Café Backus

Cafe Backus was the site of the Venlo Incident on 9 November 1939, when two SIS agents (Best and Stevens) were kidnapped by SD agents.
However, both survived the war.

However, not only were both British SIS agents kidnapped by the German raid command, but their Dutch driver and contact person with the Dutch armed forces
shot down by this command. This concerned the then 33 year old 1st Lieutenant of the Infantry, Dirk Klop, serving at the General Staff in The Hague. (https://www.tracesofwar.nl/persons/90400/Klop-Dirk.htm)
Although Klop was seriously injured, he was also abducted to Germany where he died in a hospital in Düsseldorf. Dirk Klop's body was then cremated and his ashes scattered at an unknown location. (https://warsgravenstichting.nl/ personen/79677/dirk-klop).

Although the building, which was Cafe Backus at the time, still exists, the cafe was converted by the Backus family in 1989 into a large supermarket on the border.
Nothing in the building reminds of the inn/cafe on the border that was opened in 1875 by the 1st generation Backus.

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Source

• Text: Kaj Metz en Corin Gelderblom
• Photos: Rudi Haase (1), Corin Gelderblom (2, 3, 4)