pers.Valkenburg 1940-1945

 

Harie van Ogtrop

∗ 13-11-1901 Hulsberg     † 26-10-1989 Heerlen (87)
- Local contacts - Aid to People in Hiding L.O. - Valkenburg - Survivors -

Harie van Ogtrop (∗ 13-11-1901 Hulsberg † 26-10-1989 Heerlen, 87 years) was was the sexton of the old parish church St. Nicolaas & Barbara in Valkenburg and of the two contact people to the people in hiding of the L.O. Still during the last days of the war he hid a German conscript from Valkenburg in the church tower. [1]

Jan van Betuw writes about the fate of the aged Jewish couple Soesman-Horn and then continues:
Another scandalous occurence concerned the resistance man van Ogtrop (the verger of Valkenburg). He lost almost his entire fortune. He had married in goods community, a long time before the beginning of the war, the daughter of a German bus entrepreneur. This man lived in Koningsbosch (municipality Echt) and had there his enterprise (among other things miners transport). These people were everything but Hitler followers. Her/his part in the enterprise was just seized. Because the verger became also still severely disabled by an accident, he fell back on a lean vergers pension.
Paul undertook still attempts to cancel the decisions of the institute for trust. But they failed. One must regard these things however in the context of the mentality of those days: of the obedient and law-abiding citizen. Legal aid shops were unknown, and/or still for a long time not as generally spread as nowadays. [2]
Also read the story of his activity as a confessor [3]
Mortuary card in the Rijckheyt Archive. [4]

1. His daughter Agnes in Valkenburg 2019 – 75 years liberated, 75 stories about the invasion in 1940, the occupation and the liberation September 1944.
2. Jan van Betuw: Vultures after World War II – How a small country can be even smaller.
3. Valkenburg 1940-1945 Harie van Ogtrop
4. In Memoriam Harie van Ogtrop, Rijckheyt Museum