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List
War Memorial in Aachen-Eilendorf
Limburg 1940-1945,
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The fallen resistance people in Limburg
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Rudolf Bloemgarten
∗ 07-05-1920 Maastricht † 01-07-1943 Bloemendaal (23)
- Ondergrondse pers - Jews in resistance - Students - Maastricht -
Rudi Bloemgarten was born in Maastricht [1], lived as a child in Schaarbeek ( region of Brussels) from 1924 to 1933 and then in Amsterdam, where he studied medicine during the occupation.
On eerebegraafplaatsbloemendaal.eu [5] we read about him:
born: May 7, 1920 in Maastricht
deceased: 1 July 1943 in the dunes near Overveen, 23 years old
Marital status: unmarried
Occupation
Religion: none
Location: memorial stone 5 [3]
Background
Rudi Bloemgarten was of Jewish descent and studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam. At the end of 1940, he opposed the dismissal of Jewish lecturers working at the university.
Resistance activities
From August 1942, Bloemgarten was involved in the production and distribution of the illegal magazine Rattenkruid (Rat Poison). He also joined the resistance group Groep 2000 [6]. In addition, he arranged for ration stamps and he forged identity cards for Jewish and other people in hiding.
On February 2, 1943, in connection with the execution of ten hostages in Bloemendaal, he planned to assassinate NSB member Feitsma, who had been appointed prosecutor at the Amsterdam Court of Justice in 1941. At the front door of Feitsma’s house, he suddenly found himself face to face with his son, whom he shot, leaving him seriously injured.
In early 1943, Bloemgarten participated in an act of sabotage on the railroad near Sloterdijk in Amsterdam, in an arson attack on a cinema on Rembrandtplein, and in an attack on the residents’ registration office.
Arrest and murder
After the arrest of several participants in the attack on the residents’ registration office in early April, Bloemgarten and two others decided to retreat to a guesthouse in Garderen. On April 8, 1943, the guesthouse was raided by the police. Bloemgarten escaped arrest by shooting a policeman. Thereupon, he wanted to flee to England. However, he was betrayed by a Jewish V-man (a Vertrauensmann, a trusted man. They infiltrated resistance groups.) and arrested in Voorburg on April 13, 1943. In June 1943 he was sentenced to death.
On July 1, 1943, he was shot in the dunes near Overveen, along with eleven other resistance fighters who had been sentenced to death. His mother had been murdered a month earlier in the Sobibor extermination camp.
Rudi Bloemgarten is buried in the cemetery of honor of Bloemendaal [5] (field 18, see also memorial stone 5) and is in the Roll of Honour 1940-1945 of the Dutch Parliament [2]
Footnotes