The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Tante Coba Pulskens
(Jacoba Maria)

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

Coba Pulskens hid Jewish persons, Allied pilots and resistance fighters, was arrested and brought to Vught via Haaren. During the evacuation of Vught in early September 1944, she was transferred to the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp, where she died in February 1945.[1]
Documents about Coba Pulskens can be viewed online at the Regionaal Archief Tilburg [2].

The death of Aunt Coba [7]
Aunt Coba, was born on May 26, 1884 at Korvel. After attending home economics school "with the nuns", she went to Antwerp for some time. After her return to Tilburg, she worked as a cleaning woman at the municipal utilities and lived in Diepenstraat.
In 1942 Coba received a request from the resistance movement in Limburg to take in people in hiding: Resistance fighters who had to go into hiding for a while, but also Jews. After a period with people in hiding, Coba’s house became one of the transit addresses where Allied pilots were temporarily housed on their escape route to Belgium and eventually to England.
On July 9, 1944, three of them were present at Coba Pulskens’ house, J.C. Nott from Australia, Englishman Ronald Walker, and Canadian Roy Carter. On the same day, two more Allied pilots were to be delivered to Coba by resistance fighters from outside Tilburg. However, this did not happen.
By a tragic coincidence, the car carrying the two new pilots and three resistance fighters was stopped by the Germans. On a piece of paper the Germans found the address in the Diepenstraat in Tilburg, where they carried out a raid at about 11:30. The allied pilots were killed. Coba was captured and was murdered in Ravensbrück concentration camp in February 1945.

Cammaert wrote of this: There, in February 1945, she took the place of a mother of ten children in danger of being gassed. [4]
See also the article on "The pilot helpers" Coba Pulskens and Leonie van Harsse. [5]
rom p. 32 on, it also mentions the Limburg resistance fighters Harrie Tobben, his wife Jet van Oijen, Albert van Ass and Paul Gulikers as well as the Englandspiel (Englandgame).

Provincial Memorial “De Brabantse Soldaat” in Waalre [3]
Jacoba Maria ( Tante Coba ) Pulskens is listed in the Erelijst 1940-1945 (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [6]

Footnotes

1. oorlogsbronnen.nl
2. Regionaal Archief Tilburg
   documenten-coba-pulskens-online
   Adres: Kazernehof 75, 5017 EV, Tilburg
   013 549 45 70
   https://www.regionaalarchieftilburg.nl
   info@regionaalarchieftilburg.nl
3. Provinciaal Gedenkteken De Brabantse Soldaat in Waalre
4. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
   4. Hulpverlening aan geallieerde piloten en hun bemanningsleden, p.300
5. De Pilotenhelpsters, (pdf)
6. Erelijst 1940-1945
7. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl