The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Jan Smeets
(Jan Hubertus Alphonse)

Jan Smeets was a son of the grower and merchant of fruit Alphons Smeets in Eijsden.
He was involved in helping French-speaking prisoners of war who escaped from Germany, on their way home. [1]
M.H.A. Smeets and his two sons Jan and Jef took the refugees to the nearest Belgian train station, Visé, from where they continued their journey on their own by train. It is not known how many prisoners of war the Smeets family helped in the summer of 1940. It was probably dozens rather than hundreds, as some claimed afterwards. Source: Interview Cammaert with J. Smeets and J. Arpots, Eijsden, November 19, 1987 M.v.D.-C.A.D. Doc. O.D., A 110, Inv. no. 36: Report D. Sleeuwenhoek. Stichting ’40-’45, Eindhoven. [2]
His father was arrested on October 15, 1942 in Eijsden. We can assume that on or about that day Jan was also arrested. Until October 26, 1943, Jan Smeets was imprisoned in Camp Amersfoort. On September 22, 1944, Jan Smeets was transported to Dachau. His camp number was 110943. Between October 22, 1944 and October 24, 1944, he was transported from Dachau to Neuengamme. [3]
The brothers Jan and Jef fortunately survived the war, unlike their father and their uncle, the municipal secretary Hubert Smeets.

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, p.136
   3. Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen, p.136
   2. Stalag Arnoldsweiler
2. Dr. F. Cammaert 2. De eerste militair-civiele verzetsformaties, p.76
3. https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Jan-Hubertus-Alphonse-Smeets/23/404448