All the fallen resistance people in Limburg

Lodewijk Peter Antonius Arts (Louis)

Oorlogsgravenstichting

Louis Arts was an apprentice plasterer. He worked as a forced laborer on a farm in Germany and took advantage of that by helping other forced laborers across the nearby border. He did so outside of organized resistance groups. In August 1944, he stayed home after his leave and went through the lines to Son near Eindhoven, where American paratroopers had landed, and was made a soldier. He thus assisted at the liberation of Eindhoven, but was then assigned to intelligence work and sent through the front line in plain clothes. He was arrested twice. The first time he managed to talk his way out with the help of an excuse.
Source: Article in the weekly Peel en Maas of July 13, 1946, pictured at the OGS. [1]

Here are two quotes about the end of Louis Arts.
The first is from the Death Book of the Municipality of Venlo, also pictured at the OGS. [1]
Lodewijk (Louis) Peter Antonius Arts, 19 years old, living Kruitweg 17 in Venray, was shot dead by German soldiers on Wednesday Oct. 4, 1944 in Venlo at the Lichtenberg (record no. 278/1946). [1.1]
Final resting place at the General Cemetery in Venray, section O-68-69 [6].
The 19-year-old Lodewijk Arts from Venray had put on the khaki of the Americans at Helmond, immediately after the liberation. However, his superiors decided otherwise: in civilian clothes he was sent through the enemy lines, to gather intelligence on the German positions. Was he in the company of Leendert de Geus [2], when unexpectedly the Germans called out "Halt!" to them? When Leendert de Geus began his last futile flight to Klaas de Jong’s ship, the boy Arts lay bleeding to death on the cobbles of the Lichtenberg. [1.2]

The second quote is from Het verborgen Front (The Hidden Front). [3]
It is about Octber 4th, 1944. Most of the western bank of the Maas River and southern Limburg had already been liberated, but the cities of Venlo and Roermond (on the eastern bank) were experiencing the most difficult period of the war: they had become front-line cities.
With the arrival of the SiPo in Venlo at the end of September, the atmosphere became, if possible, even more threatening. At the beginning of October, the Feldgendarmerie handed over two young men, aged 19 and 25, to the SiPo. They were L. de Geus from Overloon and L.P.A. Arts from Venray, who were carrying weapons when they were arrested. They were accused of espionage. Strobel ordered them to be executed along the Maas. The German soldiers, who were near the Maas quay, heard the shots and opened fire, but in the darkness they could not tell at whom they were firing. Sipo members Nitsch, Fiebig, and H.E.L.F. Hoffmann immediately took cover, leaving one dead Arts and one seriously wounded De Geus. [3]

See also the map at Roermond, winter 1944-1945 or The tears of Roermond. [4]
His name is on the Venray War Memorial. [5]

Footnotes

1. Oorlogsgravenstichting Documenten Louis Arts
   1. GA Venlo, archief Gemeentepolitie Venlo, Proces-verbaalnr.711, 12 juli 1946, relaterende opgraven, bergen en identificatie van het lijk van L.P.A Arts.
   2. Een zin van Nitsch onthult een raadsel.,: Dagblad voor Noord-Limburg d.d. 11 juli 1946
2. oorlogsgravenstichting.nl Leendert de Geus []
3. 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 • VIII-IX, p. 85
4. Roermond, winter 1944-1945
5. Oorlogsmonument Venray
6. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl