1940-1945. The resistance in the dutch province of Limburg

Sevenum

Sevenum was a “hotbed of resistance” according to the SiPo, the security police in Maastricht. A headquarters was established on the farm “Rust Roest” of the Groot family. Numerous people in hiding, including more than a hundred Jews, found shelter in Sevenum. According to the manipulated harvest figures, officially there were constantly crop failures. In reality, shiploads of grain from the land between the Meuse River and the Peel marshes were distributed throughout the country to those in hiding and others who needed it. But the raids did not uncover anything at first because there was a well-functioning warning system. There was a secret telephone connection between Venlo and Den Bosch, which the L.O. could also use. In Sevenum itself there was a tripod from which a piece of rail was suspended. When it was struck, a high-pitched screeching sound was heard. In this way, one always knew in time when a raiding party was approaching.
The first major raid by the Sipo took place on April 5, 1944, as a result of the activities of NSB man W. Engels. His regular letters to the German authorities were intercepted each time at the post office. A resister from Helden visited him, dressed in a German uniform, to find out what he knew and to appease him. This did not succeed, and in the raid of April 5, 1944, Nitsch c.s. arrested twenty-three people, mainly on his instructions. While the investigation was in progress, a resident of Sevenum, for the purpose of intimidation, beat Engels so severely that the latter lost an eye. After he got back on his feet, he continued spying in Sevenum as usual. But not for long. It has never been fully clarified by what accident he died. Several more raids would follow.
(Source: Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (History of the organized resistance in the province of Limburg during the Second World War). Dissertation 1994 by Fred Cammaert.
Chapter VIb, VIII.2.5. Rayon Sevenum.)
The greatest misery however came towards the end of the occupation with the church raid.
In Sevenum the monument ‘Sporen die bleven’ (Traces that remained) bears the inscription:

In the fall of 1944, in the region between Maas and Peel, over 3,000 boys and men were arrested by the Nazis in raids and deported to Germany for forced labor. These events cost 120 men their lives and caused a lasting wound among the survivors and those left at home. From Sevenum, 326 people were deported in the church raid on 8 October 1944. Of those, 5 did not survive the war.

More about occupation and resistance in the region of Maas & Peel

Sevenum is the birthplace of Henri Vullinghs (1883-1945), the unforgotten refugee helper and parish priest of Grubbenvorst.

Liberated: 1944-11-22
Wikipedia NL: Sevenum#Tweede_Wereldoorlog