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Limburg 1940-1945,
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The fallen resistance people in Limburg
Photo: The Hagiography Circle [1] →
Jan Lemmens was born in Limmel [2.1], a village then belonging to the municipality of Meerssen and today to Maastricht.
He was a monastic chaplain with the Ursuline Sisters in Maastricht, moved to ’s-Gravenvoeren [2.2] on January 11, 1938, and to Diepenbeek [2.3] (Belgian Limburg) [3#3] on June 28, 1938. The mention that he was a priest of the diocese of Liège [1] refers to his time in what was then called the Voer region.
On his mortuary card it says that he was rector in ’s-Gravenvoeren and vicar in Diepenbeek. It goes on to say, that he was a comforter and helper to the persecuted and hunted as a member of the secret resistance. [4]
The term "secret resistance" probably refers to the Secret Army that was quite strong in the mining region around Genk and also helped those in hiding.
At the request of the Oorlogsgravenstichting (war graves foundation), the municipality of Diepenbeek stated, He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 because of his patriotic attitude and was taken to various concentration camps, where he died on March 24 or 25, 1945. [3#4]
Died of privation on March 25, 1945, in the Nordhausen subcamp, Boelcke Barracks. [7]
His prisoner number there was 113027. [5.1]
The death book of Mittelbau-Dora says the following about the Boelcke barracks: [5.2]
After 8 January 1945, the barracks initially housed several hundred inmates who worked as forced labourers in the tunnel excavation project at the Kohnstein mountain (B11 construction project) and for over 30 Nordhausen companies (in armaments production). After late January 1945, the camp served as the central sick bay and camp for dying Mittelbau Concentration Camp inmates. On 1 April 1945, 5,713 prisoners were registered there.
Mittelbau-Dora was a subcamp of the concentration camp Buchenwald. More about Mittelbau-Dora can be found on Wikipedia. [6]
Footnotes