Fleischeuer Jan & Philomene (Bettonville)

Fleischeuer, Jan Gerard & Philomene Catharine (Bettonville) Gerard Fleischeuer, the town clerk and treasurer of Oirsbeek, Limburg, had always been involved in public life. From the beginning of the Nazi regime in Germany, he felt a great aversion to Nazism and immediately upon the German invasion of the Netherlands became active in the Resistance. On February 15, 1943, Gerard and Philomene Fleischeuer, who had five children, welcomed some Jewish refugees into their home. By later that year, many Jews were hidden in the Fleischeuers’ home. These were: Esther Poons and her son Herman from Amsterdam; Max Wolff, his wife, and their daughter Dini from Sittard; Nannie de Keizer from Utrecht; Yvonne Goedhart and her mother, Rosa Goedhart-Hanau, from Roermond; and Henri Schepp and his widowed daughter, Esther, from Maastricht. Most of these people could barely contribute towards their upkeep but, driven by humanitarian motives, the Fleischeuers still managed to help all of them. On November 16, 1943, the Germans caught Gerard and his wards. All the Jews were murdered in Auschwitz and Gerard was murdered in Dachau. His family was left in a dire financial situation. Twenty years after Gerard’s death, his grave was discovered in Dachau and his body was transferred to Maastricht, where it was re-interred on December 4, 1965. In March 1982, Gerard was posthumously awarded the Resistance Memorial Cross and a street in Schinnen/Oirsbeek was named after him. On February 12, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Gerard Fleischeuer and his wife, Philomene Catharine Fleischeuer-Bettonville, as Righteous Among the Nations.