The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Paulus Anthonius Engeln (Tom)

www.struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl …

Paulus Anthonius (Tom) Engeln, a shopkeeper and leather goods manufacturer living in Maastricht, was of German descent and divorced from a German wife, Betsy Wanger, with whom he had three children. In 1942 they were 4, 7 and 12 years old. In the back room of his shop, he printed the illegal newspapers “Vrij Nederland” and the “Oranje Post,” which were distributed through the Dresen group. He sheltered the Amsterdam Jew Isidoor Brandon, who also became his business partner, and Brandon’s girlfriend Cor Meijer. Brandon owed him money and was also afraid for his own safety. For this reason, he and Meijer betrayed Tom and the entire Dresen group. On Friday, November 28, 1941, he and several others were arrested. In the following days, almost the entire Dresen/Hage resistance group, twenty-three resisters, were arrested. The three most important members of the “Oranje Koerier” group, Pierre Dresen, Dirk Hage and Gerrit Spierings, were sentenced to death. Tom and eight others were sent to various camps such as Buchenwald and the “Nacht und Nebel” [1] camp of Natzweiler-Struthof (Alsace) and eventually to the Ebensee concentration camp [2]>, where he finally died of exhaustion in the infirmary on April 27, 1945, a week before the camp was liberated. He was 43 years old then.
There is a stumbling stone in front of the house Bredestraat 37, Maastricht. [3]
Detailed account in the biography of Tom Engeln. This is a translation of the biography of Tom Engeln at struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl. [4]

Footnotes

1. Nacht- und Nebel, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Español
2. Kommando Ebensee, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Español
3. struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl Bredestraat 37, Maastricht
4. struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl biografie Tom Engeln
5. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
6. https://www.struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl/namenlijst/engeln-paulus-anthonius/