The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Leo Roumen
(Leonardus Johannes)

www.facebook.com …

Photo: The well-known chaplain Roumen, once vicar in the Mathias parish in Maastricht. After the bombing of the Blue Village, he launched an episcopal emergency operation. Source: facebook [6]

Cammaert writes: Maastricht, pastor at the Municipal Social Service. An exponent of humanitarian-inspired resistance. Resistance pioneer, especially in the field of spiritual resistance. He printed and distributed pastoral letters and sermons of the Bishop of Münster [1.1]
This was the fearless and at the time already famous Bishop Clemens von Galen. [2]
Vicar Hennekens did the same in Valkenburg.

Chaplain Roumen and F. Brunklaus, a former employee of the Limburger Koerier, were the most important editorial members of the underground newspaper De Patriot, which was almost exclusively devoted to attacks on the Neerlandia group, mockingly called the Germania-Presse, and in particular on the group subsidiary Limburger Koerier. Before the war, this was a Catholic publishing house, but during the occupation they increasingly oriented themselves towards National Socialism [3]
In Het verborgen front, Cammaert wrote:
The magazine appeared monthly and was initially typed entirely on a typewriter, later it was reproduced in the Willems family home in a print run of five hundred to one thousand copies.
De Patriot was primarily directed against the Limburger Koerier and its Nazi-friendly editor-in-chief H. van den Broeck. [1.2]

On bezinnen.com, Ton Roumen writes about his uncle:
But it is not just words. Allied pilots, escaped prisoners of war, Jews and people in hiding were helped with distribution cards, money, clothing and even housing. With all these deeds his face and authority grows in Maastricht. [4]
This did not remain hidden, he was kept under sharp surveillance by the Germans:
Several times he is therefore warned by fellow citizens that they will come to arrest him at night. Each time he packed his suitcase and left for one or more nights at his parental home in Roermond, forty kilometers to the north. When he finally understands that he is “only” wanted as a hostage, he allows himself to be arrested on August 13, 1942 and is then imprisoned in Beekvliet [4], also known as Camp Sint-Michielsgestel.
On June 16, 1948, he dies suddenly at the age of 43. Possibly having only one kidney and a malfunctioning lung due to TB explained his early and tragic death. The community misses him as a spiritual caregiver, as a counselor, as a union organizer, as a driving force. There was overwhelming interest at his impressive funeral on Saturday, June 19, at St. Servaas Church in Maastricht. Many articles in newspapers and magazines dwell on the passing of Chaplain Roumen. [5]
In Maastricht, in the Heugemerveld quarter, the street Aalmoezenier Roumenstraat AND the square Aalmoezenier Roumenplein are named after him. [6][7]
We found his birth and death dates at Bidprentjes Van den Berg [8], with the exception of the place of death (Ettelbrück in Luxemburg), but fortunately this can be found at archieven.nl. There it also states that he has his final resting place in the Tongerseweg cemetery in Maastricht, grave number U075. [9]

Footnotes

1. Cammaert, A. P. M., Het verborgen front: Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Groningen 1994.
   1. Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
   2. Hoofdst.XI, Illegale pers, p.1084: $III.10. De Patriot
2. Clemens August Graf von Galen, Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch • English • Français • Português
3. J. Brauer & J. Driever, Krantenstrijd in Maastricht, 1944-1949
4. Haaren, Beekvliet
5. Ton Roumen, Sociale bewogenheid als bron van oorlogsverzet, bezinnen.com
6. zichtopmaastricht.nl Aalmoezenier Roumenstraat
7. OpenStreetMap Aalmoezenier Roumenstraat & Aalmoezenier Roumenplein
8. Bidprentjes Van den Berg Aalmoezenier Leo Roumen
9. archieven.nl, Historisch Centrum Limburg begraafplaats Tongerseweg, Maastricht
10. https://www.facebook.com/groups/356092921109112/posts/7395159527202381/?_rdr