The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Peter Will

Het Grote Gebod – L.O.

Quality inspector in the slaughterhouse of Nijmegen, see the memorial plaque in the slaughterhouse [1] and honorary policeman. After May 1940, he helped people who wanted to escape forced labor in Germany. He distributed the underground newspaper Trouw [9], took care of people in hiding, helped stranded Allied airmen, and was involved in espionage activities as a member of the radio group of Captain Hogerland’s organization. [2] Arrested on December 1, 1943, for working for Trouw. According to his family, he died in Germany between April 13 and 18, 1945. In the spring of 2021, the Nijmegen City Council decided to name one of the streets in the Hof van Holland quarter after him. [7]

Our father, Peter Will, … was a prisoner of the German SiPo-SD (security police) from December 2, 1943 until his death in April 1945. In the Netherlands he was imprisoned in Arnhem from December 2, 1943. On May 20, 1944, he was sent to the Polizeiliches Durchgangslager (police transit camp) in Amersfoort.
On October 11, 1944, he was transported to the German concentration camp Neuengamme and probably sent directly to the subcamp of Meppen-Versen (Emsland). On March 25, 1945 he was brought to the main camp as a sick man and then on April 8 they were transported by trains (cattle wagons) in the directions of Bergen-Belsen, Bergedorf, Neubrandenburg, Hamburg-Altona, Bremervörde and Brillit. There his body was taken from the train and buried in a mass grave with about 300 others. After my oldest brother, Bert Will, and I became aware of these facts, we wrote a booklet about this. [3]

He is buried on the National Field of Honor (Nationaal Ereveld) in Loenen grave A 372. [4]

After 71 years, his surviving relatives, including his then 92-year-old son Bert Will, held in their hands for the first time the unsent farewell letter his father had written in the Amersfoort concentration camp. ("Son of a resistance hero receives farewell letter after 71 years") [5].
A detailed article about Peter Will can also be found at the German Wikipedia.. [6]

Footnotes

1. Nijmegen, Plaquette voor Peter Will
2. oorlogsdodennijmegen.nl
3. B.en P.Will, Peter Will 21-8-1896 - ??-4-1945. Een levensverhaal (A life story), Nijmegen -Veenendaal 2008, + cd met beeldmateriaal en videofragment, + cd with pictures and video clip, ISBN 978-90-90-23827-2
4. Nationaal Ereveld Loenen graf A 372
5. nos.nl: Zoon van verzetsheld krijgt na 71 jaar alsnog afscheidsbrief
6. Peter Will, Wikipedia • Deutsch
7. Open Street Map: Peter Willstraat
8. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
9. Wikipedia NL: Trouw_(verzetsblad)