The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Harry “Ford” Holla
(Johannes Hendrikus Hubertus)

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

Harry Holla was co-owner of a car paint shop in Venlo, local contact person for the people in hiding ("divers’ chief") of the L.O in the Catholic parish of Heilig Hart, St. Heart, Venlo. On February 8, J.H. Scheeres, a diver in hiding, had been arrested. He was apparently in possession of a note from Venlo diving chief H.J. Holla and seemed to know more about the Venlo organization. Police chief Couperus called in the Sipo. Scheeres gave Nitsch a couple of names, including that of the priest A.M.L. Omloo. On Tuesday, February 29, the SiPo struck and arrested P.N.A. Peters, Harry Holla, parish priest Omloo, the couriers A.R. Berger and F.G.M.J. Coehorst, some other collaborators of the L.O. and a number of people in hiding." [1]
Via the jail in Maastricht, where he had to deal with the infamous Nitsch, Holla was transferred to the Amersfoort concentration camp and from there to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Oranienburg near Berlin. [2]
There he died, according to the Totenbuch (Book of the Dead) of this camp, on 7 January 1945 (deed 359/1946, prisoner number 101644). [3]
Johannes Hendrikus Hubertus ( Harry “Ford” ) Holla is listed in the Erelijst 1940-1945 (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [4]

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
   6. De Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers • VIII-IX, p. 582
2. historie.venlo.nl Harry Holla
3. KZ Sachsenhausen Totenbuch
4. Erelijst 1940-1945
5. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl