Memorial Vercauteren Sint-Niklaas

At the house where Jozef Vercauteren lived during the Second World War, a Stolperstein and a memorial plaque from the neighbors have been placed since 2023. They wanted to keep his memory alive when he did not return from Germany after the war.

"Neighborly tribute
to Mr.Jozef Vercauteren
Executed
in the camp
at Buchenwald
1945"

Jozef Vercauteren (°1924) worked in a hairdressing salon in Antwerp when the war broke out. He was called up for compulsory labor and would earn a living as a hairdresser in Arnstadt (Thuringia) from February 1943 to March 1944. The parents lost all contact with their son.
After the liberation on May 8, 1945, many displaced persons were repatriated and returned home, but there was no trace of Jozef Vercauteren.
The parents tried to obtain information about the fate of their son in all kinds of ways. During this search they learned that Jozef had been a member of a resistance organization in Thuringia.
Kiesow, one of the leading figures of that resistance movement, focused mainly on companies that worked for the German war economy. Jozef came into contact with this resistance group through other Belgians.
The (foreign) workers provided information about supplies, production and storage locations that were useful for carrying out attacks. However, the group had been infiltrated by a Gestapo agent and one evening the Gestapo raided Kiesow's house. He was arrested and after torture the German police also got hold of the name of resistance fighter Vercauteren, among other things.
Jozef was arrested by the Gestapo on November 27, 1944 and ended up in the prison of Erfurt. He was later transferred to the Landgerichtsgefängnis in Weimar. In early April 1945, SS-Obersturmbannführer Wolff ordered the liquidation of the political prisoners who were still locked up in the prison in Weimar. As a result of this order, 149 prisoners were shot.
The victims were buried in bomb craters, after the war the bodies were exhumed.
On 3 July, the body of Jozef Vercauteren was identified. Like the other victims, he was cremated and buried in the main cemetery of Weimar in August 1946.
(Source: Struikelstenen 2023 in Sint-Niklaas – Bart Willems)

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck