Geesje de Vries-Schonewille

This memorial page is dedicated to Geesje de Vries-Schonewille, 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

Daughter of Geert Schonewille and Pietertje Botter, widow of Evert de Vries

Geesje de Vries-Schonewille had been evacuated to the family of Johannes (Sjang) Joosten in Maasbree.

Below is the account by Jan Joosten, grandson of Johannes (Sjang) Joosten:

At that time, heavy Allied artillery fire was directed towards Beringe, Grashoek and, consequently, towards De Struiken. The Allies had been positioned behind the Helenavaart and the Deurnes Canal in the Meijel and Neerkant area for some time, which had already been liberated. This shelling was necessary to drive out the Germans so that they could advance further towards Helden and Maasbree, etc.

As the shells were landing very close to Sjang Joosten’s house on the Struiken, he had taken cover on the other side of the road, together with a few evacuees, including Geesje de Vries and several other people in hiding. There, the Joosten family had an orchard, diagonally opposite the farm; in this orchard was a henhouse with a pit dug inside it, so that any shell fragments that might penetrate the wooden henhouse would fly over their heads.

As the shells eventually began to land very close to the chicken coop, Grandfather became frightened; he thought, ‘Those Allies think there are Germans in this coop and will blow us sky-high’, so he decided to go home (across the road) in the cellar. ‘I’ll come with you,’ said Geesje de Vries at the time, but just as they had both left the chicken coop, a grenade exploded nearby and Geesje de Vries was hit full on; her dress hung in tatters from a cherry tree standing in front of the coop (my mother told me that whenever we were near that coop, she would say, ‘Geesje de Vries’s dress was hanging from this branch’). My grandfather was hit by shrapnel in the stomach and was seriously injured, German soldiers who were stationed at the neighbours’ farm (about 1 km away) with an army ambulance (a sort of Red Cross jeep) then transported my grandfather to the monastery in Maasbree, which the Germans had set up as a hospital. However, partly due to the long, bumpy journey along rough roads, Sjang Joosten died on the way.

Sjang Joosten’s original farmhouse burnt down completely in around 2000, and a new house was built on exactly the same spot (Struiken 7, Maasbree). Otherwise, the situation around the house, the neighbourhood and the nearby dwellings remains exactly as it was in 1944, apart from the motorway and the viaduct running behind the house. Where the viaduct and the motorway now stand, there used to be (even in my childhood) heathland, wasteland and a few ponds, alongside which many shell craters were still visible – you could tell just how much shelling had taken place in such a remote area back then. A shell also fell on the roof of Sjang Joosten’s house and exploded; this was still evident because the large hole had been repaired with wooden posts and the like, and because the roof tiles were a different colour – at that time, it was impossible to get good-quality timber or roof tiles anywhere.

Sjang Joosten

The original farmstead

Site plan

Death register

View all persons in the category: Residents of Deurne who died outside Deurne