Belgian War Grave Paal Tervant

Second World War (1939-1945)

Belgium Limburg Paal (Beringen)

At the cemetery in Paal Tervant is the grave of Rosalie, Maria THIJSMANS (Paal 7 April 1988, Ravensbrück 5 October 1944)
Rosalie Thijsmans was married to Jan Laenen and they ran café Heidebloem in Tervant during the war. The café was a meeting place for the White Brigade.
During a raid on June 16, 1944, around 5 a.m., by the German Wehrmacht and Flemish SS men, the family: father, mother and three daughters were arrested and taken to prison in Hasselt. After three weeks, Rosalie and two of her daughters are transferred to the prison of Sint-Gillis in Brussels.
Due to the advance of the Allies, the Germans brought their prisoners to Germany and so Rosalie, accompanied by the two daughters, ended up in the women's camp of Ravensbrück. Rosalie was assigned the number 10214 and, like her daughters, was put to work in the Belzig munitions factory. At a roll call in the camp, during a violent thunderstorm, she caught a cold and contracted pneumonia. After a few days she fell into a coma and finally died on October 5, 1944. Rosalie was buried near the camp.
On August 21, 1945, the city council of Paal decided to grant an allowance of 2,000 francs for an honorable burial.
In March 1947 a committee was set up in Paal for "repatriation of the remains of political prisoners and prisoners of war in Germany". Thanks to this committee, Rosalie's body is exhumed and reburied in Tervant.

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