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Limburg 1940-1945,
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The fallen resistance people in Limburg
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In „Het grote gebod“ (The Great Commandment) [1] we can read about the butcher Lei Kluitmans: “LO-Swalmen. Also: VN. arrested Feb.7, 1945”. What he did for the VN (underground newspaper Vrij Nederland) is not mentioned. For a while he gave shelter to a Canadian pilot, who in early February 1945 tried on his own to get through the front line, was arrested and talked. On 7 or 8 February 1945, Kluitmans, among others, was arrested as a result. They were taken for questioning to the near German border town of Brüggen. Kluitmans ended up in the prison of Mönchen-Gladbach with a group of five detainees from Steyl and Tegelen, including pastor P.P. Windhausen and his assistant, vicar P.N.A. Peters, who were brought from Düsseldorf. Before being deported to Buchenwald, the Roermond clergymen vicar A.J.A. Sars and rev. H.Ch.J. Hoogendijk were added to this group. All but two were killed: Windhausen died on March 28 in Buchenwald, Peters on April 6 and Hoogendijk on April 10. Kluitmans died in April in Dachau or on his way there, Sars on April 23 in Passau and H.J.A. Hovens from Tegelen succumbed to the hardships suffered in Buchenwald on April 10, 1947. [2]
Mentioned on the war memorials in Roermond and Swalmen [3]
Leo J.H. ( Lei ) Kluitmans is listed in the Erelijst 1940-1945 (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [4]
Footnotes