The fallen resistance people in Limburg

“Jules” Dewez
(Wilhelm Joseph)

Photo: Rolduc yearbook, year 25, 1946 [1]
Jules Dewez’s private archive (size: 1.5 meters) is now in the Social History Center for Limburg (SHCL), provided with the following brief biography: [2]
Willem Jules Dewez was born on April 3, 1901 in Eschweiler to Dutch parents. He spent his childhood in Wijnandsrade. After HBS in Heerlen and Rolduc, he registered at the Agricultural College in Wageningen. After a four-year teaching position at the Agricultural Winter School in Hulst, Jules Dewez was appointed director of the Agricultural Bureau for the three southern provinces of the Kalimaatschappij in Breda in 1928. In 1932 he became consultant to the North Brabant Christian Farmers’ Union and in 1934 State Agricultural Consultant for Limburg based in Roermond. At the outbreak of World War II, Dewez was a reserve captain at the Grebbelinie. After returning from captivity, he began underground activities and joined the OD (Ordedienst). He was a pioneer of the Dutch Union in Limburg. [3]
In 1942 he stayed as a hostage in the camps of Sint-Michielsgestel and Haaren. After returning, he continued his resistance work, working closely with Ludo Bleijs. Dewez became commander of the OD, Roermond district.
After the war, he propagated the breakthrough idea (doorbraakgedachte) as expressed by the Nederlandse Volksbeweging (Dutch People’s Movement). [4]
Dewez’s scientific career took off after the war: from 1946 until his death on Nov. 6, 1960, he was employed at the Agricultural University in Wageningen, in the years 1953-1954 as rector magnificus and then as a professor. [2]

Why does the aforementioned text in the SHCL [2] speak of Jules Dewez, while on his In Memoriam card the name Wilhelm Joseph Dewez is mentioned? Presumably Jules was his pseudonym in the resistance. [5]
This is the same person, about whom Cammaert writes: Roermond, agricultural consultant. Behind the scenes Dewez was closely involved in the resistance in the Roermond region, he also acted as district commander O.D.-Roermond. [6.1]
Cammaert writes in his chapter on the Ordedienst, among other things:
At the end of 1940, some former soldiers in the Roermond region had begun to build a resistance organization. Their aim was to collect weapons and ammunition to be used at the approach of the liberators. Among the initiators was the state agricultural consultant for the province of Limburg, the reserve infantry captain, engineer. W.J. Dewez, who had his office in Roermond. [6.2]
Under the influence of the diocese, which was based in Roermond, a form of resistance developed there that focused almost exclusively on helping refugees and the persecuted. It was a humanitarian resistance par excellence. Combat groups such as the R.V.V. or Knokploegen did not fit in. They were therefore kept out of the region. [6.2]
The same applied in part to the OD.
Dewez’s deputy was Marcel “Starkenborg” Stoffels.

Footnotes

1. Delpher: Rolduc’s jaarboek, jrg 25, 1946
2. Sociaal Historisch Centrum voor Limburg (SHCL) Dewez, prof. ir. W.J., verzetsstrijder, landbouwingenieur en hoogleraar te Wageningen
3. Nederlandsche Unie, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English
4. Nederlandse Volksbeweging, Wikipedia • Nederlands • English
5. Wilhelm Joseph Dewez
6. 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, Introductie van vaak genoemde personen, pp.18ff
   2. Hoofdst. 8. De Ordedienst, pp.896 ff.