The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Mechteldis Margaretha Maria Maessen

Source for birth and death dates: geneanet.org. [1]
Mechteld Maessen was married to Jan Bronckhorst in 1927. They operated pub-hotel De Beurs on the market of Roermond since 1928. [2.1]
Cammaert writes: His home on the Markt served as a headquarters for numerous illegal workers, especially in the field of helping Allied refugees, L.O. and underground press. [2.2]
The resistance began in the eastern border provinces of the Netherlands and especially in Limburg by helping prisoners of war who had escaped from Germany. These were mostly French speakers. There was a great need for transit homes for these people.
A number of such houses existed in Roermond: the homes of accountant J.J. Steemers and his wife B. Steemers-Schreurs, widow Loven-Everts, the Lennards family, butcher J. Ramakers, widow A. van Bergen-van der Smissen (she was of Belgian descent), Mrs. A. M.J.H. Teuwen-Boonen, pub-hotel Het Gouden Kruis of couple W.R.H. Smeets and J.H. Smeets-Hendrikx at Kapellerlaan and pub De Beurs at Markt of couple J.H.M. Bronckhorst and M. Bronckhorst-Maessen. It is possible that Roermond had more transit houses, but the ones mentioned here were the most important. Hundreds of French-speaking refugees stayed there for short or longer periods of time. [2.3]On April 27, 1944, the district leader J. Delsing was arrested in the pub by two members of the Feldgendarmerie. It was a resistance meeting, but the gendarmes apparently did not notice; the other people present were left unmolested. [3]
On Tuesday, May 9, 1944, Conrad arrested the Bronckhorst couple on suspicion of having helped thirty prisoners of war. ... It soon turned out that the Sipo officer had acted too hastily, lacking the necessary evidence. ... The Bronckhorst couple suffered severe torture in Maastricht. In June 1944, they had to stand trial before a court in Utrecht called Landgericht. However, two Roermond lawyers, F. Nederveen and Th.W.L. Peters, had prepared the case thoroughly, so that the damage to the couple was limited to four months’ imprisonment. ... On August 18, 1944, Mrs. M. Bronckhorst-Maessen was released. She went into hiding until the liberation. Her husband was released from prison on September 7, 1944. [2.4]

Footnotes

1. geneanet.org. Maessen, Mechteldis Margaretha Maria
2. 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. 3: Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen, p.166
   2. Hoofdst. 0, pp.18ff: Introductie van vaak genoemde personen
   3. Hoofdst. 3: Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen, p.160
   4. Hoofdst. 3: Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen, p.167
3. maasniel.nl Het verzet in wereld oorlog 2