Cycling route Death Valley De Peel - Robbery at the distribution office (#13)

Raid on the distribution office

The Luchtbescherming in Geldrop used a space in the old boys' school on Kerkstraat, now Heuvel (parking lot). She had her lookout in the tower of the Brigida Church. From here one could see all of Geldrop. The air raid alarm was triggered on approaching aircraft. For protection, all buildings had to be darkened, so that no ray of light came out. This was usually done with thick black paper. The Air Defense had to supervise this.

The distribution office had been located in the same boys' school since 1941. There, among other things, the ration coupons and distribution master cards with personal data were kept in an old safe, which could easily be opened. The director had reported this to the authorities and stated that he could not take responsibility for this. In the night of 16 to 17 April 1944, a resistance group led by Harrie van Gestel raided the distribution office. All desired documents were captured so that the goal was achieved. However: an infiltrator also took part in this raid. Due to betrayal, six people were arrested on the night of May 13-14. Five of them were executed in camp Vught on 9 August, including Harrie van Gestel.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Jeroen Koppes (1, 2), Martin Damen (3, 4)