Josephus Stephanus Hendricus Lokerman <i>(Jo “Thijs”)</i>
text, no JavaScript Log in  Deze pagina in het NederlandsDiese Seite auf DeutschThis page in English - ssssCette page en FrançaisEsta página em Portuguêstopback
Josephus Stephanus Hendricus Lokerman is listed in the Resistance Memorial on the
left wall, row 32 #05

Limburg 1940-1945,
Main Menu

  1. People
  2. Events/ Backgrounds
  3. Resistance groups
  4. Cities & Towns
  5. Concentration Camps
  6. Valkenburg 1940-1945

All the fallen resistance people in Limburg

previousbacknext
 

Josephus Stephanus Hendricus Lokerman (Jo “Thijs”)


 05-02-1901 Rotterdam      11-02-1945 Neuengamme (44)
- Underground Press - Initial resistance - Aid to People in Hiding L.O. - Maastricht - Peace Carillon -



Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

    Jo Lokerman was train driver with the Dutch Railways [1] and the district leader of the LO in Maastricht. Unusual in the south of the Netherlands at that time: this district leader was not only a Social Democrat, but also a “Hollander”, i.e. someone from “above the rivers”.
    On May 11, 1940, a group of Belgian prisoners of war was brought to the station via the Wilhelminasingel. Thijs Lokerman, a train driver from Maastricht and member of the city council for the SDAP (Social Democrats), diverted the attention of some guards by a fake brawl with a friend, so that some POWs could escape. This may have been the first act of resistance in Maastricht. [2]
    In his speech at the unveiling of the commemorative plaque at the Peace Carillon [3], Dr. Fred Cammaert said, among other things: Maastricht resident and resistance pioneer Jo Lokerman worked as an engine driver on the Dutch railroads. At the beginning of the war, he began helping French-speaking prisoners of war, and later downed Allied airmen. Lokerman used his job to distribute illegal magazines on the trains and made connections with Belgian colleagues so that British and Jewish refugees could be transported by train to France and, if possible, Switzerland and Spain. [4]
    He was also one of the founders of the Maastricht LO, which he headed for a time. As a result of betrayal by brothel madam Zeguers-Boere, he fell into the hands of the SiPo on May 9, 1944. [4]
    He died in Neuengamme concentration camp in February 1945.
    He is listed in the “Erelijst 1940-1945” (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [6]


    De jonge Jo Lokerman.
    Foto: familiearchief

    Footnotes

    1. Archief Oorlogsgravenstichting (@ Nationaal archief),
      Dossier Jo Lokerman #3
    2. Mestreech online
    3. tvvalkenburg.tv Onthulling van de plaquette bij het vredescarillon Valkenburg
    4. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
      6. De Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers p. 643, 649ff.
    5. Biografie: Marie-Cécile van Hintum, Lokerman, het tragische oorlogsverhaal van de Limburgse verzetsleider die verraden werd, uitg. Balans, 272 pag., ISBN: 9789460039225.
    6. Erelijst 1940-1945
    7. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
    8. https://www.maastrichtsegevelstenen.nl/0.OORLOG/oorlog2c-verzet.htm#L
    9. Wikipedia NL: Jo Lokerman