Jan (Johannes Franciscus) van Hout

∗ 17-10-1908 Valkenburg † 22-02-1945 KZ Neuengamme (36)
- Forced Labor - Initial resistance - Valkenburg -

Professional cyclist from 1932 to 1940. When he was eight years old, he moved to Eindhoven with his parents. In 1932 he set a new Dutch hour record (42.282) in Tilburg and on August 25th, 1933, on the wooden cycle track in Maasniel near Roermond, a world hour record of 44.588 kilometers. But that was already broken after 4 days.
He was able to live well from cycling and could have earned even much more in Germany, but since Hitler was in power there, he was not interested.
He closed his pub and joined the resistance. He and his wife were involved in helping Jewish people in hiding. He attracted attention and he went into hiding himself. A few months before the liberation, Jan van Hout was arrested during a raid in the natural swimming pool De IJzeren Man and transferred to the camps Vught and Amersfoort and finally to the German labor camp Neuengamme, where he died of exhaustion.

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