Arnoldus van Gaal

This memorial page is dedicated to Arnoldus van Gaal, one of more than 725 war victims connected to the municipality of Deurne documented by Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers. The municipality of Deurne and the surrounding villages of Liessel, Vlierden, Helenaveen, Neerkant and Zeilberg were liberated in the autumn of 1944 during heavy fighting. Victims fell on all sides: Allied soldiers from countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, and German soldiers.

But the archive covers more than just the combat victims on Deurne soil. Residents of Deurne who lost their lives elsewhere are also commemorated: civilians who were murdered in concentration camps, forced labourers who died in Germany, people who were executed or succumbed to the effects of persecution and oppression. In addition, residents of Deurne who entered German military service and were killed elsewhere are also included.

Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers has been documenting the story of all these people since 1995, without distinction of nationality, side or background. The goal is to give every person a name and a face, and to keep their memory alive.

Additional information

Grave location: Section L (communal graves)

Son of Wilhelmus van Gaal and Elisabeth van Tienen, widow of Hendrina van Gaal-Janssen.

Arnoldus van Gaal was ‘removed’ during a raid in the woods of Vlierden ‘eliminated’ by an underground group because he was said to be strongly pro-German and was regarded as an informer for German and NSB authorities; his body was buried near the shooting range on the Baarschotseheide in Vlierden. A few days after this assassination, Deurne was liberated. His wife, Hendrina van Gaal-Janssen, was pregnant at the time of these events and gave birth a few days later, on Monday 25 September 1944, to a stillborn child.

In a report dated 14 November 1944 drawn up by G.M. van Loon – who, following Baron De Smeth’s departure from Deurne, presumably became the ‘Commander of the Resistance Council, Brabant district’, it was stated: “Van Gaal from Liessel was disposed of by me, without orders but with sufficient evidence, after first having fetched him from his home and walked with him into the woods, whereupon we buried him that night.” 

On 28 May 1947, Arnoldus Gaal’s widow wrote the following emotional letter to the Municipality of Deurne:

“I would like to contact you briefly regarding the body of my husband, Arnoldus v Gaal, born on 16 April 1906 and murdered on 19 September 1944 by the underground, and that he lies buried in the woods just like an animal, without a coffin, and that I have already done a great deal to have him laid to rest in the Roman Catholic cemetery, but there is much more to the story here in Deurne, as my husband is suspected of being a member of the NSB, although he was never a member of any movement; when he was murdered, he was foraging in the woods and they took his life in an ambush, even taking his watch and his wedding ring back yet
They’ve even robbed me three times here in Deurne; when they found out I’d received money from the life insurance, they promised me that if I paid one hundred and seventy-five guilders, the matter would be sorted out, but my money was gone and my husband is still lying there. Now I’d like to ask you whether there is any justice in snatching a father of nine children from life like this. I have often asked myself how all this can simply be allowed to happen, and yet I have never heard a word about it, given that I was left behind with nine children and the tenth child was due to be born on 24 September 1944 and that, having been so badly mistreated by a certain Karel Smits, this child was stillborn. Yes, gentlemen, I am but a poor woman who has worked all this time for her children without any support from Deurne, since there is no evidence whatsoever that my husband was a member of the NSB, and the Mayor and other gentlemen from Deurne have belongings amongst the people; when I came out of hospital, I had nothing but a straw sack and not even a pan to cook in. I received no support and had to fend for myself with my children. Now I ask you: what is to be done about this? Is this ‘love for one’s neighbour’, to set such an example to the children?
So is this what is meant by ‘reconstruction’ and ‘looking after them’? I don’t think so. I hope this is my final request, and that my husband will be buried in a proper cemetery in Deurne, at the Roman Catholic cemetery. So I hope for your cooperation. If you would like to know more, please come and see me yourself, then I can at least pour out my heart

Signed

Widow van Gaal”

On 25 July 1947, two months after receiving the above letter, the mayor submitted a request to the Identification and Recovery Service to exhume the remains of Arnoldus van Gaal. In this request, the mayor writes, amongst other things: “After the liberation, Mrs van Gaal behaved very badly and lost all respect in the eyes of the public. The circumstances cited in her letter are not entirely accurate, but insofar as they are true, she has only herself to blame.”

On 22 November 1947, the remains were presented for identification to the Identification and Recovery Service in Amersfoort; during the identification process, a tobacco pipe, amongst other items, was found, thereafter, on 3 December 1947, the remains were reburied next to the Roman Catholic ‘Oude Parochie’ Cemetery in Deurne, in unconsecrated ground. Eventually, the remains were reburied in plot L (communal graves) at the ‘Jacobshof’ Roman Catholic Cemetery. The funeral costs of f.25.00 were claimed from the Reconstruction Financing Office of the Ministry of Finance.

A comprehensive file, such as a transfer report containing identification details, drawn up by the Identification and Recovery Service, may be available for inspection from the author.

Death Register

View all persons in the category: Shot, liquidated or murdered in some other way