Cycling route Death Valley De Peel - Brother Leonardus (#10)

Brother Leonardus

Brother Leonardus from Lisse lives and works in the beginning of the war
Mission house near Bavel. When the Germans requisition that monastery, the brothers move
to a peat company labor camp in Peel near Helenaveen, where they
after Mad Tuesday on September 5, 1944, more than a hundred evacuees from Helenaveen
take under their wing.
Brother Leonardus goes to Helenaveen one morning to see if the baker
still has some bread left, but runs into the arms of Germans who have the right one
decided to take eight civilians hostage. Leonardus is later joined by others
hostages taken to Germany and put to work in a sugar factory and later
in a munitions factory in Watenstedt. On November 7, 1944, the brothers received...
a smuggled note from him: 'We are still alive, but know that everything is welcome here
if it is possible for you." There is a huge shortage of food and clothing. He is writing
them that he hopes to see the brothers again soon and asks them to meet him
remember in their prayers. The brothers send him a letter back, and a thick one
overcoat, hoping the package will arrive.
Helenaveen was then liberated on November 22, 1944. From German captivity
Helenaveners who have returned home are told by the monks that their
Brother Leonardus died of exhaustion and hunger.
In 1953 the remains of Brother Leonardus were brought from Germany
transferred to the cemetery of his monastery in Nuland.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Martin Damen