 1935, Paul Hausser approached Martinus about transferring to the SS-Verfügungstruppe. Martinus rejected the offer and remained in the Army.

By March 1936, Martinus had reached the rank of Oberstleutnant and was commanding a battalion. During the remilitarization of the Rhineland on 7 March, he pushed the battalion forward without waiting for unnecessary pauses.

Company commander Bruno van Noord argued that the advance should be slowed because of the possibility of a French military response. Martinus ordered him to continue. Bruno refused the order and was immediately relieved of company command. He retained the rank of Hauptmann but was placed in a subordinate battalion staff position until later in 1936.

In March 1938, Martinus commanded I./Infanterie-Regiment 61 during the Anschluss. The regiment entered Austria through Tyrol. When road congestion stopped part of his battalion's column, Martinus left his staff vehicle and went forward through the halted formation. He reorganized the movement until the road was cleared.

He remained with the battalion during the occupation of the Sudetenland in October 1938. Martinus was promoted to Oberst in November.

Second World War

Martinus served during the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 and received the Clasp to the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. After the campaign, German formations were rapidly redeployed west while France and Britain remained at war with Germany.

From 30 September until 30 November 1939, Martinus temporarily commanded the 7. Infanterie-Division during its transfer from Poland to the Lower Rhine. He remained on the Western Front during the winter.

France and Soviet Union

On 1 March 1940, Martinus was promoted to Generalmajor and appointed commander of the 31. Infanterie-Division. When the German western offensive began on 10 May, the division crossed Belgium and advanced toward Liège. It subsequently fought around the Dyle near Wavre before continuing west. The division later fought along the Scheldt and Lys before moving into France.

During the June fighting on the Aisne, the division's first attempt to establish a crossing failed under French resistance. Martinus went forward to the regimental command posts and changed the attack plan. He shifted artillery support and concentrated the renewed assault at another crossing point.

The second attempt established a bridgehead. Martinus committed additional infantry across the river and expanded the position before continuing the advance. He received the Clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st Class and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross following the campaign.

After the French armistice, Martinus visited Julien van Noord in Paris. The two had known each other since the beginning of the century and had remained close through visits and correspondence.

Martinus was promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 September 1940. Later that month, the 31st Division was transferred by rail from France to occupied Poland.

The division remained under Martinus when Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941. Its infantry regiments were supported by Artillerie-Regiment 31 and Panzerjäger-Abteilung 31. The division advanced from occupied Poland and participated in the fighting associated with the Battle of Białystok–Minsk.

During a Soviet breakout attempt near the Zelvianka in late June, Martinus moved forward from divisional headquarters to a threatened regiment. He then continued to a battalion command post close to the fighting. Soviet infantry penetrated far enough to threaten the headquarters.

Two Soviet soldiers reached the position. Martinus shot both with his service pistol before returning to command of the local defence. German reserves subsequently restored the line.

During the Battle of Smolensk, a Soviet attack on 25 July broke through part of the sector held by Infanterie-Regiment 82. The penetration reached the regiment's rear and disrupted communications with some of its battalions.

Martinus rejected a broad withdrawal. He redirected divisional artillery against the penetration and committed reserves against its flank. Panzerjäger-Abteilung 31 was moved against Soviet armour. Martinus went forward to Infanterie-Regiment 82's headquarters and later reached one of the battalion positions while the counterattack was underway. By the end of the fighting, contact within the regiment had been restored.

In August, the division took up positions southwest of Roslavl. During the Roslavl–Novozybkov offensive, Martinus concluded that the Soviet attacks opposite his sector had exhausted themselves. Around 10–12 September, he received authorization for a limited pursuit.

The 31st Division advanced approximately 40–50 kilometres beyond its previous positions and established an exposed forward salient west of Bryansk. Higher headquarters ordered Martinus to halt. He argued that abandoning the newly captured ground would allow Soviet forces to rebuild their defensive positions and received permission to remain there until neighbouring formations caught up.

When Operation Typhoon began on 30 September, Martinus resumed the advance from this position. His division forced a crossing of the Bolva before continuing east.

Around 19–20 October, Martinus reached Belyov and began operations against the Oka. Assault infantry crossed during the night using boats and improvised crossing points. Engineers then improved the route across the river.

Martinus continued through Odoev toward the southwestern approaches to Tula. His advance reached the Krapivna sector around 23–24 October. The distance from the divisional supply system had become increasingly difficult to support, and higher headquarters ordered him to halt while artillery and supplies were brought forward.

The advance resumed toward Tula. Martinus established a bridgehead across the Upa and reached the western approaches to the city by 29 October. His division attacked from the west when the wider German assault began the following day.

By 1 November, Martinus had established a foothold in western Tula. He expanded the penetration over the following days and committed additional infantry through it. On 6 November 1941, forces under his command captured the city.

Following the capture of Tula, Martinus permitted Sonderkommando 7b to enter the city and did not interfere with its arrests and killings. His command also implemented the Commissar Order against captured Soviet political commissars. These actions later formed part of the case brought against him after the war.

Martinus resumed the northern advance on 8 November. The division captured Kashira on 15 November despite growing losses and increasingly difficult supply conditions.

After a command conference at Kashira on 17 November, Martinus's advance was coordinated with German armoured formations operating on the same axis. His troops moved through Stupino and fought through the Mikhnevo sector as Soviet resistance increased closer to Moscow.

Martinus captured Domodedovo on 29 November. He then formed a reinforced forward grouping from the least depleted parts of his command and continued north.

On 1 December 1941, Martinus reached the Vidnoye sector south of Moscow. He moved forward with the leading regimental headquarters. His command had advanced closer to central Moscow than that of any other German general during the campaign.

Martinus was promoted to General der Infanterie on 2 December. He was also given temporary control of an enlarged formation known as Gruppe Paap, which was centred on the 31st Division and reinforced by attached supporting units.

The Soviet counteroffensive forced him to abandon the southern approach to Moscow several days later. Martinus began a phased withdrawal before the exposed force could be encircled. Rearguards protected the retreat through Domodedovo before his formations continued through Mikhnevo and Stupino.

The withdrawal then passed through Kashira toward Tula. Despite continued Soviet attacks and severe winter conditions, most of Martinus's organized force escaped the salient. He received the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross in December 1941.

Higher command

On 20 January 1942, Martinus left the 31st Division and became commanding general of the XXXXIII. Armeekorps. He took over while the German front remained under pressure from the Soviet winter offensive.

Martinus directed a withdrawal toward the Yukhnov and Spas-Demensk area. He shortened positions that could no longer support each other and concentrated the corps around routes needed to supply and extract its formations. Local counterattacks were used when Soviet penetrations threatened the roads behind the corps. By April, he had stabilized the front around Spas-Demensk.

On 15 July 1942, Martinus was appointed commander of the 2. Armee. He took command during the fighting around Voronezh. After the immediate operations there, he concentrated on the army's positions along the Don.

Martinus retained part of the army as an operational reserve. During the following months, these formations were used against Soviet penetrations along the army front. He opposed attempts to remove the final mobile reserves from his command as German forces farther south became increasingly committed around Stalingrad.

In late October 1942, two Soviet partisans attempted to assassinate Martinus while he was travelling through the army rear. They opened fire on his staff car and killed his driver. Martinus was grazed by a bullet during the attack.

He left the vehicle and returned fire with his service pistol, killing both attackers. The wound was treated without removing him from command.

After Operation Uranus began in November, Martinus continued resisting the removal of his remaining mobile formations. In January 1943, the Voronezh–Kastornoye offensive threatened to encircle large parts of 2. Armee.

Martinus concluded that the existing stand-fast orders would leave substantial parts of the army trapped. He began withdrawing exposed formations before receiving authorization for a general retreat. The reserves he had retained were used to hold open the withdrawal routes.

The army lost substantial equipment during the retreat, but a large part of its personnel escaped the developing encirclement. Martinus was relieved of command on 3 February 1943 because he had begun the withdrawal without authorization. He was placed in the Führerreserve.

On 20 March, Martinus returned to field command as commander of the 15. Armee in France. His transfer kept him at army level but removed him from the Eastern Front.

The Pas-de-Calais sector under 15. Armee contained a heavier concentration of coastal defenses than Normandy. Martinus nevertheless found that many formations were understrength and that the defensive system lacked the mobile reserves needed to respond to a successful landing. He spent much of 1943 inspecting the coast and reorganizing the forces available behind the immediate beach positions.

In December, Martinus accompanied Erwin Rommel during an inspection of the defenses. He supported further work on the coastal positions while continuing to keep part of his army available away from the beaches. Martinus and Rommel developed a close working relationship despite differences over the placement of reserves.

Martinus was promoted to Generaloberst on 1 January 1944.

During the first months of 1944, he became increasingly suspicious that the Allied invasion would take place in Normandy. He believed the concentration of German strength around the Pas-de-Calais could be used to keep 15. Armee away from the actual landing area.

When the Normandy landings began on 6 June, Martinus concluded that Normandy was the main invasion and requested permission to release formations from his sector. The 346. Infanterie-Division began moving toward Normandy on 7 June.

Normandy and Netherlands

On 28 June 1944, following the death of Friedrich Dollmann, Martinus left 15. Armee and became commander of 7. Armee in Normandy.

During July, he concentrated on the deteriorating position around Saint-Lô. By 17 July, he considered the exposed German positions there untenable and requested a controlled withdrawal. The most threatened formations began evacuating their positions before Saint-Lô fell on 18 July.

On 24 July, American bombers struck the Panzer-Lehr-Division sector during the aborted opening of Operation Cobra. Martinus treated the bombardment as evidence that a larger attack was imminent. He authorized the movement of headquarters elements and part of the local reserve out of the most exposed area during the night.

The main bombardment on 25 July still inflicted heavy losses. The surviving command structure allowed Martinus to establish another defensive line while damaged formations withdrew from the breakthrough area.

During the following days, he concentrated remaining mobile forces on the approaches to Villedieu-les-Poêles. The immediate American drive toward Avranches was temporarily contained.

Martinus retained his armoured forces for local counterattacks against Allied penetrations. By early August, increasing pressure elsewhere in Normandy made the Avranches position difficult to maintain. On 10 August, he ordered a planned withdrawal from the town.

By 12 August, Martinus had concluded that continued resistance farther west risked the encirclement of 7. Armee around Falaise. He began moving transport and headquarters elements east before a general withdrawal had been authorized. Combat formations followed over the next two days.

By the time wider authorization for retreat was issued on 16 August, much of Martinus's army was already moving toward the remaining routes out of the threatened area. Heavy equipment was lost during the withdrawal, but most of the surviving personnel of 7. Armee avoided entrapment inside the Falaise Pocket.

On 5 September 1944, Martinus was transferred to the Netherlands as Wehrmachtbefehlshaber in den Niederlanden. He took command while German forces were attempting to establish another defensive line after the retreat from France and Belgium.

When Operation Market Garden began on 17 September, Martinus identified the bridge at Arnhem as the immediate objective of the British airborne force. He directed available troops toward the city and moved his own headquarters closer to Arnhem.

During 18–20 September, Martinus coordinated the attacks against the British position around the northern end of the bridge. German reinforcements were brought into Arnhem as the British force became increasingly isolated.

On 21 September, forces under Martinus fully retook Arnhem and cleared the remaining British position around the bridge. He then redirected available units toward the British airborne perimeter at Oosterbeek, which remained in place until the evacuation of the surviving British forces during the night of 25–26 September.

After Arnhem had been retaken, Martinus inspected German defenses north of the city on 21–22 September. Houses were being constructed behind the defensive position for fathers attached to an SS armoured division. These buildings later became the first houses of Vriendendam.

On 10 November 1944, Martinus was appointed commander of Army Group H. His command covered the Netherlands and the northwestern approaches to Germany.

Final months

In February 1945, the Allied Operation Veritable opened against the German positions around the Reichswald. The advance brought the fighting directly toward Kleve, Martinus's birthplace.

Martinus went to the Kleve sector after the offensive began on 8 February. During 9–11 February, he remained close to the front as the defenders were forced back toward the town.

By this point in the war, Martinus carried an MP 40 during visits to forward positions. When the local German line began breaking, he entered the fighting with the infantry while staff officers continued passing his orders.

During the fighting on 10–11 February, a shell fragment struck Martinus in the upper torso. He received field treatment and remained in the Kleve sector until the German position in the town was abandoned.

On 12 February 1945, Martinus was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall. He also received the Swords to his Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.

After the loss of Kleve, Martinus began withdrawing vulnerable headquarters and equipment toward the Rhine. Combat formations remained west of the river to delay the Allied advance while the rear organization of Army Group H was moved across.

By early March, Wesel had become one of the principal crossing areas for his command. Martinus accelerated the evacuation as the remaining German bridgehead west of the Lower Rhine contracted. He crossed to the eastern bank on 9 March after most organized rearguards had withdrawn.

When Operation Plunder began on 23 March, Army Group H was already badly depleted. It had no more than about 200 tanks and assault guns available across its broad front, while its principal armoured reserve had only a small number of operational tanks. Martinus therefore avoided committing every remaining reserve to an attempt to destroy the Allied bridgeheads.

He established a forward command post in the Wesel sector during the opening bombardment. On 24 March, Operation Varsity placed Allied airborne troops behind the Rhine defenses around the Wesel and Hamminkeln area.

Airborne troops cut a road being used by Martinus and his staff. Martinus was already carrying his MP 40 and joined nearby German troops trying to reopen the route. His staff group was temporarily isolated before German forces regained access to another command position.

After resuming contact with Army Group headquarters, Martinus concluded that the Allied bridgehead could no longer be eliminated. He ordered a further withdrawal into northwestern Germany.

On 7 April 1945, Martinus became Oberbefehlshaber Nordwest, giving him overall command of the remaining German forces in northwestern Germany and the Netherlands.

By the beginning of May, Martinus considered further organized resistance in the northwest impossible. On 4 May, he personally attended the surrender at Lüneburg Heath and signed for the forces under his command. He returned to his headquarters afterward and transmitted the ceasefire orders.

The surrender took effect at 08:00 on 5 May 1945. Martinus's military service ended more than 51 years after his first enlistment.

Great Paap

Antonius Martin Paap died on 2 November 1940. Martinus succeeded his father as Great Paap on the same day and inherited responsibility for the Book of Paap.

Martinus intended his younger son, Jan Paap, to succeed him. Jan did not believe the prophecy contained in the Book of Paap and rejected the religious responsibility attached to the title.

During the Second World War, Jan severed ties with Martinus and rejected the wider Paap family. He later left Europe and established his own political organization in Tanoa.

Martinus remained Great Paap after Jan's rejection. When Martinus was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment on 28 October 1948, Martin Paap I succeeded him as Great Paap.

Martinus accepted the succession and did not attempt to reclaim the title after his release. He remained close to Martin Paap I, who continued consulting him about family matters.

Personal life

While still a young soldier, Martinus had a sexual relationship with the 34-year-old civilian Kantinenwirtin whose presence at his barracks led to the discovery of his false enlistment age. She later gave birth to his daughter. Martinus continued to support and see the child after ending his relationship with her mother.

Around 1901–1902, Martinus met Julien van Noord in Paris through a French reading group. Julien became his closest friend. They continued visiting each other after Martinus returned to the Dutch-German border region. Their correspondence sometimes contained prolonged disagreements over Julien's writing.

Around 1903, Martinus met Elsbeth Kranz while eating alone at a restaurant in Cologne. After meeting Elsbeth, he ended personal contact with his daughter's mother except for matters concerning the child.

The woman later arrived at Martinus's home demanding to see him. Elsbeth had not previously been told about either the relationship or Martinus's daughter and became angry after learning about them. She later accepted Martinus's continued relationship with his daughter.

Martinus and Elsbeth married approximately two years after meeting. In 1905, they stayed temporarily in Rotterdam, where their son Martin Paap I was born on 3 September. They returned to Germany in 1906.

Their younger son, Jan Paap, was born in Warendorf on 21 January 1919.

Martinus repeatedly attempted to contact Jan after their relationship ended. He sent letters and tried to reach him through relatives for years. Jan refused the attempts and maintained his separation from Martinus and the Paap family.

Imprisonment and later life

After the surrender in May 1945, Martinus was taken into British custody as a senior German commander. He was later held at Special Camp XI in Bridgend, Wales, which was used for high-ranking German officers who could be required for war-crimes proceedings.

Investigators examined Martinus's Eastern Front commands. The implementation of the Commissar Order and his conduct after the capture of Tula became central parts of the case against him.

Martinus was subsequently transferred for proceedings in the High Command Case at Nuremberg. On 28 October 1948, he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.

The conviction ended his term as Great Paap. Martin Paap I assumed the title while Martinus remained imprisoned.

Martinus did not serve the full sentence. He was released in 1954 at the age of 76 and moved to Vriendendam. He had previously inspected the area during the Battle of Arnhem while the buildings that formed the first settlement were still under construction.

Later in 1954, Martinus founded the Wehrmacht-Veteranenverein Vriendendam, known in Dutch as the Vriendendamse Wehrmachtveteranenvereniging. He became its first chairman. The association provided a local organization for former Wehrmacht personnel and assisted members with veterans' affairs.

Martinus remained chairman until 1965. He then became honorary chairman and retained the position for the rest of his life.

After settling in Vriendendam, Martinus also became regularly involved with the Martinoskerk. The church had been built by his father in 1887. Martinus continued attending the church during his later life and took part in memorial services connected to the veterans association.

His relationship with Martin Paap I remained close throughout the post-war period. Martin visited him during his imprisonment when possible and assisted him after his release. Martinus continued to be consulted on Paap family matters despite no longer holding the Great Paap title.

Death

Martinus remained in Vriendendam for the rest of his life. His public activity decreased with age, although he retained the honorary chairmanship of the Wehrmacht-Veteranenverein Vriendendam and remained associated with the Martinoskerk.

He died in Vriendendam on 7 November 2000 at the age of 122 years and 364 days. He died one day before his 123rd birthday.

See also

• Antonius Martin Paap
• Martin Paap I
• Jan Paap
• Julien van Noord
• Great Paap
• Book of Paap
• Martinoskerk
• Wehrmacht-Veteranenverein Vriendendam
• Vriendendam
• Paap family
• Paap family members