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Limburg 1940-1945,
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The fallen resistance people in Limburg
Jozef Mathieu Starren was the chief of police in Horst (= Opperwachtmeester or Opper for short). Belonged to a resistance group that had housed divers (persons in hiding), students and pilots in two camps in the woodland Schadijkse Bossen. Antonie Damen, a young marine engineer working for German counter intelligence, infiltrated the group. With 15 others Starren was arrested on August 19, 1943. [1]
Damen came into contact with the group through the priest, poet and writer Jacques Schreurs, who unwittingly played a tragic role in this betrayal in Meterik. Further information can be found at horstsweethorst. [2]
According to his widow, the reason for his arrest was that he helped pilots and people in hiding and supplied the resistance with weapons. [3#4]
Opper Starren was taken via the prisons of Maastricht and Haaren to Scheveningen, to the so-called Oranjehotel, and from there to Kamp Vught, Sachsenhausen and Bergen-Belsen. [3#2]
You can find more information about most of these prisons and concentration camps on this website. [4]
Nothing is known about a grave. [3#4]
His name is on the war memorial in Horst. [5]
This person is listed in the “Erelijst 1940-1945” (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [6]
Footnotes