All the fallen resistance people in Limburg

Johan Albertus Karel Witteveen (Johan “Willy v.d. Kerkhof”)

Johan Witteveen worked in his father’s textile store and lived in Heerenveen until 1942. Arrested and escaped in 1942. Went into hiding in Culemborg, where he helped crashed Allied airmen. Moved on to Epen in South Limburg, where he worked at the post office and helped crashed Allied airmen across the border into Belgium. He was a member of the resistance there under the pseudonym Willy van der (or van den) Kerkhof. [1]

On April 12, 1944, the post office was raided by the occupying forces. [2.1]
It does not say why, but apparently this was his undoing: To avoid arrest, J. Witteveen from Heerenveen, who had gone into hiding with hotelier J.H. Groneschild, tried to escape. However, he was hit by bullets and collapsed in the street. He died a few days later in the hospital in Heerlen. Groneschild, who had been arrested, managed to escape two months later during a prisoner transport. He hid in a self-built shelter in Epen until a few weeks before the liberation. [3]
At the request of the OGS, the municipality of Heerenveen filled out a form about the circumstances of his death. It states, among other things:
After lying in the street for a few hours, he was admitted to the Catholic hospital in Heerlen. [4]
Witteveen’s name is on the war memorial in Heerenveen. [2]
Johan Witteveen was temporarily buried in Epen. After the war he was moved to the Roman Catholic cemetery in Heerenveen, field West 1, row F, grave number 9. [6]
He is listed in the “Erelijst 1940-1945” (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [5]

Footnotes

1. wo2slachtoffers.nl Witteveen, Johan Albertus Karel
2. 1. Oorlogsmonument Heerenveen
   2. Van Maasdijkstraat, 8441 CH, Heerenveen, Friesland NL
3. Dr. Fred Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen & Eisma BV, Leeuwarden/Mechelen,
   6. De Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers • VIII-IX, 1994, p.695
4. Archief Oorlogsgravenstichting (@ Nationaal archief), Dossier Johan Witteveen #4
5. Erelijst 1940-1945
6. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl