The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Eugénie Boutet
(Eugénie Marie Theodorina)

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The above information is taken from the short biography of the teacher Eugénie Boutet from Sevenum on humanitarisme.nl. [1.1]
The same information can be found almost identically in large parts on the Dutch-language Wikipedia. [1.2]
Her father was Prosper Marie Eduard Boutet from Liège, where Eugénie was born, and her mother Maria Theodora Gerarda Everts was Dutch. She came to Sevenum at an early age and at the age of 23 became a teacher and later principal of the girls’ school there. [1.2]

She worked in the resistance, among others with Harry Hanssen, the district leader of the L.O. in Sevenum, and with parish priest Henri Vullinghs in Grubbenvorst. It all started with her helping French and Walloon refugees who had escaped from captivity in Germany. Her knowledge of French naturally stood her in good stead. Like Harry, she also worked for the Westerweel group, providing hiding addresses for Jewish young people who were planning to emigrate to Palestine. [2]

On August 7, 1943, Hanssen went to Gulpen to help set up the L.O.. Miss Boutet was his successor. [3]

On May 1, 1944, the SiPo from Maastricht raided Sevenum again, this time in search of Eugénie Boutet. She had then had to go into hiding herself, which had been a serious blow to the LO work in Sevenum (photo private archive). [4]
Until her return in October, she looked after prisoners in Vught and Amersfoort. In September she fell into the hands of the Germans after all, in connection with the busting of the O.D. transmitter in Venlo. However, she was able to talk her way out with a passionate and convincing plea. [3]

The French former resistance magazine L’Homme libre [5] reported in its May 1950 issue that the following Limburg resistance fighters were awarded the French Medal of Thanks (Médaille de la reconnaissance française) for their help in the escape of French prisoners of war from Germany: H. Pollaert, Jac. Stegers, W. Schreurs and J. Coehorst in Venlo, Ch. le Lorrain and Miss E. Boutet in Sevenum, Miss El Peters in Tegelen and Miss A. Joosten in Grubbenvorst. Also to Fr. Hegelsom in Haelen, C. de Goeverden in Vlodrop and Fr. de la Franconi in Urmond. [6]
On 16 June 1964, Eugénie Boutet was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. [1.1]


File number: File from the Collection of the Righteous Among the Nations Department (M.31.2/67)
Commemoration
Date of Recognition: 16/06/1964
Righteous Commemorated with Tree/Wall of Honor: Tree
Ceremony organized by Israeli diplomatic delegation in: The Hague, Netherlands
Eugénie Boutet, who was from Sevenum, Limburg, a village well known for its Resistance activities, worked closely with the Westerweel* group, which was instrumental in saving the lives of many young Zionist members of the Palestine Pioneers, the halutzim. At first, Joop and Willy Westerweel* themselves took some of the young people to Limburg, but Michiel (Chiel) Salomé* soon became their representative in the southern province. Chiel was referred to Eugénie for further assistance. Eugénie helped find shelter for about 30 halutzim in Sevenum from December 1942 until December 1943. Since she was involved in other Resistance activities, such as building up the LO in the region, Piet Arts* was given responsibility for looking after these people and maintaining contact with the Westerweel group. The atmosphere in Sevenum was very much anti-Nazi and pro-Resistance and the Jews in hiding were treated very well. However, there were some unfortunate mishaps and eight Jews were arrested by the Germans and deported, mainly during the last year of the war.
On June 16, 1964, Yad Vashem recognized Eugénie Marie Theodorine Boutet as Righteous Among the Nations.

Footnotes

1. biogr. Eugénie Boutet
   1. humanitarisme.nl
   2. Wikipedia • Nederlands
2. Westerweel-groep, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • עברית
3. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
   Hoofdst. 6, De L.O., $VIII.2.5. Rayon Sevenum p.593
4. Een liquidatie in Kronenberg: de laatste wens van Pauwelse Grad en Fons Mertens (7)
5. L’Homme libre : organe du Mouvement de résistance des prisonniers de guerre et des déportés
6. delpher.nl Dagblad voor Noord-Limburg, 29 april 1950
7. https://floddergatsblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/foto-2_-de-illegale-werkster-eugenie-boutet-uit-sevenum-kopie.jpg?w=372