The fallen resistance people in Limburg

Bernhard Holty
(Bernard Theodoor Adolf)

Maastrichtse Gevelstenen

The father of Bernard Holty was German. In the Netherlands his name was often spelled as Holtij. After the death of his parents, Bernard moved in with his brother Franz and lived with him in Cologne for an unknown period of time. Bernard was a carpenter and was exempted from military service because of his poor health. Married on November 28, 1929, to Maria Lipowsek, a German. It is not known when they settled in Maastricht, but there he joined in 1935 the Communist Party and became secretary of the local chapter of the VVSU (Association of Friends of the Soviet Union).. [1]
Despite the party-political vicissitudes, communists and socialists cooperated in various fields. For example, the Maastricht Cultural Film League was founded, in which the Communist B.Th.A. Holty and propagandists of the Union of Friends of the Soviet Union (V.V.S.U.) such as G. Kroll and A. Sonneville played a role, in addition to the radical Socialist J.H.R. Steyns. The League tried to correct the negative image of the Soviet Union by showing Russian (propaganda) films and warning against fascism. [2]

Bernard was arrested for the first time on February 28, 1941, on suspicion of being involved in the February strike, but was released after a month. He printed and distributed forbidden reading, including De Vonk.
On June 25, 1941, he was ambushed while guiding Jews across the border. With two resistance comrades, he ended up in the Schoorl camp (North Holland), Amersfoort, and later Neuengamme (collective name for a series of German camps near Hamburg). Prisoner number 06933, he died in the main camp. [1]

On this page you see two pictures of Bernard. The first one is usually shown, for example at struikelsteentjes-maastricht.nl [1]. The second one is from the archives of the CPN-Limburg. [3]
They hardly look alike. The person in the first picture appears to be younger and also has what we would today call a Hitler mustache. The photo from the CPN card index shows a man who, in age and without a mustache, is more like what we would expect of him in the occupation years.

He is buried on the Nederlands Ereveld (Dutch Field of Honor) in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf, grave BP-73-P-2-L. [4]


ARCH00347.148 Image 43

Footnotes

1. Meer informatie … (pdf)
   Struikelsteentje: Vissersmaas 4 Maastricht.
2. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
   10. De C.P.N. en de illegaliteit, p.978
3. ARCH00347.148 Image 41-44
4. Nederlands Ereveld, Hauptfriedhof Ohlsdorf Hamburg, Fuhlsbüttler Straße 756, Hamburg-Ohlsdorf
   Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei
   OpenStreetMap
5. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl