Jan van Hout

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Jan van Hout (born October 17, 1908 in Valkenburg ; † February 22, 1945 in Neuengamme concentration camp ) was a Dutch cyclist .

Athlete career

Jan van Hout was a professional racer from 1932 to 1940. On 25 August 1933 he exhibited at the velodrome of Maasniel , a modern district of Roermond , a new hour record with 44.588 kilometers on which, however, only four days had long inventory. The dethroned record holder Oscar Egg had come specially to measure the track, and he believed he had discovered that Van Hout had not covered 3.45 meters per lap. There were, however, doubts about the accuracy of his measurement.

Resistance and death in the concentration camp

Jan van Hout earned well as a driver in six days and bought a café in Eindhoven . After the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans in 1940, he closed his café so that, as a staunch anti-fascist, he didn't have to serve it in his restaurant. He then supported the Dutch resistance. A few months before the end of the war, Jan van Hout was arrested by the Gestapo while swimming in the lake IJzeren Man near Eindhoven. He was told to leave the lake, but tried to swim away. He was finally taken out of the water by boat and deported to Neuengamme concentration camp, where he died.

In the 1950s it caused a sensation in the Netherlands that Jan van Hout's widow, Anneke van Hout-Louwers, married former racing colleague Cor Wals . Wals had been a member of the Waffen-SS during the war , and there were even - false - rumors that Wals had been assigned to Neuengamme for special guarding from Van Hout. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Netherlands and released early in 1952. In 1959 he met the widow van Houts again, who knew him from active cycling days. In an interview from 1982 Anneke Wals-Louwers (1916–2012) stated: “Hij was kapot, hij had zijn leed, ik had mijn leed. “(Dutch = he was broken, he was suffering, I was suffering.) She was the sister of the popular Dutch football player Jan Louwers , after whom a football stadium in Eindhoven is named.

monument

On May 15, 2006, on the initiative of sports journalist Jean Nelissen (the Dutch " Watterott "), a memorial in memory of Jan van Hout was erected on the Cauberg in Valkenburg by his 90-year-old widow Anneke and five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault revealed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Snel Maasniels hout goed voor uurrecord op de fiets. maasniel.nl, accessed December 14, 2014 (Dutch).
  2. ^ Dominique Elshout: Jan van Hout, een taaie. elshout.nu, accessed December 14, 2014 (Dutch).
  3. ^ Frits Barend / Henk van Dorp: Mijn Verhaal . Interview with Anneke Wals-Louwers, newspaper article around 1982
  4. ↑ Tour de France Valkenburg: "Bernard Hinault onthult monument vergeten Valkenburger Jan van Hout"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on May 13, 2010 (Dutch)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.tourdefrance-valkenburg.nl  

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Hout, Jan van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Valkenburg aan the Geul
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1945
Place of death Neuengamme concentration camp