The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Hubert Knops
(Hubert Maria)

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

Hubert Knops was the parish priest of Koningsbosch, municipality of Echt. [1]
His assistant was vicar Leo Verdonschot. The latter had taken under his care a young man of 17 from Mönchen-Gladbach who was suspected of being a member of the Edelweißpiraten. [2]
This H. Greune was a clever breakout, who was arrested again and again but also managed to escape again and again. He told everything he knew to a deserted German soldier, who was also in hiding in Koningsbosch and with whom he had become friends. Cammaert tells about these two:

Things ended less fortunately with Borowitsch. In mid-February, soldiers arrested him. During the interrogations he revealed everything he had heard from Greune. He said that German deserters were hiding in the woods and mentioned the names of Bleijs and Verdonschot. On Ash Wednesday, February 23, the Sipo and over one hundred soldiers undertook a large-scale action. They combed the woods around Koningsbosch and surrounded the church, where a Eucharistic celebration was just taking place. After the mass, the military took vicar Verdonschot, pastor H.M. Knops and about a dozen inhabitants of Koningsbosch into custody. The search in the woods yielded nothing. Verdonschot was deported from Vught to Sachsenhausen in early September 1944. In February 1945 he arrived severely weakened in Bergen-Belsen, where he died on March 2, 1945.
Father Knops was released in March 1944, but died on April 23 of the same year as a result of his ordeal in Maastricht prison. [3]

In Maastricht, there were two prisons next to each other on the Patersbaan. They were popularly known as the German prison and the Dutch prison. See Minderbroederskloosters Maastricht. (Click on the adjacent photo for an enlargement and more information).
Father Knops is buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Koningsbosch, grave opposite entrance middle back. [4]


Minderbroederskloosters Maastricht.
Foto: NIMH

Footnotes

1. Open Street Map Koningsbosch
2. Edelweißpiraten, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Português
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, p.627
4. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl