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Limburg 1940-1945,
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Johan Berendsen
∗ 02-09-1912 Avereest † 02-05-1947 Vught (34)
- Police - NSB - War Criminals - Venlo -
- nl.wikipedia.org Johan Berendsen
- wo2venlo.nl J. Berendsen
- Gerrit van der Vorst, Buun 12, Stichting Cultuurhistorische Publicaties, serie cultuurhistorische jaarboeken voor Venlo en omstreken, 2010, pp.57-79: De oorlog die Jan Theelen verloor
- Cammaert, A. P. M. (1994). Het verborgen front: Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
1. Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
2. Hoofdst. 6, p.584 - soree.info De Venlose synagoge
- floddergatsblog De executie van een Venlose oorlogsmisdadiger
- https://floddergatsblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/foto-0-johan-berendsen-begin-september-1944-privecc81collectie.jpeg
Photo from the criminal file in the National Archives: Johan Berendsen in early September 1944.
Johan Berendsen was a Dutch war criminal known as “the terror of Venlo. [1]
After being prisoner of war and his domobilization from the Dutch armed forces, he joined the N.S.B. Venlo section in July 1940, where he held the position of commander of the WA for some time. [2]
In 1943 he attended police training in Schalkhaar and on August 16, 1943 joined the Venlo municipal police in the rank of constable, where a month earlier Otto Couperus had been appointed commander. So he was promoted as early as October 1, 1943. [2]
Berendsen additionally joined the SS. [3]
Cammaert wrote about him: Gained a very bad reputation for his sadism and relentless hunting of people in hiding, especially in 1944. He led a group of A.K.D.-people. After the war he was sentenced to death. [4.1]
So he is not a survivor, but a war victim, although that is hard to understand.
The A.K.D. (Arbeitskontrolldienst) had a German name but consisted of Dutchmen. They were also called Ommen police because their headquarters were in the concentration camp “Erika” near Ommen. Their main task was to track down people in hiding who did not want to go to Germany for forced labor.
The number of people arrested by Berendsen and his gang ran into the hundreds. Most of those arrested were put on transport to the Amersfoort camp or were put to work at the local airfield or in Germany through the employment office in Venlo. During the arrests, the A.K.D.-people often behaved brutally. Not only were there threats of execution, the deed was regularly followed by the word: several people were killed and wounded during the arrests.
One of the many examples of the crimes committed by Berendsen and his gang can be found on the website De Venlose synagoge. [5]
Berendsen’s actions became even more treacherous after he was shot by the policeman in hiding and L.O. resistant J.J. Theelen on July 16, 1944 near Grubbenvorst in which he was hit in the right foot. In the fall of 1944, his group, supplemented by N.S.B.-ers, was guilty of large-scale looting.
In addition, they began cooperating with the Sipo when it landed in Venlo. With the front approaching, Berendsen and his mates left for the north of the country in late October. Eventually they ended up in the province of North Holland. [4.2]
Gerrit van der Vorst adds: Because of his drastic actions, after long urging by Mayor Zanders, he was finally arrested on October 10, 1944, together with his mates, by the Sicherheitsdienst and subsequently removed from Venlo. [2]
The Sipo or Sicherheitsdienst was on the run after the liberation of Maastricht and took over the reign of terror of the AKD in Venlo.
In January 1945, the Feldgericht beim Höheren SS und Polizeiführer Nordwest (field court of the Higher SS and Police Leader Northwest) heard a criminal case against Hauptwachtmeister Berendsen for looting in Venlo. His German commander put in a good word for him: During his service in Venlo (Limburg), he was gunned down by a terrorist and was therefore often bitter about those who were hostile to Germany. A strange argument for looting other people. [6]
This so-called terrorist was the aforementioned Jan Theelen, a former colleague.
On May 10, 1945, he surrendered himself to the 1st Canadian Army.
In 1947, he was sentenced by the special court in Den Bosch. In particular, the murder of several uninvolved civilians classified him as a war criminal. [2]
In prison in Scheveningen and Venlo, he was abused by guards. He was sentenced to death and the sentence was carried out in the same place where so many resistance fighters had died before him: the firing range at Camp Vught. [6]
We must not forget him either.
Footnotes