The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Jean Schoenmaeckers
(Paul Fernand Cécile Ghislain Marie)

Maastrichtse Gevelstenen

Paul Schoenmaeckers (“Jean”) from Amby (today a quarter of Maastricht) married Hélène Palmers on June 12, 1911 in Stevoort near Hasselt. From then on they lived in Rekem (Belgian Limburg). During the occupation, they joined the Comet escape line [1], together with their sons, Michel, Jean and his wife Marguerite De Bissy. They worked there for Line (pronounce: Leene) [2]. That was the pseudonym of Olympe Félicie Henriette DOBY. Paul and his wife Helene were also hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Most of the refugees this group helped on (mostly to Brussels) were French-speaking prisoners of war who had escaped from Germany and downed allied airmen, “supplied” mainly from the Maastricht region, e.g. by Paul’s sisters Hélène and Adèle, who were still living in their parents’ house in Amby, or by the Trouw-group around Evert Bakker. Paul and his youngest son Michel were arrested on November 26, 1943; Jean just managed to escape. Paul died in a transport near Obrnice (German: Obernitz), now the Czech Republic.
Michel was born on December 8, 1919 in Rekem (B). He took particular care of people hiding in the forests around the villages of Lanaken and Rekem. Was murdered on September 15, 1944 in the concentration camp of the type Nacht und Nebel-Lager (night an fog camp) [3] called KZ Sonnenburg [4] at the age of 24. The goal of these special camps was to make resistance fighters disappear administratively, nothing was written down about the prisoners and their families were not informed.
Schoenmaeckerskruis (Schoenmaeckers Cross) for Paul and Michel in the forest near Rekem: N 50° 55.259 E 005° 39.935 [5]
Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones) for Paul and his sister in front of their parents’ house, Bergerstraat 2-4, Amby (Maastricht) [6].

Footnotes

1. Réseau Comète / Komeetlijn • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français
2. En français • Michel • Jean • Marguerite De Bissy. • Olympe Félicie Henriette DOBY ( Line )
3. Nacht und Nebel, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Português
4. KZ Sonnenburg, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Italiano
5. Schoenmaeckerskruis, Rekem
   1. waymarking.com
   2. Open Street Map
6. Stolperstein Bergerstraat 2-4, Amby (Maastricht)
   1. tracesofwar.com
   2. YouTube
7. XXL Biografie Hélène & Paul Schoenmaeckers, verzetstrijders uit Amby (pdf)
8. https://gw.geneanet.org/hourmanmichel?n=schoenmaeckers&oc=&p=paul+fernand+cecile+chislain+marie
9. https://www.struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl/schoenm#lb84565/bergerstraat-2-4-vroeger-59