Theo /Ferdinand Crijns
(Th.G.W.B.M.)

∗ 18-05-1923 Kerkrade     † 13-03-2019 Blaricum (95)
- Aid to People in Hiding L.O. - Couriers of the Resistance - Aid to Jews - Survivors - Heerlen -

When Theo Crijns graduated from Bernardinus College in Heerlen, the war was already raging. As he was unable to go to university, he joined the LO as a courier through Giel Berix.
On the night of April 23-24, 1944, he was stopped by members of the Landwacht (NSB auxiliary police) who were celebrating Hitler’s birthday. He fled, but ran into a barbed wire roadblock with his bicycle. He was wounded and was brought to the hospital as a prisoner. Dr Karel van Berckel dressed his wounded face in such a way, that he could not speak and managed to keep him out of the hands of the Sicherheitspolizei (German security police) for the time being. Crijns is freed with a shooting, as a result of which a guard died. Dr. Van Berckel ensured that the crew of liberators could leave the hospital. [1]
Theo fled on his own, hid in the coal cellar of his former school and then went into hiding. In the meantime, his mother, sisters and a brother were arrested and taken to Vught concentration camp, but Theo did not know this. His father and another brother managed to go into hiding. Their house was looted by the Germans.
After the liberation of Heerlen, Theo enlisted with the Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten. He was allowed to go to Vught in an American uniform, where he found his mother and sisters in the chapel. His brother had been transferred to the Amersfoort concentration camp in the meantime. ‘Hi mum’, says Crijns. She faints with emotion. The camp was pure horror. Mother Crijns was initially abused for ten days at the police station. One of Theo’s sisters was raped in the concentration camp. Mother Crijns cried for large parts of the day. Once back home, the family, seated on orange crates, celebrates the parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. Then mother speaks the defining words, “So we’ll never talk about this again.”[2]
After the war, Theo worked at the Laura mine in the personnel and social policy department.
In August 1971 (when the mines closed) he left the Laura mine. He went to work in the department store V&D, as director of human resources. After a few years he left there again and went to work at the Middle Class Bank (ING). This he did for several more years. [3]
His son broke the silence and researched the war story of his family and of Karel van Berckel. [4]
He wrote a summary for the OGS website. That is also the source of the photo. [5]
Read in our chapter Lessons from the resistance The arrest of Theo Crijns and the consequences

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, pp.662-664
2. landvanherle.nl Wie heeft informatie over de familie Vossen van Heerlerbaan?
3. mijnbouw.weebly.com Adjunct-directeur Crijns
4. Lodewijk Ivo Crijns, Met Godsvertrouwen voor het vuurpeloton: Karel van Berckel, verzetsman en chirurg – 2. November 2015, Walburg Pers
5. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl