This memorial page is dedicated to Jan Keimpe Snieder, 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.

 

Jan Keimpe Snieder

Name: Snieder
First names: Jan Keimpe
Nickname: –
Date of birth: 30 March 1905
Place of birth: Vrouwenparochie, 't Bildt
Residence: H74, Helenaveen, Hoeve Willem III
Rank / Occupation: Farmer
Identity tag: –
Unit: –
Date of death: 29 March 1945
Place of death: Hildesheim (Germany)
Cause of death: –
Cemetery: –
Memorial site: War memorial in Helenaveen


Additional information

Son of Willem Snieder. Widow Johanna Hendrika Kastelijn.

The Snieder family were forced by the Germans to leave their home, Hoeve Willem III, because it was being used as accommodation for a number of non-commissioned officers and officers. As a result, the Snieder family were compelled to take refuge in a neighbour’s chicken coop.

On Sunday 8 October 1944, during the 7.00 am Mass, German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) surrounded the two Rijkswerkkampen I and II in Mariaveen. The people were driven out of the chapel whilst Mass was being held. The Germans blocked off the roads and searched the church and all the houses, including the chicken coop where the Snieder family were now taking shelter. All the men and boys were herded together and marched off in a long, sorrowful procession. Without food or drink, without any extra clothing. Some are still in their nightclothes. According to the Germans, they are to go to work in Maasbree or Helden, but in reality they are being deported to Germany for forced labour (Arbeitseinsatz).

Jan Keimpe Snieder was insured with the ‘Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Salzgitter’ from 13 October 1944 to 13 December 1944 through his employer, ‘Zuckerfabrik Gross-Mahner Achilles und Co.’ (sugar factory) in Salzgitter-Watenstedt, where he most likely died of exhaustion and malnutrition.

View all persons in the category: Died in concentration camps and as a result of forced labour