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Limburg 1940-1945,
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1940-1945. The resistance in the dutch province of Limburg
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Group Smit
The earliest reports of the Group Smit date from late 1940 and early 1941. It was particularly active in the eastern part of the Dutch coalmine area (Oostelijke Mijnstreek). As with the other early resistance groups in Limburg, with the exception of the Communists, most of them consisted of professional soldiers who had been demobilized after the occupation, mainly from the pre-war 13th Infantry Regiment, a regiment in which mainly soldiers from South Limburg had served and to which Smit had also belonged. They had contacts with the groups Dresen in Maastricht and Bongaerts in Heerlen and developed the same activities. Initially they distributed banned writings, including "Het Vrije Volk," a regional leaflet in which, among others, the surgeon Karel van Berckel wrote. From the spring of 1941, the Gruppe-Smit also engaged in intelligence gathering and the procurement and purchase of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
Since the arrest of Pierre Dresen at the end of 1941, the SiPo knew of the group’s existence but did not yet want to intervene because they knew too little.
Dutchman H.M.J. Thelen, born of German parents, a former soldier and miner on the Oranje Nassau IV, joined the Smit group in the second half of 1941. In September or October, he wrote a letter to the German plenipotentiary for the province of Limburg, Schmidt, in which he reported his findings. Nothing is known about his motives. Schmidt turned the case over to Nitsch of the SiPo, who instructed Thelen to gather evidence. The Smit file grew thicker and thicker.
On February 2, 1942, almost the entire Smit group was arrested.
On July 16th, 1942, Smit and Treuen were sentenced to death and the other members of the group to imprisonment in a concentration camp.
On this website you can find as a special topic the resistance in Valkenburg. Two members of the group survived the camps there: the vicar Hennekens and the veldwachter (municipal policeman) Van Roy
Sources:
Dr. Fred Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Groningen 1994, Hoofdstuk 2 De eerste militair-civiele verzetsformaties, §III. De groep-Smit, p. 107 e.v.- Harry van Dijck Een verraderlijke geschiedenis uit Heerlen over Charles Spreksel en de groep Smit, uit: Themanummer Tweede Wereldoorlog van MijnStreek, 2019 Nr.3, p. 4 ff.
Uitgave Stichting Historische Kring ’Het Land van Herle’
| Group Smit – 12 pers. ⇒All the fallen resistance people in Limburg | ||
| Bruls,
Léon Antoine Leo | ∗ 1912-02-06 Sittard † 1945-04-17 Dresden | - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Sittard - Police - Leo Bruls from Sittard was an aircraft mechanic and aviator at the Militaire Luchtvaartafdeling (Military Aviation Department) in Soesterberg. [1] Today it is called the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Royal Dutch Air Force) After the capitulation of the dutch army in 1940, … wall: right, row 17-04 |
| Diederen,
Karel Joseph | ∗ 1917-10-10 Hoensbroek † 1943-03-02 KZ Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg | - Ondergrondse pers - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Hoensbroek - In his younger years he was active in the youth movement. When he was drafted into military service, he was a casual laborer. From September 2, 1937 with the 3rd Mounted Field Artillery Regiment, where he rose to the rank of wachtmeester (~ sergeant). After the surrender of the … wall: middel, row 11-02 |
| Giebels,
Jo | ∗ 1909-09-06 Linne † 1944-04-05 Bergen Belsen | - Ondergrondse pers - Initial resistance - Brunssum - Group Smit - The primary school teacher J.M.R. Giebels was a member of the Smit group. The cost of the weapons purchases was met with the proceeds from the sale of photographs of the royal family. The British R.A.F. dropped these regularly, whereupon Giebels, the pit assistant overseer A.M. van Puffelen … wall: left, row 05-03 |
| Haan,
M.J. (Sjef) | ∗ 1921-08-23 Schaesberg † 1944-04-18 KZ Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg | - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Schaesberg - Miner at the Oranje-Nassau IV, arrested on February 2, 1942, sentenced to prison. Died of the consequences of the bombing of Oranienburg (Cammaert Chapter II: Appendix V, Arrests in the Smit group) wall: right, row 13-02 |
| Hennekens,
G. Hub | ∗ 1909-02-15 Sittard † 1970-11-26 Heerlen | - Valkenburg - The clergy - Initial resistance - survivor - Group Smit - He was ordained priest on March 13, 1937, was vicar in Berg en Terblijt from September 1937, vicar in the parish of Sts . Nikolaas & Barbara in Valkenburg from May 1939, parish priest in Rothem near Maastricht from September 1955, retired from February 1964, first in Overbunde, then in … |
| Janssen,
Sjef | ∗ 1923-01-13 Heerlen † 1943-03-29 Hamburg-Neuengamme | - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Heerlen - - Joseph Jean Elise Janssen was an office employee of a mine [1.1], a member of the Smits group and of the international resistance group and escape line Dutch-Paris [2], as were his uncle Joseph Lejeune and Jean Caubo Arrested on … wall: left, row 15-05 |
| Leclou,
Paul | ∗ 1921-02-28 Voerendaal † 1945-04-29 Nordhausen | - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Voerendaal - Ondergrondse pers - Paul Leon Willem Antoon Leclou attended the MTS (Secondary Technical School). Arrested on February 2, 1942, sentenced in Amsterdam, classified as a Nacht und Nebel (NN, Night & Fog) prisoner. He succumbed in the concentration camp Dora (Nordhausen) on 29 April 1945, i.e. shortly after the … wall: right, row 35-04 |
| Roy,
van Hubertus Andreas | ∗ 1893-03-09 Nederweert † 1981-11-24 Valkenburg | - Initial resistance - Police - Valkenburg - survivor - Group Smit - Veldwachter (local policeman appointed by the municipality) in Valkenburg until december 1941. Was a member of the early resistance group around J.Smit in Heerlen. The earliest data on this group are from the end of 1940 and early 1941. Smit, a professional soldier demobilized in July … |
| Smit,
Joseph Sef | ∗ 1916-09-09 Roermond † 1942-09-17 Amsterdam | - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Police - Heerlen - Sef Smit from Roermond was before the war a professional sergeant in the 13th Infantry Regiment. [1] He chose after demobilization in July 1940 to join the police in Heerlen. He did not stay there for long. It was a thorn in his side that the public actions of N.S.B. members and … wall: left, row 19-02 |
| Spreksel,
Charles | ∗ 1916-07-03 Heerlen † 1945-01-07 KZ Schömberg, KZ Natzweiler | - Ondergrondse pers - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Heerlen - Charles Spreksel was the son of Frans Spreksel, a builder, and Agnes Schepens. Since his demobilization he worked as chief window dresser at the Schunck department store in Heerlen. [4] At first, he distributed illegal magazines and self-printed leaflets supplied by wall: left, row 19-03 |
| Treuen,
Theo | ∗ 1914-07-24 Tegelen † 1942-09-17 Amsterdam | - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Voerendaal - The parental home of Theo (Theodorus Gerardus Johannes Peter) Treuen stood at Maasstraat 43 in Steyl. He worked in the butcher shop Leenders in Voerendaal and during the pre-war mobilization he was a soldier. During 1940 he was contacted by … wall: right, row 35-05 |
| Vlemmings,
Lambert | ∗ 1918-11-10 Breda † 1945-02-23 Dachau | - Ondergrondse pers - Initial resistance - Group Smit - Heerlen - Lambertus Arnoldus Vlemmings was a former soldier and after his demobilization by the Germans in 1940 parcel deliveryman at Van Gend & Loos. At the beginning of the war, he distributed underground magazines and leaflets printed by … wall: left, row 19-04 |