The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Leendert L. Sluijmers

Leendert Sluijmers was a car mechanic [1#3][1#8] and car welder [1#5]. He was arrested on July 25, 1944 for shirking forced labor (euphemistically called Arbeitseinsatz, labor mission, mostly in German industry [2]).
The chief of police in Heerlen wrote to the mayor on March 11, 1953:
In reply to the letter of the Oorlogsgravenstichting (War Graves Foundation) of the 5th of this month, which was forwarded to me for reporting by your letter of the 6th of this month from the 4th Department, I have the honor to inform you that Leendert Sluijmers, born on 3. January 1922 in Heerlen, unmarried car mechanic, at that time living here in his parents’ house, Lijsterstraat no. 5, was forced to work in Germany in 1942 via the Heerlen regional employment office. After working there for two days in a mine, he fled and went into hiding in this city. Around July 1944, he was arrested here by officials of the Arbeitseinsatz [2] and imprisoned at the police headquarters in Heerlen, whereupon he was transferred to Neuengamme (Germany) via Ommen. [1#8]
This happened via the transit camp Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort: Between August 26, 1944 and September 8, 1944, Leendert Sluijmers was imprisoned in the Amersfoort camp. [8]
In the archive of the OGS we read: About September 6, 1944 from Amerfoort to Neuengamme. [1#5]
According to the Digitaal Monument Neuengamme [3], this took place on September 10, 1944 in the Hamburg-Hammerbrook camp, Spaldingstraße 156/158, a satellite camp of Neuengamme. [4]
By the way, his name is spelled Sluymers on the Digitaal Monument. But the family wrote Sluijmers on his In Memoriam card. [7]
On September 12, 1945, his parents, who still live at the above address, received a message from the Maastricht and Environs branch of the Dutch Red Cross that their son had died in Neuengamme on March 3, 1945.
The parents stated that they would not welcome their son’s remains being brought here, as they were not convinced that it would actually be their son’s remains that would be brought here.
They would rather see their boy continue to rest where he is currently buried.
S. [1#8]
He lies in the Dutch field of honor of the Hamburg-Ohlsdorf cemetery, grave BP-73L2. [6][7]
In the Neuengamme death book [5] (the registry of deceased prisoners, preserved by a prisoner), several diseases are listed from which prisoners died: enteritis, tuberculosis, dysentery, heart failure, and so on. This is obfuscation. The actual cause of death was almost always the miserable conditions in the camp. Moreover, the data are completely unreliable. Often only something was written at the registration of a death. (Source: Judith Schuyf, Nederlanders in Neuengamme: de ervaringen van ruim 5500 Nederlanders in een Duits concentratiekamp 1940-1945 (Dutch people in Neuengamme: the experiences of over 5500 Dutch in a German concentration camp 1940-1945) ISBN: 9789059940512, cited on monument.vriendenkringneuengamme.nl. [3]

Footnotes

1. Archief Oorlogsgravenstichting (@ Nationaal archief),
   Dossier Leendert Sluijmers • #3 • #5 • #8
2. Arbeitseinsatz, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Português
3. Digitaal Monument Neuengamme
4. .kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de, Hamburg-Hammerbrook (Spaldingstraße) • Deutsch • English • Français
5. Totenbuch Neuengamme • Deutsch • English • Français
6. 1. Nederlands Ereveld Hamburg
   2. OpenStreetMap Friedhof Ohlsdorf Fuhlsbüttler Straße
   3. https://www.friedhof-hamburg.de/
7. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
8. https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Leendert-Sluijmers/02/142240