Joannes van der Pluijm (1916

This memorial page is dedicated to Joannes Wilhelmus van der Pluijm, 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.

Name	: van der Pluijm
First names	: Joannes Wilhelmus
Nickname	: Johan
Date of birth	: 11 February 1916
Place of birth	: Dussen
Residence	: Grote Bottel J236, Deurne
Rank / Occupation	: Food distribution supervisor
Identity tag	: –
Unit	: –
Date of death	: 28 October 1944
Place of death	: Deurne
Cause of death	: as a result of shrapnel in the chest
Cemetery	: St Joseph’s Church (grave already cleared)
Memorial site	: –

Additional information

Aged 28. Son of Johannes van der Pluijm and Helena Rombout.

Joannes Wilhelmus van der Pluijm worked for the Germans in food distribution and was also a lodger with, and a close friend of, the van der Putten-Acker family at Grote Bottel J236. The van der Putten-Acker family consisted of a young widow with her four children. When, at one point, the British ammunition depot on Grote Bottel came under fire from German artillery and there was virtually no time left to flee to the air-raid shelter, Joannes Wilhelmus van der Pluijm asked the van der Putten-Acker family to take shelter in the house cellar as quickly as possible. He himself was going to assess the situation above ground. Exactly what happened next is unknown, but when the widow went upstairs after calm had returned, she was unable to open the back door of the house because the lifeless body of Joannes Wilhelmus van der Pluijm lay behind it. British soldiers took the body to the van de Westerlo family’s house to spare the van der Putten-Acker family further distress.

Memorial card

Death register

View all persons in the category: Non-residents of Deurne who died in Deurne