The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Zef “De Witte” Ronden
(Peter Joseph)

www.myheritage.nl …

Dates of birth and death of Zef Ronden are from the Sittard-Geleen Regional Archives. [1]
Cammaert writes: Sittard, electrician at the State Mines. Led with others a remarkably active local resistance group, also called the K.P.-Sittard. He did a variety of resistance work: helping Allied airmen (in collaboration with J.H.J. Sangen), sabotage, robberies, courier services and distribution of underground newspapers. [2.1]
The L.O. and the K.P. in Sittard were closely intertwined under the direction of Mathieu Corbeij and Dolf Simonis but kept themselves fairly aloof from other groups for security reasons. Because of the well-considered and extremely cautious way of acting, not one illegal worker from the circle around Corbeij fell into German hands. [2.2]
The Witte van Ronden, as Zef was called, also brought refugees across the Maas river: From there they were helped by the Witte van Ronden and others and with the help of such people as Louis Muyres via the company Juliana in Berg aan de Maas across the Maas into Belgium. One of the so-called “escape routes.
Perhaps Zef Ronden’s resistance name was also dictated by caution. For he was called “De Witte” (The White) although he was not really blond. [3]
The K.P.-Sittard had its headquarters in the Matrai car workshop on Heerlenerweg 29. [4]
Surely there was cooperation with the KP-Heerlen/KP-Zuid-Limburg, for example they lent their fire engine for night actions. They had stolen it and armored it in the Matrai workshop. It was parked in the cave of the Fathers on the Cauberg (Valkenburg) after the raid on the Valkenburg distribution office, probably through the mediation of Father Ferdinand.
That was on June 22, 1944. On the night of June 25-26, the fire engine came into action again:
The Sittard fighting squad commits a raid on the Stein town hall. A large quantity of distribution items and blank personal identification cards are captured. The population register is taken. [5]

The Peel region in North Limburg was on the approach route of Allied bombers to the Ruhr area. Therefore, there was a lot of German anti-aircraft artillery. That is also why the Germans had enlarged the near Venlo airfield for fighter planes. The Zwarte Plak was a remote hamlet in the Peel, where a resistance group mainly helped Allies who had been downed there. Simonis and Witte (Zef Ronde) also sometimes went to the Zwarte Plak where wounded pilots were housed awaiting transport to the hospital in Sittard where they were operated on by Dr. Van der Hoff and then taken to Maarland (Eijsden) station via Maastricht station. [4]

On the website Houtem Vreuger we find a list of the acts of resistance of the Witte van Ronden’s combat group (as far as known):

• freeing (in German uniforms) pastor Huibers from Schinnen, who was to be put on transport to Germany;
• there would have been at least 1 liquidation (further details not yet known);
• Attack, for the benefit of those in hiding, on the road between Holtum and Susteren on his sister Annie and Bertha Nelissen, who were transporting ration coupons. Annie was informed, Bertha was not!
• raid in German uniforms on the town hall in Stein among other things to steal archives from the safe that threatened to reveal manipulations of some officials;
• transporting pilots who had landed nearby to addresses in the Peel;
• distributing resistance leaflets throughout the region. [5]

There is one incongruity in that list. The transport of downed Allied airmen did not go from Sittard to the Peel, but the opposite way around.

Footnotes

1. Regioarchief Sittard-Geleen, 841 Verzetsfamilie Ronden uit Sittard, 1939-1948.Deel I - Peter Joseph Ronden (Zef)
2. Cammaert, A. P. M. (1994). Het verborgen front: Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
   1. Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
   2. Hoofdst. 6: L.O., VIII.6. District Sittard, pp.686 ff.
3. broeksittard.nl Mathieu Corbeij, leven en werken
4. verenigingsittardsverleden.nl Dolf Simonis, oorlog en verzet in Sittard
5. limburg.75jaarvrijheid.nl/, tijdlijn Dit gebeurde er in Limburg in 1944
6. Houtem Vreuger Holtum in de oorlogsjaren 40-45
7. https://www.myheritage.nl/site-140969351/ronden