|
|
|
|
|
What part soever you take upon you,
play that as well as you can and make the best of it.
Thomas More
This website is under a Creative Commons license:
• No commercial use
• No changing
You are free to share — to copy, distribute and transmit the site, also partially, but not for commercial purposes..
You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work and of course you have to indicate the author and the source as well as the license conditions.
+ info : Tom Engeln
∗ 1902-01-30 Purmerend † 1945-04-27 KZ Ebensee (43)
Main page 1940-1945.
Group Dresen
p. 1
Paulus Anthonius (Tom) Engeln, an unmarried accountant from Purmerend, 20 years old at the time and living in Heerlen, was drawn under number 20 and medically admitted to military service on July 5, 1921. Tom was a small man for his age, 1.67 meters. In March 1922 he was drafted into the infantry as a conscript. Later, after his basic training, he was transferred to the military engineering as an office boy. On November 18, 1922, he was promoted and made a conscript sergeant. This was a normal phenomenon at that time; the secondary school opened the promotion to NCO for the conscript and high school students were trained as reserve officers. On February 28, 1923, Tom left the Dutch army. Tom’s ancestors came from Germany and his grandfather Engeln was born in Mesum, a village in the municipality of Emsdetten in former West Prussia, near Hengelo in the Netherlands. Distant relatives of the Engeln family still live there. Tom, 22, left Heerlen for Germany in June 1924. His destination was Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. Here he became an authorized signatory in the local piano factory. A stormy love affair with his German girlfriend living there produced a son, Paul Büschenfeld. His daughter Claudia was present at the laying of the Stolperstein. Tom left his German girlfriend and went to Berlin. Paul Büschenfeld grew up with his grandparents in the Ruhr area. He took the name of his grandparents. In Berlin, Tom Engeln worked as a cab driver for Hans Wanger, the brother of his future wife, Betsy Wanger of Berlin. On August 13, 1928, Tom Engeln married Betsy Wanger at the Berlin-Kreuzberg District Town Hall and the couple moved to Grimmstrasse 25 in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district of Berlin. Shortly after their marriage, Tom and Betsy moved to Lutterade near Geleen (NL) and opened a needlework business there with an interest-free loan from Tom’s mother.
p. 2
After Lutterade, they moved to Lindelaan in Valkenburg-Houthem, where their first child, daughter Betsy, was born in 1930. The next place of residence became Heerlen, Willemstraat, where they ran a store for wool and silk. Business was good and by 1933 they operated three stores in South Limburg, including one at Muntstraat 4, Maastricht. Their second child, son Max, was born here in 1936.
Later in the 1930s, the wool and silk store ‘Betsy Dameshandwerk’ was moved from Muntstraat 4 to Muntstraat 19 in Maastricht. Residents of Maastricht who wanted to learn crafts were given free lessons by Betsy. At that time, the Engeln-Wanger family lived at Schoolstraat 6 in the municipality of Heer, where their third child, son Hans, was born in 1938. Shortly before the German occupation in 1938, the company went bankrupt. Tom founded a new company ACOM, a small leather goods factory on the Calvariestraat in Maastricht, where mainly belts were produced. The company was again financed with an interest-free loan from Tom’s mother.
Tom sold his products at the Limburg ‘noodbeurzen’, emergency markets. At one of these markets in Roermond, during the German occupation, he met Isidoor Brandon, a Jewish Amsterdammer. The two clicked and they began working together. Tom helped Isidoor Brandon go underground and made him a partner in his company. Brandon bought into the company with 1000 guilders and borrowed money from Tom’s mother. In return, Brandon gave five U.S. shares, which later turned out to be counterfeit. Nothing unusual so far.
In May 1941, the ACOM company moved from Calvariestraat to Bredestraat 37. The new building offered Tom and Brandon the opportunity to work and live there. Tom lived alone on the 1st floor and Brandon on the 2nd floor, along with his girlfriend, nurse Cor Meijer from Bloemendaal.
p. 3
Eventually Isidoor Brandon and Cor Meijer betrayed Tom Engeln and the resistance group to which Tom belonged, to the SiPo-agent R.H.G Nitsch, to their own benefit.
About the emergence of the resistance group Dresen/Hage, “Oranje Koerier” and their resistance against the German occupiers, we dealt in detail with the stumbling stones for Douwe Verhagen and Egbert Wolf. The betrayal of the resistance group was initiated by Isidoor Brandon and his girl friend Cor Meijer. But how did it come about?
Through the sister of Tom’s girlfriend Tini Lint, he came into contact with a resistance group he did not know. In early 1941, resistance fighter Bert Spierings introduced Tom to the other members of the Dresen/Hage resistance group, aka “Oranje Koerier”. Tom became a dedicated, active, and estimated member of the resistance group. Brandon, who by now was interested in Tom’s resistance work, therefore regularly visited the house of the chief guard of the prison Fons Macor at Lambert van Middelhovenweg 6 in Blauw Dorp. Brandon saw who all came and participated in the production, printing and distribution of illegal leaflets and the illegal magazine “Oranje Post”. This knowledge later came in handy in his personal conversations with SiPo man RHG Nitsch. In mid-1941, the first friction arose between Tom and Brandon. Brandon still had a debt of 1000 guilders to Tom, his entry fee as a partner. This money was now intended as payment to Tom for the sale of the business, whereupon Brandon should become owner. The deadline for transferring the money and the company was set for December 1, 1941. Because of Tom’s arrest, Brandon ended up having to pay nothing. He got the company dumped in his lap for nothing.
p. 4
The amount Brandon owed Tom Engeln’s mother weighed like a millstone around his neck. In the meantime, it had turned out that the five U.S. shares were fake, that is, worth nothing. Tom and Brandon were now really getting into trouble with each other. Brandon was looking for a way out on the road of betrayal and found it through NSB accountant Herman Borgman. Borgman, Tom’s accountant, called NSB member J. Blokker, a police officer in the village of Heer near Maastricht, and thus the first “stone” of betrayal was laid.
Blokker contacted Brandon and Meijer, where he first heard the story of the Dresen/Hage resistance group. Motivation for NSB member Blokker was the reward of 1000 guilders he received from the SiPo for betraying the Dresen/Hage resistance group.
The next step was to inform the SiPo man Nitsch. Blokker introduced Nitsch to Cor Meijer, who told Nitsch the resistance story. The latter did not know the resistance group. Nitsch did not want to receive the Jew Brandon in his office, thus Cor Meijer came into the picture. In the subsequent conversation with SiPo man Nitsch, Cor Meijer immediately betrayed Tom Engeln, Bert Spierings and the meeting places such as the boatman’s pub of Hendrik Meulensteen and the house of Fons Macor. She told Nitsch about Tom Engeln, that he printed the illegal magazines "Vrij Nederland" and the "Oranje Post" in the back room of his company. Young unknown men would pick up the illegal magazines to deliver them in the city.
Meijer revealed that it was a military resistance group and that resistance fighters had thrown German soldiers into the Meuse River, made plans to blow up bridges, and received shipments of weapons from Belgium. She would have gotten this information from Brandon. According to Meijer, Tom’s girlfriend Tini Lint and saleswoman Johanna Engelaar were couriers for the resistance group.
Nitsch, for his part, used the V-man Andreas Engwirda as an infiltrator. The former communist and Spain fighter Engwirda managed to penetrate the resistance group via Hendrik Meulensteen’s boatman’s pub.
Before the arrests on November 28, 1941, Brandon had personal contact with SiPo man Nitsch several times at Coenegracht’s café on the Kleine Staat and at Café Bosch on the Grote Staat (street names). At Nitsch’s request, Brandon compiled a list of names he knew from his visits to Fons Macor and gave the list to Nitsch. This list was the basis on which Nitsch made his 23 arrests.
p. 5
On Friday morning, November 28, 1941, at about 09:00, three SiPo men appeared at the store in Bredestraat 37 and asked for Tom Engeln. They wanted to see his room on the first floor. Tom Engeln was not in Maastricht on business that day and the saleswoman Johanna Engelaar told them that the room was locked. The SiPo men asked for the key and she could not help opening the door. Meijer was present during this conversation and she was the only one who knew that Engelaar had the key. Engelaar was arrested, as was Tom’s girlfriend Tini Lint later.
Brandon had tactically withdrawn, was not in the building, and did not return home until late in the evening.
After the SiPo left with their detainee, a police officer stayed behind to keep watch. Later in the day, Bert Spierings showed up and, after positive recognition of Meijer, was arrested and turned over to the SiPo.
On the same day, Friday evening at 7 p.m., Tom Engeln came home, was detained by the waiting policeman, and the SiPo, who had been called in, came to pick Tom up. A large number of illegal magazines were found in Tom’s house and confiscated. During the arrests at Bredestraat 37 by the SiPo, Meijer remained unmolested. She saw everything and gave hints to the SiPo during the search, she was not arrested.
A few days after the arrest of Tom Engeln and the others, almost the entire Dresen/Hage resistance group, 23 resistance fighters, were arrested. Against the three most important resistance fighters of the resistance group “Oranje Koerier”, Pierre Dresen, Dirk Hage and Gerrit Spierings, the death penalty was demanded and pronounced, as we have already seen. Tom Engeln, together with eight other prisoners, were taken to Kamp Amersfoort in so called ’Schutzhaft’ (protective custody).
Tom Engeln was deported from Kamp Amersfoort on October 30, 1942, first to the Gestapo prison in Düsseldorf and then to Buchenwald concentration camp with prisoner number 208. From Buchenwald, the only tangible memory of Tom is the paper bag that had contained his watch.
On March 2, 1944, he was deported to the notorious “Nacht- und Nebellager Natzweiler” together with a large group of Dutch. Here he was given prisoner number 7779. With the imminent arrival of the Allies, the prisoners of the Natzweiler camp were transported
p. 6
to the Dachau concentration camp on September 6, 1944, and Tom Engeln was given prisoner number 100905. He had to work in the Allach subcamp.
A week later, on September 14, 1944, Tom was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. There he was assigned to the Melk subcamp, where he had to work hard in the local quarry. He was given the prisoner number 98005.
He finally succumbed of exhaustion in the infirmary of the subcamp Ebensee on April 27, 1945, one week before the liberation of the camp. He was 43 years old at that time.
In November 1945, a letter signed “Herman Oenradi” reached Tom’s relatives, stating that he had been with Tom from Kamp Amersfoort until his death in the Ebensee camp. Tom was always cheerful and optimistic during his captivity in the various camps and always had a good word for his fellow sufferers. “[…] You may be proud of him. He behaved as you might expect a good Dutchman to behave. After all, he had to make the sacrifice that many made with him, while being aware of what he was sacrificing his life for. Let this be a comfort to you.”
How did the children of Tom and his ex-wife fare? After Schoolstraat 6, Betsy Wanger moved with her children to the address Onder de Kerk 7 in Heer. On Pentecost Sunday 1944, Betsy left with her children to join her family in Berlin. This was short-lived. They then moved on to the town of Landsberg upon Warthe, about 100 kilometers east of Berlin beyond the Oder River. After the Russians arrived, the Germans had to leave, the town became Polish and the Germans were not welcome. Betsy Wanger left the town with her children, on their way to Berlin. In 14 days they walked the approximately 120 kilometers to Berlin and moved in with relatives in Kurfürstenstraße.
With thanks to Max and Hans Engeln.
p. 7
After the Amersfoort concentration camp, the prisoners were deported to the German concentration camp Neuengamme near Hamburg. There were murdered:
Details about the fallen members of Group Dresen.
Only Jan Schutrup and Gerrit Spierings survived the German camps and returned after the war.
At the beginning of 1942, Brandon and Meijer lived in the house of another Jewish V-man of the SiPo, Herbert Goldschmidt at Wijckerbrugstraat 51 in Maastricht. There, Brandon and Meijers indicated to NSB policeman Jo Lindeboom, who lived with them, that they were relieved. Brandon had found a parachute in the attic of Tom’s company and had voluntarily given it to SiPo man Nitsch. Now, Brandon felt, Tom Engeln would certainly not get free.
Brandon now had a free hand. In the course of July 1942, a few months after the arrest of Tom Engeln, the ACOMA company of Isidoor Brandon and Cor Meijer was moved from Bredestraat 37 to Amsterdam at Ceintuurbaan 422. They continued to work there for the German Wehrmacht; specifically leather bags.
Brandon, who maintained contacts with NSB-ers in Maastricht and Amsterdam, did not need to wear a “Judenstern” (yellow badge) as a reward from SiPo man Nitsch and could travel through the Netherlands without permission. Until the liberation of Maastricht, September 1944, Brandon, who lived in Amsterdam, was in contact with NSB man Smeets, who lived in Bouillonstraat.
Smeets took over the items Brandon had made and resold them to Germany.
After the end of the German occupation, SiPo man Nitsch made a statement to the Political Research of Maastricht. He stated, “[…] However, I benefited greatly from the information of Brandon and Meijer. As a reward for the treason committed by Brandon, I gave him a travel certificate.”
Brandon and Meijer were prosecuted a after the war in Amsterdam for treason against the resistance group “Oranje Koerier” and collaboration with the Germans during the German occupation. They were found guilty in 1947 and both were sentenced to 12 years in prison.
p. 8
The responsibility for the liquidation of the resistance organization “Oranje Koerier” lay with:
I. | I. Brandon, arrested in June 1945 in Amsterdam, |
II. | C.W. Meijer, shortly after Brandon arrested in Amsterdam, |
III. | J.H.M. Blokker, on the run, arrested in Heemstede. |
IV. | A. Engwirda, on the run, presumably killed in Yugoslavia. |
The liquidation of this resistance organization yielded the SiPo:
I. | 23 Widerstandskämpfer, die für den „Oranje-Kurier“ arbeiteten |
II. | Nineteen persons, nine of whom did not return from captivity, murdered by the Germans, |
III. | Two people spent four and a half years in German camps, |
IV. | Eight others spent seven to eleven months in captivity |
The Opperwachtmeester (station chief) of the State Police J.H.M. Blokker was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment by the Special Court in Maastricht on September 8, 1947. Shortly after his release, he died in Heemstede on November 13, 1961.
Limburgse monumenten vertellen 1940-1945 Digital name memorial Oranjehotel Jan van Lieshout, Het Hannibalspiel
Loenen Field of Honour
Markante feiten in Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog Stichting Struikelstenen Valkenburg Roermond Front City Belgium WWII Former concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof, Alsace
The Jewish Victims of National Socialism in Cologne | A–Z Documentation Center on the National-Socialism in Cologne
Camp Vught National Memorial
The Margraten Boys - About the US War Cemetery
The Jewish Monument
When the miners go on strike against the German occupiers Persecuted in Limburg Ons verblijf in het dorp Mergel (dagboek) (Meerssen 1989) Yad Vashem
Beelden van verzet Regional Historic Center Limburg
War deads in Nijmegen 1940 - 1945 Foundation Dutch Resistance Monument
La résistance durant la guerre 1940-1945 Fallen resistance people Maastricht Stichting Herinnering LO-LKP The Forgotten Genocide – The Fate of the Sinti and Roma
1944-2019 ⇒ South Limburg 75 years free! ⇐ Short historic American film about the Divers Inn Database persoonsbewijzen uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog Memorial stone for the resistance people Coenen and Francotte Resistance Memorial of the dutch province of Limburg Call to everyone, but especially to the residents of Valkenburg Roll of honor of the fallen, 1940 - 1945 Grenzeloos verzet The hidden front
Forgotten History – Pierre Schunck, Resistance Fighter
World War II in South Limburg Sources Network on World War II (NOB) Institute for Studies on War, Holocaust and Genocide
Limburg gaf joden WOII meeste kans Tweede Wereldoorlog en bijzondere rechtspleging Nederlands Auschwitz Comité Secret Army Zone II/Limburg 30th Infantry Division Old Hickory
Bond van Oud-Stoottroepers en Stoottroepers The Dutch Underground and the Stoottroepers
Links List Resistance WW2
83
It is one of the most frequently asked questions: who was imprisoned in the Orange Hotel? Unfortunately, there is no complete list of all prisoners. Much of the prison records were destroyed by the German occupiers shortly before the liberation.
See also Oranjehotel & Waalsdorpervlakte82
A sinister game during World War II of the counterintelligence service of the Kriegsmarine (Marineabwehr), which led to the downfall of three Dutch-Belgian resistance groups, ISBN 10: 9026945744 ISBN 13: 978902694574880
Over 3,900 war victims are buried at Loenen Field of Honour and include those who lost their lives in different places around the world due to various circumstances. There are military personnel, members of the resistance, people who escaped the Netherlands and went to England during the first years of the WWII to join the Allies (‘Engelandvaarders’), victims of reprisal and forced labour and …79
Remarkable facts in (Belgian) Limburg during the Second World War
Anyone who thinks that hardly any resistance took place in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium should definitely read this document. The emphasis is on the armed resistance. Author: Mathieu Rutten.78
Also 45 Jews deported from Valkenburg did not return. The Stichting Struikelstenen Valkenburg (“Foundation Stumbling Stones Valkenburg”) was established to place so-called stumbling stones in the sidewalk in front of the house from which they were deported, in memory of the murdered Jews from Valkenburg. With a complete list.
See also Stolperstein on Wikipedia.77
Series of stories by Eric Munnicks about the last months of the war.
See also the other War Stories of the Roermond Municipal Archives. Unfortunately no translation available. 76
A virtual platform on Belgium and its inhabitants during the Second World War74
European Centre of Deported Resistance Members. Camp and museum73
72
Virtual visit of the museum and the memorial in 8 languages, amongst them Hebrew and Spanish71
The Camp Vught National Memorial (Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught) is located on a part of the former SS camp Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, also known as Camp Vught (January 1943 – September 1944).70
Harrowing and redeeming, this is the history of a unique ‘adoption’ system. For generations, local families, grateful for the sacrifice of their liberators from Nazi occupation, have cared for not only the graves, but the memories, of over 10,000 US soldiers in the cemetery of Margraten in the Netherlands.
Free e-book by Peter Schrijvers. More e-books on WWII, in English and Dutch, by this author: https://www.google.de/search?hl=de&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Peter+Schrijvers%2268
Every victim of the Holocaust who was murdered is memorialised on the Joods Monument with a personal profile. The Jewish Monument is not only suitable for searching and commemorating. You can supplement the monument with photos, documents and stories, by making family connections and adding members of families. To place a call and get in touch with other users. You can also add information about stumbling stones and important other external links.67
The mine strike in Limburg started on April 29th, 1943. The workload was rising and rising. The first Dutch men were forced to work in Germany. The immediate reason was General Christiansen’s order to arrest all released prisoners of war from the Dutch army again and to transport them to Germany. The strike is broken up by means of executions.66
Jews and Sinti in Dutch Limburg during the Second World War
ISBN 978-90-8704-353-7
Dissertation by Herman van Rens on 03/22/2013, University of Amsterdam, slightly edited
© 2013 Hilversum65
Our stay in the village of Mergel (diary, Meerssen 1989
Joop Geijsen from Meerssen tells how he and two other boys went into hiding for a year in the limestone caves just outside Meerssen, which was later called the diver’s inn.
As far as we know, sold out and only available in Dutch libraries.64
The World Holocaust Remembrance Center63
This book shows, how every Dutch generation deals differently with the past of resistance.
If you can read Dutch, you can find the download link for this essay by Sander Bastiaan Kromhout
Published by the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 May, 2018
Print edition ISBN 9077294244.62
Limburg has numerous specialized archive institutions that preserve relevant historical sources concerning World War II. However, it is not always clear to the public for which information they can go where. Archives have overlapping work areas, organizations and people have been active in the past in different areas and in different fields. So it often takes a long time to find the right place to find information.
Here you can search, but also share your documents with other interested parties. This can be done by donating them to existing archives or museums, or by making digital copies of the available documents or images.61
With search function60
Names of resistance fighters in the Netherlands and colonies during the Second World War59
It is mainly about the network “Clarence” whose founder was Walther Dewez; evoked are also the names of various agents of Visé and the Fourons that were part of this movement.58
A brief description and a long gallery of portraits57
The foundation remembrance of LO-LKP wants to raise awareness of the history of the resistance by the organisations LO and LKP. To this end, she makes the contents of his memorial book and many original documents available to the interested reader in digital form.56
Also known as Gipsies.55
An overview of the activities in South Limburg around this memorable anniversary in september. It is celebrated in every municipality.54
A silent film, shot by a USAmerican team after the liberation of Valkenburg. The first part has been re-enacted, with the help of the Valkenburg resistance. It shows how people going into hiding (divers) were taken to the divers inn. The man in the hat is always Pierre Schunck. The film starts at his home in Plenkertstraat, Valkenburg. The role of the policeman on the bike at the start is not entirely clear. According to the accompanying text, this is a courier.53
About Dutch identity cards in the Second World War as well as images of identity cards in combination with other documents and genealogical and personal data including life stories.49
In front of the Provincial Resistance Monument in Valkenburg. Here the underground fighters Sjeng (John) Coenen and Joep (Joe) Francotte were murdered on 5 September 1944, just before the liberation of Valkenburg48
Every year on May 4, the commemoration ceremony for the fallen of this province takes place here. Meanwhile, also the veterans are no longer among us anymore.47
On September 17, 2019 it will be 75 years ago that the town and all villages of the current municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul were liberated.
To commemorate the liberation and to display the wartime as accurately as possible, the Museum Land van Valkenburg is looking for personal stories, eye witnesses and tangible memories.
Of all these lifelike stories, materials, photos, footage and equipment, we are organizing a unique and as complete as possible overview exhibition under the name “We Do Remember”46
A website commissioned by the dutch Second Chamber (~ House of Representatives). The Honor Roll of Fallen 1940-1945 includes those who fell as a result of resistance or as a soldier.45
Borderless resistance – On Spying Monks, escape lines and the “Hannibal Game”, 1940-1943
ISBN 9789056220723
Paul de Jongh describes in detail an escape line from the Netherlands to Belgium. Unique case study on the resistance in World War II on both sides of the Belgian-Dutch border. Focus is on the Belgian side. Extends the book by Cammaert, especially where it concerns the group Erkens in Maastricht.44
History of the organized resistance in the Dutch province of Limburg during World War II
PhD thesis 1994, by CAMMAERT, Alfred Paul Marie.
The complete book in Dutch, with English summary, on the website of the University of Groningen.
Core literature!43
42
Very many pictures ordered by municipality. For Valkenburg: many pictures from the Nazi boarding school for boys Reichsschule der SS (former Jesuit convent) and from the days of liberation, by Frans Hoffman.40
Search in 9 million documents, movies and pictures about and from World War II in the Netherlands.39
Institute for Studies on War, Holocaust and Genocide
Issues related to war violence generate a lot of interest from society and demand independent academic research. NIOD conducts and stimulates such research and its collections are open to all those who are interested.38
Dutch Jews had the best chance of going into hiding and surviving the Holocaust in the province of Limburg. This is apparent from the dissertation on the persecution of Jews and Sinti in Limburg during the Second World War by the historian from Beek, Herman van Rens at the University of Amsterdam.
More info in Dutch36
About the trials of Dutchmen who collaborated with the occupiers: The so-called special administration of justice. This page shows you the way. Here you will find photos, the most used keywords, references to interesting archives, indexes, websites, personal stories and guides for research.35
34
About the failed attempt to set up a complete guerrilla army in Belgian Limburg. Use the built-in translator20
Liberators of South-Limburg17
16
Stoottroepen (Stormtroopers) consisted of the ancient resistant fighters who entered in the Dutch army after the liberation of Limburg, to participate in the war against the fascism.15