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Otto Couperus
∗ 29-10-1898 Hüls † ?
- Police - NSB - War Criminals - Survivors - Venlo -
- beeldbankwo2.nl Otto Couperus
- Johan Berendsen: Het briefje van een echte familieman
- Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
Hoofdstuk 6: De Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers, p.581 - Bijzonder Gerechtshof, Wikipedia • Nederlands • English
Picture: beeldbankwo2.nl [1]
Otto Couperus became a police inspector and, during the war, also an SS officer. He began his career in Rotterdam, at the notorious department (X?) that organized the local persecution of Jews. Then - in 1943 - he became captain-corps chief in Venlo, where he committed war crimes. [1]
He cooperated with the Sipo-Maastricht and with the Ommen police of Johan Berendsen, the terror of Venlo, who were hunting for so called work refusers. [2]
Among other things, A.J. Wokke, who had come over from Alkmaar, installed listening devices in the office of Venlos chief of police, O. Couperus. The receiving device was installed in a house opposite the poli’ce building, so that the L.O. resisters could monitor the telephone conversations between Couperus and the Sipo-Maastricht. [3]
In early 1944, he resistance tried to kill him. He quietly left Venlo in autumn 1944, to reappear in Harderwijk, where he was also chief of police for a while. When liberation came in sight there too, he cycled to Hilversum, where he was (briefly) chief of police as well. After the war he was sentenced to several years in prison. [1]
In April 1949, Otto Couperus was sentenced to ten years in prison, see C.A.B.R. (Central Archive on Special Jurisdiction) file Otto Couperus. “The CABR is under limited public access (B-restriction) until January 1, 2025 due to privacy laws. This means that you cannot search this archive yourself, but you can come and view files.” [4]
Footnotes