alt=An etching of a man leaning down to reach another man who has fallen through broken ice. Several bystanders are in the background, as well as a church.|thumb|Dirk Willems saves his pursuer in this etching from the 1685 edition of [[Martyrs Mirror.]]

Dirk Willems (; also spelled Durk Willems; died 16 May 1569) was a Dutch Anabaptist martyr most famous for escaping from prison but then turning back to rescue his pursuer – who had fallen through thin ice while chasing Willems – only to be recaptured, tortured, and killed for his beliefs.

Life

Willems was born in Asperen, Gelderland (then under the Duchy of Guelders in the Holy Roman Empire), in the current Netherlands. He was subject to a believers' baptism, i.e. "rebaptized" (which made him an "Anabaptist" in the eyes of officials) as a young man in Rotterdam, thus rejecting the infant baptism, practiced at that time by both Catholics and established Protestants in the Netherlands, which he would have received previously. This action, plus his continued devotion to his new faith and the baptism of several other people in his home, led to his condemnation by the Catholic Church in the Netherlands and subsequent arrest in Asperen in 1569. as well as a folk hero among modern residents of Asperen.

Portrayals

Heinz Gaugel included a portrayal of Willems' rescue of his pursuer in his 1992 cyclorama Behalt, now housed at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Ohio.

In 2018, a statue of Dirk Willems was unveiled at the Mennonite Heritage Village museum in Steinbach, Manitoba.

See also

  • No good deed goes unpunished

References

  • Martyrs Mirror entry
  • Dirk Willemsz (d. 1569) at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online