Laurens Liezenberg
Schiedam 29 Apr 1904 – Wöbbelin 6 Apr 1945
About: One of the men taken in the SD's round-up of December 1944 which, by Huurdeman's account, followed the old billets of Gilbert Kirschen's Belgian SAS team at De Glind and Scherpenzeel; it began while Murphy was hidden at the Veerman farm. Huurdeman has Johan Verhoef, Laurens Liezenberg and Jan Rothuizen moved to De Kruisberg at Doetinchem and put on its transport to Neuengamme, the train that left on the night of 1/2 February 1945 by Zutphen and Hengelo (Recapture, interrogation, captivity; Doetinchem Herdenkt).
The round-up as a whole, and what it cost, is on Piet Veenendaal's page.
Evidence: ✓ Huurdeman; Doetinchem Herdenkt; Arolsen; Digitaal Monument Neuengamme; the War Graves Foundation's file
Laurens Jakob Liezenberg was born at Schiedam on 29 April 1904, the son of Jacob Liezenberg and Sophia Elisabeth Maas (his records; Arolsen). His father, born at Dokkum in 1860, died on 27 May 1917, and the family name had been Lijssenberg until 1902; the War Graves Foundation's form lists the registered moves, from Schiedam to Amsterdam on 24 December 1913, to Haarlem on 27 April 1922, to Leiden (Stationsweg 2) on 21 July 1931, to De Bilt (Hobbemalaan 55) on 26 September 1932 and to Amersfoort on 14 August 1941 (the Foundation's questionnaire; his records). He first married at Velsen on 19 September 1933, as a koopman (merchant) of 29, Clasina Magdalena Antonia de Groot, 25, a doctor's daughter; the marriage was dissolved by the court at The Hague on 20 October 1938 and entered at Velsen on 9 November 1938 (the marriage record and its register page). The court's notice of the judgment, in the Staatscourant of 5 November 1938, gives his residence as Bussum, where the Foundation's list of moves above has De Bilt from 1932 to 1941 (the notice; OCR only). He married a second time at De Bilt on 11 August 1941, Everdina Elisabeth Maria Nicolaï, born at The Hague on 23 June 1916 (his records; the Foundation's questionnaire), and they had two young children (Huurdeman, on the Oorlogsgravenstichting's page). ◐ A memorial-card index entry of a Belgian heritage circle names his widow and gives his death correctly, with a slip in the year of birth; the card itself was not fetched (the index entry). He lived at Amersfoort and was in the Raad van Verzet, commando Winters, under the alias "Wannink", in H. J. Kreupeling's sabotage group, which in September 1944 was given the defence of the Amersfoort pumping station (Doetinchem Herdenkt). The Oorlogsgravenstichting lists him as a Bedrijfsleider (works manager) and lid verzet; his widow gave his occupation as "officier" in 1958, and the Amersfoort police stated that he was politically reliable (the page; the widow's questionnaire; the police statement). On his commander's advice he had gone into hiding, first on a farm at Hamersveld, and when Germans were billeted there at Thiemen Verhoef's on the Klettersteeg; he saw his wife and their two small children once more, in November 1944, when she walked to Stoutenburg with the pram and they met on the Emelaarseweg (Huurdeman, on the page).
"Hij werd na verraad op 21-12-1944 gearresteerd in Achterveld" (he was arrested at Achterveld on 21 December 1944, after he had been betrayed), says Doetinchem Herdenkt, and puts him at the farm next to the Verhoefs', at their uncle Tiemen Verhoef's, where he was in hiding, in the raid that took Jan and Johan Verhoef (Doetinchem Herdenkt). Huurdeman, in his longer story on the Oorlogsgravenstichting's page, has him arrested on 19 December 1944 on his way back from the village:
The day in question, 19 December 1944, began quietly. Liezenberg had taken firewood by wheelbarrow to the church at Achterveld. He walked back through the yard of the farm Midden Fliert. There he heard from Aunt Gijsje that he should not go on to her brother and sister-in-law Thiemen and Marie, because a raid was going on. He waited a while with the aunts, and at some point, when he thought it was quiet, he walked on. He walked straight into the Germans' arms.
Dutch originalDe bewuste dag, 19 december 1944, begon rustig. Liezenberg had met de kruiwagen kachelhout gebracht naar de kerk in Achterveld. Hij liep terug via het erf van boerderij Midden Fliert. Daar hoorde hij van tante Gijsje dat hij niet moest doorlopen naar haar broer en schoonzus Thiemen en Marie want er was een razzia gaande. Hij heeft een tijdje bij de tantes gewacht en op een gegeven moment, toen hij dacht dat het rustig was, liep hij door. Hij liep de Duitsers zo in de armen.
— José Huurdeman · Ondergronds in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (2019), via the Oorlogsgravenstichting · the page
The SD had come for Joop Rothuizen, who was in hiding at Cornelis Verhoef's across the road, and, not finding him, took all the young men: the men in hiding Jan Rothuizen and Liezenberg, and Cornelis Verhoef's sons Jan and Johan (Huurdeman; the raid, with the passage, on Cornelis Verhoef's page). A daughter of the house was made to fry eggs for the SD men meanwhile (Huurdeman, on the page). He went by the SD prison in the Willem III barracks at Apeldoorn to De Kruisberg at Doetinchem (Doetinchem Herdenkt). The Amersfoort police statement of 1958 says the Germans arrested him at Achterveld in December 1944 and took him via Doetinchem to Germany, and his widow's form of 1958 has him leaving for Germany on 21 December 1944, arrested by "Algemeen Holl. S.S." (the police statement; the widow's form).
Huurdeman writes that the women taken in the round-up were freed after seven weeks, "maar de mannen zijn allen omgekomen in Neuengamme of in een van de buitenkampen" (but the men all died at Neuengamme or in one of its subcamps) (Huurdeman, Ondergronds in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, via the Oorlogsgravenstichting).
At Neuengamme he was prisoner 70939; on 12 February he was sent to Wöbbelin, a camp still being built, and he died there on 6 April 1945 (Doetinchem Herdenkt). The camp's list gives "Liezenberg Laurens Jakob 29.04.1904 Schiedam NL 70939 06.04.1945 KZ Wöbbelin" (Arolsen), and his death was registered at Amersfoort in February 1948, aged 40 (his records). The Neuengamme memorial has him arrested at Achterveld on 21 December 1944, at the Kruisberg until 1 February 1945 with the train leaving on the 2nd, reaching Neuengamme on 5 February, dying at the Wöbbelin subcamp, and buried at Wöbbelin (Neu Lüblower Wald) (Digitaal Monument Neuengamme). The Oorlogsgravenstichting's page has the place of burial as unknown, at Ludwigslust (the page); his widow answered "neen" when the Foundation asked in 1958 if she knew of a grave (the widow's form). ◐ He was prisoner 70939, one number below Rothuizen's 70940 and Johan Verhoef's 70941: the three from the Klettersteeg who went by the Kruisberg train were registered together (Rothuizen; Johan Verhoef).
Where the sources disagree
Link to the section Where the sources disagreeWho arrested him. The SD, in Huurdeman; "door de Duitsers", in the Amersfoort police statement of 1958; "Algemeen Holl. S.S.", the Dutch SS, in his widow's form of 1958, the first word read by us and not certain (the widow's form). ⚠︎ Not settled; the widow's wording may be how the family understood the men who came.
Where he was when they came. At the farm next to the Verhoefs', in Doetinchem Herdenkt; on his way back to it, warned by the aunts and walking on, in Huurdeman's story (Doetinchem Herdenkt; Huurdeman, on the page).
His occupation. Koopman in 1933 (the marriage record); Bedrijfsleider on the Oorlogsgravenstichting's page; officier in his widow's hand; a sabotage-group member in the Raad van Verzet in Doetinchem Herdenkt.
His birthday. Doetinchem Herdenkt has 19 April 1904; the Neuengamme list and the Arolsen card have 29 April (Arolsen).
The day he was taken. Doetinchem Herdenkt has 21 December 1944; Huurdeman, and Doetinchem Herdenkt's own entries for the Verhoef brothers, have the raid on 19 December (Huurdeman; Doetinchem Herdenkt).