All the fallen resistance people in Limburg

Jozef Mathieu Starren

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

Jozef Mathieu Starren was the chief of police in Horst (= Opperwachtmeester or Opper for short). Belonged to a resistance group that had housed divers (persons in hiding), students and pilots in two camps in the woodland Schadijkse Bossen. Antonie Damen, a young marine engineer working for German counter intelligence, infiltrated the group. With 15 others Starren was arrested on August 19, 1943. [1]
Damen came into contact with the group through the priest, poet and writer Jacques Schreurs, who unwittingly played a tragic role in this betrayal in Meterik. Further information can be found at horstsweethorst. [2]
According to his widow, the reason for his arrest was that he helped pilots and people in hiding and supplied the resistance with weapons. [3#4]
Opper Starren was taken via the prisons of Maastricht and Haaren to Scheveningen, to the so-called Oranjehotel, and from there to Kamp Vught, Sachsenhausen and Bergen-Belsen. [3#2]
You can find more information about most of these prisons and concentration camps on this website. [4]
Nothing is known about a grave. [3#4]
His name is on the war memorial in Horst. [5]
He is listed in the “Erelijst 1940-1945” (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [6]

Footnotes

1. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
   4. Hulpverlening aan geallieerde piloten en hun bemanningsleden, p.p. 315-317
2. De tragische rol van Jacques Schreurs
3. Archief Oorlogsgravenstichting (@ Nationaal archief),
   Dossier Joseph Mathieu Starren • #2 • #4
4. Oranje-Hotel | Kamp Vught | Sachsenhausen | Bergen-Belsen
5. Horst, oorlogsmonument, Kloosterstraat, 5961GE Horst
6. Erelijst 1940-1945
7. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl