The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Leon Frantzen
(Leonardus Franciscus Josephus Hubertus)

Birth certificate Frantzen, Leonardus Franciscus Josephus Hubertus [1]

Leon Frantzen was a primary school teacher in Horn, a few kilometers west of Roermond, during the Second World War. Horn belonged to the Roermond-West district of the LO. Today it belongs to the municipality of Leudal. [2]

Leon Frantzen was a brother of Sef Frantzen in Swalmen, with whom he cooperated. [3.1]
The primary school teacher L.F.J.H. Frantzen and vicar H.L.J. Janssen ran the LO aid organization in Horn from 1941. They worked together with helpers in De Weerd, Roermond, Beesel and Swalmen. Frantzen acted as district leader of the Dutch Union. Former students helped him with the distribution and sale of the magazine “De Unie” and made propaganda for this organization, which in the eyes of many people was directed against the NSB. [3.2]

In the course of 1943, Frantzen withdrew from this branch of resistance work. He had his hands full working for the L.O., for which he was district leader in “Roermond-West”. In addition, more and more Jews were arriving in Horn. Frantzen thought it advisable not to let everything get mixed up. All it took was for something to go wrong somewhere and all activities threatened to come to a standstill with a huge wave of arrests. He endeavored to separate the various tasks and improve the structure. In the fall of 1943, there was a separation between aid for prisoners of war and for Allied airmen in the Roermond-West district - perhaps due to the events concerning Van Ass in De Weerd. [3.3]

After a visit by Hendrikx and Naus to Roermond to explain the Venlo working method, Bleijs visited clergymen in the region from the second half of June 1943 in search of suitable personnel for the aid organization for those in hiding. Together with teacher L.F.J.H. Frantzen from Horn, a former activist of the Dutch Union, and vicar H.L.J. Janssen from Horn, he formed the district council from June 1943. [3.4]

Frantzen took care of the people in hiding and maintained contact with a group of Jews’ helpers from Delft, led by H.H. van der Wielen. About one hundred and fifty Jews found shelter in Horn and the surrounding area.
…
J.W.H. Frantzen from Swalmen, a brother of the primary school teacher from Horn, was entrusted with special tasks, such as maintaining contact with the prison in Maastricht. L. Frantzen and Vicar Janssen had to go into hiding in May and July 1944 respectively, but remained active in the background. [3.5]

Cammaert writes about him in summary:
Horn, primary school teacher. Brother of J.W.H. Frantzen. He helped Allied refugees and managed the part of the Roermond district of the L.O. on the west bank of the Meuse. He acted as liaison officer for the Brandsma group in Limburg, which had its core activities in the western Netherlands. [3.6]

After the war, Leon Frantzen also contributed to the regional historiography of that time. In the Roermond Collection of War Documentation 1940-1945 (Roermond Municipal Archives) there is a handwritten (draft) report of the “care of Jews in hiding in Limburg” by Leon Frantzen, teacher in Horn. It contains an overview, illustrated/added with 17 incidents. [4]

The obituary in the Limburgsch dagblad of October 24, 1986, states about him:
Former Inspector of Primary Education, Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, Bearer of the Resistance Memorial Cross [5]

Footnotes

1. archieven.nl * Frantzen, Leonardus Franciscus Josephus Hubertus
2. OpenStreetMap Horn
3. Cammaert, A. P. M., Het verborgen front: Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Groningen 1994.
   1. Hoofdst. 3, Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen p.1069
   2. Hoofdst. 3, Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen p.170
   3. Hoofdst. 3, Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen p.171
   4. Hoofdst. 6, De Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers p.611
   5. Hoofdst. 6, De Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers p.613
   6. Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
4. Gemeentearchief Roermond 187 Roermond Collectie Oorlogsdocumentatie 1940-1945
5. Limburgsch dagblad, 24 oktober 1986 Leon Frantzen