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Limburg 1940-1945,
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Bep van Kooten
∗ 12-12-1914 Laren N.H. † 20-06-1979 Hilversum (64)
- Klimmen - Survivors - Aid to People in Hiding L.O. - Knokploegen (K.P.) - BS (Domestic Forces) - Dutch Soldiers -
- https://nimh-beeldbank.defensie.nl/foto-s/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=Bep%20van%20Kooten&rows=1&page=1&fq%5B%5D=search_s_mediatype:%22Foto%27s%22
- More in our story Resistance in Valkenburg
Bep (B.J.C.) van Kooten, temporarily leader of the LO Klimmen and, for the sub-district of Valkenburg, contact person to the KP (“Knokploegen”, armed groups), sabotage specialist of the KP. Towards the end of the war, the rayon (subdistrict) of Klimmen worked closely together with the rayon of Valkenburg, so here follows a bit more about this village from Het Verborgen Front = The Hidden Front, chapter 6b VIII.5.7. by Dr. Fred Cammaert.
Some group members were (also) part of the O.D. and maintained contacts with aid workers in the Heerlen region, including with vicar Berix. These connections date from the Smit period or were brought on the way by the vicar of Voerendaal, A.F.J. Vondenhoff. In the autumn of 1943, Bep van Kooten established the connection of the subdistrict with the Heerlen district. In addition to Klimmen it included the villages of Hulsberg, Voerendaal, Ransdaal and Ubachsberg. Van Kooten took charge and appointed Miss M.Th. Jaspers as a messenger. Because of Van Kooten’s fast career in Limburg resistance, the actual leadership rested with Brouwers who soon succeeded him. G.H. Meurders and curate A.J. Gibbels, who had to work under very difficult circumstances because the pastor was pro-German, were his deputies.
Biography at the website of his rugby club.
At the end of the war, Van Kooten was looking for a suitable depot for weapons and a shooting range for the “Knokploegen” of South Limburg. So this cave had to be evacuated.
In the second half of July 1944, Crasborn and Van Kooten moved to Swalmen, at the invitation of J. Frantzen. They found shelter on the monumental farm De Baxhof of the Poels family on the edge of the village. Bep was commissioned by Crasborn to travel through the lines via the recently liberated Valkenburg and Maastricht to the headquarters of Prince Bernhard in Brussels, where he was appointed commander of the Stoottroepen in Limburg, see the chapter Valkenburg is free below. As a member of the Dutch army, he participated in the actions against the new republic of Indonesia after the war.