All the fallen resistance people in Limburg

Jo S.H. Lokerman (Thijs)

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

District leader of the LO in Maastricht. Unusual in the Catholic south of the Netherlands at that time: this district leader was not only a Social Democrat, but also a reformed “Hollander”, i.e. someone from “above the rivers”. “On May 11, 1940, a group of Belgian prisoners of war was brought to the station via the Wilhelminasingel. Thijs Lokerman, a train driver from Maastricht and member of the city council for the SDAP (Social Democrats), diverted the attention of some guards by a fake brawl with a friend, so that some POWs could escape. This may have been the first act of resistance in Maastricht.” (Mestreech online).
In his speech at the unveiling of the commemorative plaque at the Peace Carillon, Dr. Fred Cammaert said, among other things: “Maastricht resident and resistance pioneer Jo Lokerman worked as an engine driver on the Dutch railroads. At the beginning of the war, he began helping French-speaking prisoners of war, and later downed Allied airmen. Lokerman used his job to distribute illegal magazines on the trains and made connections with Belgian colleagues so that British and Jewish refugees could be transported by train to France and, if possible, Switzerland and Spain." (Cammaert VIb, p. 643.) He was also one of the founders of the Maastricht LO, which he headed for a time. As a result of betrayal by brothel madam Zeguers-Boere, he fell into the hands of the SiPo on May 9, 1944. (Cammaert VIb, from page 649)
He died in Neuengamme concentration camp in February 1945.

• http://www.maastrichtsegevelstenen.nl/0.OORLOG/oorlog2c-verzet.htm
• Wikipedia NL: Jo Lokerman