Dutch War Grave Nic Erkens

On the Robermont Cemetery a Dutch war grave from World War II, is located. It concerns ERKENS Nicolaas, executed on October 9th, 1943.

Nicolaas or Nic Erkens was a reserve lieutenant in the Dutch army and served in the Etappen- en Verkeersdienst (support unit) as sub-commander.

He lived in Liège where he also worked. He spoke French en knew the region.

After the Netherlands capitulated and military personnel were relieved of their duties and were to be taken to Germany for imprisonment, Nic Erkens managed to escape and went into hiding.

He decided to form a resistance battalion, groupe Nic, and to set up an escape route to help former soldiers and others who wanted to continue the war to escape to England.

This is how he came into contact with Alphons Smeets (Eijsden) and Arthur Renkin (Liège), in Eijsden. Renkin was the leader of the Liège resistance group 'Luc', who controlled part of the escaperoute from the Netherlands into Belgium. In return for help, Nic would pass on to them, among other things, espionage activities about train movements in the Netherlands.

From 1942, the Luc group would collaborate with another resistance group, 'Clarence'. This was led by the general doctor Jules Goffin from the little village of Voeren (just across the border near Eijsden). This doctor also treated the Count of Eijsden Castle, Raphaël de Liedekerke de Phailhe. The Count was of Belgian descent and was an officer in the Belgian army. The Count was also in the resistance and helped escaped French prisoners of war.

Both decided to seek more cooperation with other resistance groups, which is how they came into contact with resistance group Clarence.

This led to a large resistance network that got escaped prisoners of war or pilots who had crashed, through the Netherlands, Belgium and France to England. Also the helped Jewish refugees and people in hiding who where seeking to escape.

Finally, the German SD (Sicherheids Dienst) under the leadership of Max Strobl and Richard Nitsch would dismantle the resistance network in 1942 through counterintelligence. Several people were arrested on October 7th, 1942.

Among them Jules Goffin, Alphons Smeets and Count Raphaël de Liedekerke. Nic Erkens was arrested in Sittard on Nov. 11th, 1942. They were imprisoned in prisons in the Netherlands and transferred to Fort Rhijnauwen in Utrecht on the day before their execution. On October 9th, 1943, they were executed here.

A monument was erected on the executionsite in the presence of the Countess de Liedekerke de Lichtervelde and the wife of Nic Erkens, Bertha Erkens after the war. See photo 3.

The remains were cremated and then taken away again by the Germans. It turned out that they ended up in a cemetery in Erfurt after the war. On June 26th, 1948, the urns arrived in Eijsden. At the border with Moelingen, the urn of Nic Ercekens and docter Goffin was handed over to their next of kin. The urn of docter Goffin was wrapped with the Belgian flag that had flown at the Aubin-Neufchateau fort, where the docter had assisted the garrison. The urn of Nic Erckens was decorated with his kepi which he had worn during his service. Also, the two urns containing the mortal remains of Fathers Hugo and Father Stephanus were transferred to the Order of Val-Dieu.

Goffin Jules, age 46, is buried at Voeren.

de LIEDEKERKE de PHAILHE Raphaël , age 40, is buried behind the monument for the fallen from World War II in Eijsden.

SMEETS Alphons , age 56, is also buried behind the monument for the fallen from World War II in Eijsden.