The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Karel Herman Hendrik Simmelink (Jan v.d. Plas)

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

Karel Simmelink was a primary school teacher [1#1] at the Paredis School in Roermond. [2]
Joseph Johannes Wilhelmus Simmelink, Karel’s father, was headmaster of the same school [9] and also active in the resistance. In the Carpe Diem, the summer house of Simmelink sr. in the woody Leu valley near Nunhem, the Oranje Post was produced. (Cammaert XI p.1074 [3])
Karel went into hiding when he as a demobilized soldier had to go into captivity of war again. Member of the Resistance (LO-Roermond and Ordedienst) under the pseudonym Jan van der Plas. [2]
We also read about Karel on Traces of War:
After a meeting at his parents’ house – ‘het Kasteeltje’ – in Nunhem on June 28, 1944, he was arrested early the next morning together with his father and the vicar Emile Goossens [4] from Echt, who had been hiding with the family for several weeks. The SiPo [5] had indications that Ensign A.J. van Rooyen, who was suspected of clandestine activities, was also in hiding with the Simmelinks. During the raid, Van Rooyen managed to escape. Dad Simmelink was freed from the Maastricht prison on the day his son was shot along with about 60 fellow prisoners. [6]
Karel Simmelink had been transferred from Maastricht to Vught [7] a few days before. There, on September 5, 1944, he was murdered in the firing range used as an execution site, as part of mass shootings because of the approach of Allied troops (Deppner Executions [11]).

He is commemorated in the following places:

• Karel Simmelinkstraat in Nunhem, municipality of Leudal, was named after him. [8.1]
• Memorial plaque at the church of his residential village Nunhem [8.2].
• Memorial at the execution site and memorial wall in the National Monument Kamp Vught. [7.3]
• Ash pits Kamp Vught [7.4], behind the crematorium of the concentration camp. Annual commemoration of the dead on May 4.



---


Nunhem [8.2]

Footnotes

1. Archief Oorlogsgravenstichting, Dossier • Karel Simmelink #1
2. tracesofwar.nl Simmelink, Karel Herman Hendrik
3. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front XI. Illegale pers
4. Emile Goossens
5. SiPo Maastricht
6. Maastricht, 5 sept. 1944
7. Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught
   1. Website • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français
   2. Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Español
   3. Monument op de fusilladeplaats
   4. Asputten Kamp Vught, Lunettenlaan 600, Vught
8. Open Street Map
   1. Karel Simmelinkstraat, Nunhem
   2. Plaque Nunhem Kerkstraat 16, 6083 AE Nunhem
9. Wie woonde waar in Roermond 1937
10. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
11. Wikipedia NL: Deppner-executies