Heinrich Kessler

This memorial page is dedicated to Heinrich Kessler, 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: Plot TJ, Row 3, Grave 33

Son of Heinrich Kessler and Rajma Kessler-Schön. (Although born out of wedlock, the father later acknowledged paternity)

Heinrich Kessler’s field grave was situated 5 metres west of the western row of trees on the Snoertsebaan in Liessel, 35 metres south of the southern façade of the ‘Veldhoeve’ farm (L.149), occupied by Petrus A. Veldhuizen. Beside Heinrich Kessler, another German soldier was buried who could not be identified after the war; this soldier rests as ‘Ein Deutscher Soldat’ beside Heinrich Kessler in Section TJ, Row 3, Grave 33. In the transfer and identification reports, drawn up on 1 February 1949, the grave designation for both graves was noted as ‘small wooden cross without inscription’.

Below the field graves on the Snoertsebaan opposite the “Veldhoeve”, the wreck of a German 8-wheeled reconnaissance vehicle (Schwerer Panzerspähwagen Sd.Kfz. 232 8-Rad) with turret number 132 can be seen. Jan Goevaerts from Liessel, who was just an 8-year-old boy at the time, still clearly remembers the second driver’s seat with steering controls at the rear when he looked inside the vehicle. Mobility was very high thanks to the 8-wheel drive and a second driver’s seat with steering controls, but in this instance it proved of no avail.

The former ‘Veldhoeve’ at 24 Snoertsebaan, then known as L.149.

The transfer reports containing identification details, drawn up by the Identification and Recovery Service, may be available for inspection from the author. I am currently conducting targeted research into these two war victims in the hope of bringing the unknown German soldier out of anonymity.

View all persons in the category: German soldiers killed in action