The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Dolf “Louis Brassé” Simonis
(Adolf Hubertus)

Dolf Simonis was a historically interested French teacher in Sittard and as such knew the misdeeds of the German army during World War I in Belgium. Already before the war, he had been working with Mayor Corbeij of Broeksittard who was head of military intelligence and, like Simonis, anti-German. [1]
The war began in the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, with the invasion by German troops. Sittard is located on the German border. On May 11, 1940, Simonis dug a pit in his garden house and buried pistols and rifles in it. Only his 10-year-old daughter Jeanne knew about this. Only her he had told, that if he would not return and someone would ask about it, she should point out this place. [1]
Simonis led the commando squad (knokploeg or K.P.) in Sittard. His courier was his daughter Jeanne.
Cammaert writes: Dolf Simonis led the Sittard underground together with M.P.J.M. Corbeij. Simonis operated cautiously and remained in the background. He was involved in helping Allied refugees and people in hiding, distributing illegal press and he provided orders to the K.P.-Sittard. [2]
The K.P.-Sittard had its headquarters in the Matrai car workshop on Heerlenerweg 29. [1]
His pseudonym Louis Brassé almost became his undoing because a traitor from Selfkant happened to use the same pseudonym. The gunman who was supposed to liquidate him realized just in time that it was his former teacher. The Selfkant is a German region near Sittard, where the dialect of Sittard was still the most common language at the time. See the research by Willy Dols.

After the liberation of Sittard, Simonis acted as commander of the prison camps in Limburg, where Germans and their Dutch followers were interned. Amstenrade Castle was their headquarters. He then joined the British army as a liaison officer with the rank of a captain.
He also served as secretary of the Maastricht Tribunal as part of the special jurisdiction for war crimes. [3]
Simonis was the delegate of the Province of Limburg at the unveiling of the National Monument 1940-1945 on Dam Square in Amsterdam on May 4, 1956. There he received the medal awarded at this unveiling. [1]
His last illness lasted a long time, see his Im Memoriam card. [4]

Footnotes

1. verenigingsittardsverleden.nl Dolf Simonis, oorlog en verzet in Sittard
2. Cammaert, A. P. M. (1994). Het verborgen front: Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
   Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
3. Wikipedia • Bijzondere rechtspleging • Bijzonder Gerechtshof (Special Court of Justice)
4. rijckheyt.nl, In Memoriam Adolf Hubertus Simonis