Nico ”van Griensven” van Oosterhout (Nicolaas Cornelis)
text, no JavaScript Log in  Deze pagina in het NederlandsDiese Seite auf DeutschThis page in English - ssssCette page en FrançaisEsta página em Portuguêstop of pageback
Nicolaas Cornelis van Oosterhout is not (yet?) listed on a wall of the chapel.
List


War Memorial in Aachen-Eilendorf

Limburg 1940-1945,
Main Menu

  1. People
  2. Events/ Backgrounds
  3. Resistance groups
  4. Cities & Towns
  5. Concentration Camps
  6. Valkenburg 1940-1945
  7. Lessons from the resistance
1
1

The fallen resistance people in Limburg

previousbacknext
 

Nico ”van Griensven” van Oosterhout
(Nicolaas Cornelis)


 28-02-1918 Dordrecht      11-08-1944 Kamp Vught (26)
- Zwarte Plak - Pilots’ helpers - Raad van Verzet (RVV) - Civil Servants - Intelligence - Limburg + -



Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

    Nico van Oosterhout was a customs officer. [1#1]
    He was son of the bargeman Nicolaas van Oosterhout and Cornelia Antonia Aartsen. At the age of 14 he started working as a helper in a bicycle repair shop, but when he realized that he would not get far without a degree, he went back to school around 1934. In 1937 he volunteered for military service and was assigned to a motorcycle company during the May Days of 1940.
    After the surrender of the Netherlands, he worked at the tax office in Rijsbergen.
    When the German authorities announced in 1943 that all former Dutch soldiers had to report to be taken prisoner of war again, Nico went into hiding. However, he was discovered and taken to the Amersfoort concentration camp. He managed to escape from there and go into hiding again, first in Dordrecht and then in Schaijk.
    Nico then joined the Raad van Verzet (RVV, Resistance Council) in Deurne under the leadership of policeman Cor Noordermeer. The RVV was a loose association of scattered, independent resistance groups that, in the absence of national coordination, had to act completely independently. Working from their base at De Zwarte Plak in the Limburg village of America, members of the group aided downed Allied pilots and those in hiding. Together with the local radio service, information was gathered and exchanged.
    On May 13, 1944, through the intercession of their colleague José Peerbooms, ‘Don José’, Nico and Cor were on their way to a meeting of the RVV in Utrecht. They did not return. Upon arrival at the Utrecht train station, both were immediately arrested by the Germans and taken to the Scheveningen prison, the ‘Oranjehotel’, for interrogation. There Nico and Cor were interrogated twice and tortured for 24 hours. Finally, they were deported to the Vught concentration camp, where they were shot at the execution site on August 11, 1944. Nico was 26 years old.
    The resistance held José Peerbooms (who had been under suspicion before) responsible for the arrest and liquidated him on July 13, 1944.
     [2]
    Dear Foundation, I must inform you that there is no grave for my son, as he was executed in Vught and subsequently cremated there. [1#3]
    So his ashes lie in the ash pits of Camp Vught. [3.3]
    His biography on the website of the Kamp Vught Memorial states that he was before the occupation a professional non-commissioned officer in the motor artillery in the Dutch army. [3#1]
    By motor artillery they meant motorized artillery, i.e. guns that were not horse-drawn.
    The picture on the right is from the book Het grote Gebod (The Great Commandment). [4]
    He is mentioned in the memorial of the province called De Brabantse Soldaat in Waalre. [5]
    Also read his life story on deurnewiki.nl. [6]

    Vught • FusilladeplaatsFormer execution siteAncien site d’exécution

    Footnotes

    1. Archief Oorlogsgravenstichting, Dossier Nico van Oosterhout • #1#3
    2. brabantsegesneuvelden.nl Nico van Oosterhout
    3. Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught
      1. Oosterhout, Nicolaas Cornelis van
      2. Website • NederlandsDeutschEnglishFrançais
      3. tracesofwar.com/Asputten Kamp Vught
    4. Drs L.E.M.A. van Hommerich, Het Grote Gebod, dl.1.1, De LO, Kampen 1951, p. 327
    5. Provinciaal gedenkteken De Brabantse Soldaat, Waalre
    6. deurnewiki.nl Nicolaas Cornelis van Oosterhout (1918-1944)
    7. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl