The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Peter Josephus Vrancken (Jos)

Photo: Jos Vrancken [1]

Peter Josef Vrancken was called Jos or Sjef in Stramproy. Cammaert calls him P.Vrancken below. The L.O. group of Stramproy was actively involved in the care of about 40 people in hiding and French prisoners of war in Beerseler Broek. The Security Service (SD) carried out a raid in April 1944 following a betrayal by an arrested person in hiding. [1]
The above source assumes that there were two people named Josef Vrancken and that the Germans caught the wrong one. But Cammaert wrote about this raid that it was about two brothers:
Because of the betrayal by a Rotterdam man in hiding, the Sipo from Den Bosch carried out a raid on April 6, 1944. Some L.O. members, such as Salemans and vicar P.J.L. Geusens, were warned in time and went into hiding. The brothers P.J. and M. Vrancken, Mrs. E. Geene and Mrs. L. Leijssen were arrested. All those arrested, except P. Vrancken, were released after some weeks. Vrancken died in Oldenburg on December 9, 1944. [2]
But right next to the village of Engerhafe mentioned below is the village of Oldeborg. The other sources say something different about the date and place of Sjef’s death, see below.
Why Mathieu Vrancken was released while his brother Sjef died in a concentration camp is not clear from them. Did Sjef take all the responsability after the evidence against him could no longer be denied?
Via Camp Vught, he is put to work at the military airfield in Venlo. After this, Vrancken is transported to Neuengamme-Engerhafe concentration camp, where he dies on November 26, 1944 as a result of all the hardships. [1]
Engerhafe was a subcamp of the Hamburg concentration camp Neuengamme, but was located in East Frisia near Aurich. The prisoners there had to work on fortifications around Aurich. [3]
He was buried there on November 27, 1944. [4]
Oorlogsbronnen.nl/ also gives as death date November 27, 1944 (in Aurich). [5]

Gedenkstätte KZ Engerhafe

Footnotes

1. verzetsmonumentweert.nl Jos Vrancken
2. 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, p.706
3. KZ Engerhafe, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • Français
4. KZ-Gedenkstätte Engerhafe – Die Namen der Verstorbenen
5. https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Peter+Josephus+Vranken/58/101894837