Where has the body of my father gone?

I have been researching my family history for years and in this context I have spent many hours in various archives and immersed myself in all kinds of documents and photos. Of course, my father Jules also became a topic. During the Second World War, my father worked at OIP (‘Société Belge d’Optique et d’Instruments de Précision’) in Ghent, a company that produced optical devices for the Belgian military. In May 1944, the company was ‘occupied’ by Heyde Werke from Bremen/Germany. Most likely because of this, my father joined a resistance group that had formed in the OIP factory, the ‘Verzetsgroep Bedrijfsmilitie, Patriottische Militie, Vaderlandse Milities aangesloten bij het Onafhankelijkheidsfront (O.F.)’. The group consisted of 10 colleagues from the company. They carried out sabotage or slowed down the production of optical devices intended for the German air force. On August 12, 1944, my father and seven colleagues (apparently two managed to escape) were arrested by the G.F.P. (Geheime Feldpolizei) at the OIP factory and imprisoned in the Nieuwewandeling prison in Ghent. We later learned that all the prisoners were taken to Antwerp on August 30, 1944 and then transported to Germany by train. Neighbours reportedly saw my father on one of the lorries that passed our house at a distance of just 100 metres during the transport from Ghent to Antwerp via the N70. That was the last thing we heard from my father at the time.

During his time in Nieuwewandeling prison in Ghent, my father was held in a cell with the rector of the grammar school in Melle. This man, Father Stanislas, was released and had a handwritten message from my father delivered to my mother by one of his former students. Father Stanislas somehow smuggled it out of prison. This ‘little piece of paper’ is worth its weight in gold to me!

The search continues

Many years later, I then began to delve further into my existing archive about my father Jules. Fortunately, my mother had kept two boxes of documents, photos, etc. for all those years after my father’s death.

At the end of 2007, I contacted the archives of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. I asked if they could provide me with information about where my father was buried. On January 11, 2008, I received an email with the information that my father is buried in a collective grave at the Vorwerker Cemetery in Lübeck. The archive of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial then contacted the Lübeck City Archive itself. In March 2008, I received a second e-mail from the archive of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. It says that the Lübeck City Archive confirms that my father was buried on April 28, 1945 in the collective grave 27a-5-D at the Vorwerker Cemetery in Lübeck.

In November 2009 I also contacted the ITS (International Tracing Service) in Bad Arolsen/Germany, again asking if they had any further information about my father and where he might be buried. Their reply showed that there was no additional information on this either, only the note ‘unknown male identification’ and the confirmation that my father had the prisoner number 44935. It is also noted that this prisoner number was assigned to my father on September 2 and 3, 1944.

As I continued my search, I came into contact with an association of political prisoners, the NCPGR (Nationale Confederatie van Politieke Gevangenen en Rechthebbenden) of the district Ghent-Eeklo. I received some interesting information from the NCPGR secretariat about the journey made by the 8 OIP colleagues. Two of the colleagues returned to Belgium; the other six all died in captivity in Germany. On his return to Belgium, one of the two survivors had written a detailed and complete account of the journey that the eight comrades had made. This report makes it clear that my father was imprisoned in the Neuengamme concentration camp in Hamburg from September 2 to September 5, 1944. On September 5 and 6, 1944, they were transported by train to the Blumenthal satellite camp near Bremen. My father was imprisoned in the Blumenthal camp from September 6, 1944 to April 9, 1945. There he had to work on the construction of the Valentin bunker and at companies in the neighbourhood. From April 9 to April 15, 1945, the prisoners had to leave the Blumenthal camp and walk back to the Neuengamme main camp (death march). My father was then imprisoned in Neuengamme again from April 15 to 19, 1945. Then they were transported by train to Lübeck. That lasted from April 19 to 21. From April 21 to 23, my father was on board the ‘Cap Arcona’ in the port of Lübeck and then on the ‘Athen’ in the Baltic Sea.

On April 23rd 1945, my father died of exhaustion on the ‘Athen’ in the arms of his two colleagues Alfons De Vlieger and Willy Dekeghel, who were still alive at the time. The other 5 colleagues had already died in Sandbostel, Blumenthal or in the Bay of Lübeck.

Later, the two colleagues who had returned to Belgium signed a sworn statement about my father’s death. This now officially confirms that my father died in their arms on the ‘Athens’. Later, one of them made a statement that my father’s body had been thrown overboard.

In the end, I find myself with the unanswered question: ‘Where has the body of my father gone?’. I know for sure that he died on the ‘Athens’ and was thrown into the sea. It is unclear whether his body remained at sea or was later recovered from the water together with the thousands of other dead after the Allies had bombed the ships in the Bay of Lübeck and buried in a ‘collective grave’ in the Vorwerk cemetery in Lübeck.

Visit to the memorial sites in Germany

In May 2018, my wife and I took part in the annual pilgrimage to Neuengamme organised by the Vriendenkring Neuengamme België. Among other things, we visited the Neuengamme concentration camp memorial.

My father’s name is there among all the thousands of other deceased. With the help of other participants in the pilgrimage, who had already visited the memorial several times, my father’s name was quickly found.

The Valentin bunker was another memorial site we visited. Radio Bremen happened to be there at the time. They immediately recorded an interview with me and my wife. Radio Bremen kindly gave me a copy of the interview.

We also went to the Vorwerker Cemetery in Lübeck and visited the collective grave 27a-5-D.

Lastly, we also visited the memorial at the former Blumenthal camp.

Stolpersteine

On March 6, 2019, twenty Stolpersteine were laid for the deceased resistance fighters in Ghent on the initiative of the NCPGR of the district Ghent-Eeklo. Six of them were for the deceased comrades from the OIP. They were laid at Meersstraat 138 in Ghent, the former headquarters of OIP. One of the six stones is dedicated to my father.

Jules Matthys and ‘The 8 from the OIP’

In June 2019, I wrote a book about the story of my father and his colleagues. I thought it was appropriate to give it the title ‘Jules Matthys en de 8 van OIP’ (‘Jules Matthys and the 8 from the OIP’).

There is a copy in various archives and libraries, for example in the archives of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial and the Valentin Bunker.

There is also an article on the website ‘Spurensuche Bremen’ that John Gerardu, researcher from Bremen has written about my father’s story.