Jan Willem Berix

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gulielmus (Giel) Berix

Jan Willem Berix , called Giel in the Dutch resistance (born April 12, 1907 in Meers bei Stein , † March 13, 1945 in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp ), was a Dutch resistance fighter during the Second World War . Giel is the regional form of his first name Willem or his baptismal name Gulielmus.

Berix graduated from Bisschoppelijk College in Sittard in 1927 and then studied philosophy at the Klein Seminarie in the former Rolduc Abbey in Kerkrade for two years and then theology for four years at the Theological Seminary in Roermond . After his ordination on April 1, 1933, he was appointed chaplain of the parish of Sint Pancratius in Heerlen on September 10 of that year . There he was responsible for youth work and became director of the jongens congregatie (boys' congregation ) and also spiritual advisor to the Catholic scout group Sint Paulus . He was also responsible for helping the poor and disadvantaged in the parish. Later a side street of the Tempsplein in Heerlen was named after him: the Kapl Berixstraat .

resistance

From the beginning of the occupation, Chaplain Berix was involved in organizing the resistance. In 1941 and 1942, before there was an overarching resistance structure in Heerlen, some groups and individuals were active there in helping the persecuted, especially Jews, but also communists and left-wing socialists. In mid-May 1942, the professional officers who were supposed to go back into captivity were added. Chaplain Berix and the policeman De Koning took it upon themselves to find host families for them. In the spring of 1943, Berix, together with a few doctors, organized educational meetings for young men to inform them about how they could get exemptions from forced labor in Germany.

structuring

As the number of people in hiding increased, nutrition became a major problem. A solution only came into view when his colleague Nic Prompers asked him in the spring of 1943 to help set up a Heerlen department of the Landelijke Organizatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers (LO, national organization for assistance to people in hiding). The so-called District Mijnstreek (District Kohlerevier) was founded. Prompers struggled with poor health and was also appointed chaplain to the hospital. Because of this, Berix took over Prompers' role as district leader in September 1943. He built up an organization with rayon chiefs (sub-district heads ) who in turn appointed a person in charge of each village or district who made sure that hiding places could be found quickly, and who procured and distributed money, ration cards and ID cards. His house at Nobelstraat 23 became a central point from which everything was arranged by telephone and courier.

arrest

On June 21, 1944, Berix was arrested together with Jan Hendrikx , Jac Naus , Guus Hermans, Jacques Knops and Sef Mulders after a betrayal by the document forger, who came under German pressure, during a meeting of the Limburg LO leaders in a monastery in Weert . WHM Jansen, Theo van Helvoort, JA Dijker, C. van Sambeek and Joe Russel were able to flee. The sadistic interrogation specialist Richard Nitsch had confronted the overworked Jesse with a Jewish mother and her child and threatened to break every bone in this child's presence if he did not testify. Berix was taken to the Vught concentration camp with his fellow sufferers , where he was severely mistreated during interrogation by Richard Nitsch. On September 6, 1944, Kaplan Berix was brought to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Oranienburg in a freight wagon (not to be confused with the Oranienburg concentration camp, which was closed in 1934 ). There he was employed in the aircraft factory of the Heinkel-Werke Oranienburg . He was infected with dysentery and taken to the hospital. He initially recovered, but returned to the camp broken. He was eventually taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he succumbed to the hardships a month before his 38th birthday. His successor as district leader was Jan Keulen .

Commemoration

Valkenburg an der Göhl - Resistance monument of the Limburg province on the Cauberg

On September 2, 1956, Mayor Corten unveiled a memorial in his home village of Meers in memory of Chaplain Berix. The monument is a Berix bust on a base based on a design by the Maastricht sculptor Charles Vos . The establishment was preceded by an initiative by former members of the Stoottroepen Prins Bernhard regiment , an army unit that emerged from the resistance. The text on the memorial is translated:

Nobody has
greater love
than who to be
Gives life
for his
Friends
John 15-13

A plaque lists the names of thirteen stone war victims .

His name is also on the memorial on the Cauberg for the members of the resistance who fell in the province of Limburg (Netherlands) during World War II . On the walls are the names of 324 resistance fighters from all over the province.

After the war, the Sint Paulus group of Roman Catholic scouts in Heerlen, whose pastor he had been, decided to change their name. The group was henceforth called Kapelaan Berixgroep , since 1974 Scouting Kapelaan Berix .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Fred Cammaert, Het hidden front: geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog Chapter 6b , De LO, Part 2, p. 654
  2. ↑ Fred Cammaert, Het Verborgen front Chapter 6a , De LO, Part 1, p. 563 ff.
  3. ↑ Berix monument at tracesofwar.nl
personal data
SURNAME Berix, Jan Willem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giel (alias)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Sea by stone
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1945
Place of death Bergen-Belsen concentration camp