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Limburg 1940-1945,
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The fallen resistance people in Limburg
Herman Geenen was a farmer. Cammaert writes in Chapter VI, p.636 [1]
Christmas 1943 an incident occurred that was to occupy minds for a long time. On December 14, N.S.B. man M. Stemkens, a baker from Roggel, was liquidated by unknown persons because he was supposed to have supplied information to the SiPo. When Ströbel heard this, he ordered Elsholz as retaliation to liquidate the anti-German H.H. Geenen from Roggel. Already in the summer and November of 1943, several Sipo members had visited Geenen to inquire about his son, who was suspected of espionage and had fled to Spain. To Ströbel’s annoyance, Elsholz refused to comply with the liquidation order. The Sipo chief then assigned C.W. Klonen and H.W. Conrad to the task. On December 23, the two left for Roggel. Klonen knocked on Geenen’s door and identified himself as a Sipo employee, which Ströbel had expressly forbidden, since such reprisals were to be carried out in complete anonymity. Klonen was afterwards given a severe telling-off. Geenen was to get into the car. Near the hamlet of Kessel-Broek, the car stopped on a dirt road near a forest. Geenen was supposed to finally confess where he had hidden the weapons. The unsuspecting man was, of course, unable to answer. Conrad pretended to know better. He forced Geenen to get out of the car in order to show him the secret hiding place. A short time later, Conrad and Klonen shot him. Three days later, his body was found. Elsholz conducted a mock investigation.
The dates of death on oorlogsgravenstichting.nl [6] and limburg.75jaarvrijheid.nl [7] do not match: “December 23, 1943: liquidation of Herman Geenen from Roggel by members of the Sipo (security police) from Maastricht. This was an arbitrary reprisal or silver fir murder in response to acts of resistance.” According to Cammaert, very few liquidations by the resistance took place in Limburg. Often not even when the traitor in question was a threat. Therefore, this remained the only case of a Silbertannen-Mord [2] (silver fir murder) in Limburg. Cammaert also gives December 23, 1943.
Hermanus Hubertus ( Herman ) Geenen is listed in the Erelijst 1940-1945 (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [4]
Reburied on the National Field of Honor in Loenen, grave B 422 [5]
Footnotes