Theft of the population register, Wageningen 1943
In December 1942, the German occupier orders the head of the Inspection of Population Registers in The Hague to make personal data available to officials of regional employment offices. They must extract data of all Dutch males born in the years 1918-1922. The Germans want to employ young Dutchmen in Germany: the 
Arbeitseinsatz. 

Bob Mebius
Martinus (Bob) Mebius works as a volunteer in the secretarial department of the Municipality of Wageningen. As of January 1, 1943, he is appointed as a writer in the Population and Civil Registry Department. He pledges loyalty to the occupier.

In his new position, he intercepts a letter to the Mayor stating that the occupier wants information from the population register: data on Jews, students and former soldiers living in Wageningen. It is clear that the Germans want to use these data to round up and deport Jews and to employ young Wageningen men in Germany.

With the permission of city clerk Bergsma, Bob removes and hides the identity cards of several illegal workers and people in hiding.

A risky plan
In the fall of 1942, four young men, Bob Mebius, Henk Sijnja, Jan van Roekel and Yge van der Wal, plan a risky action: the four men want to steal the complete population register of the Municipality of Wageningen to keep it out of the hands of the Germans.

Farm the Wolfswaard (formerly a ferry house), where Jan van Roekel lives, is located in the floodplains of the Nederrijn in Wageningen and is their base of operations.