Kremer, Luitje Hans.

Kremer, Luitje Hans, born 16-01-1920 in Uithuizen, Netherlands, the son of Pieter Kremer (teacher at the Christian school) and Trijntje, born Wit. Luitje on the right was unmarried, engaged to Janny Apotheker, warehouse clerk/shop assistant, reformed and member of the resistance and belonging to the reistancegroup North Drenthe.

Luitje was a member of the Dutch resistance and belonging to the KP North Drenthe under the alias Hans. The KP National Fighting Squads (LKP) was a Dutch resistance organization founded on 14-08-1943. Known as Knokploegen (assault or action groups), these local and national groups specialized in armed raids, sabotage, liquidating traitors, rescuing prisoners, and stealing ration cards (bonkaarten) and identity papers.

Founded by Hilbert van Dijk who passed away, age 82 in Amersfoort, on 15-09-2002.

In Overveen, 16-07-1944, age 36, executed by a German firing squad (Van Dijk still on his stretcher) and thrown into a mass grave and Izaak van der Horst On 04-09-1944, at the age of 35, Izak is executed by the Germans near camp Vught. Both from Kampen, along with the leader of the fighting squad within the LKP in Westland, Leendert Marinus Valstar (alias Bertus), and the underground professional soldier Liepke Scheepstra. Later, Theodorus Dobbe,  Johannes Post, and Jan Arnoldus van Bijnen (“Frank”) were added to the national leadership.

Kremer was wanted by the SD for his participation in a raid on the distribution office in Grootegast. On 31-08-1944, he was arrested in Emmen by Home Guard member Hillebrand Dorenbos, who knew him, while he showed an identity card in someone else’s name for identification. Dorenbos was not only a former fellow villager, but remarkably, a schoolmate. He was imprisoned in the prison in Assen and mistreated there as well. Together with Esmée Adrienne van Eeghen,

Kremer was transferred to Noorddijk on 07-09-1944. SD Chief Sergeant and traitor Pieter Johan “Piet” Faber shot Kremer, age 24, dead, while Van Eeghen was killed by SD-Untersturmführer Ernst Knorr.  Knorr, age 45, as a prisoner was transferred on 27-06-1945 by the Canadian Field Security to the so-called Kings Prison, Oranjehotel in Scheveningen, located in the penal institution. On 07-07-1945, Knorr was found dead in his cell with a piece of rope around his neck.

The traitor “Piet” Faber survived the war and died on 10-07-1948, in Groningen, Netherlands, at the age of 28, executed by firing squad in 20-07-1948, age 28. He refused to be blindfolded.

Death and burial ground of Kremer, Luitje Hans.

His remains were discovered in the Van Starkenborgh Canal and initially buried in Noorddijk as an ‘unknown soldier’. Only after the liberation did his father and fiancée identify him based on a photograph and details. Kremer’s body was found on 22-05-1945, at the cemetery in Noorddijk and subsequently reburied in Een, Drenthe. Vennootsweg, 9343 TG Een-West (Drenthe), Netherlands. Plot: 1. Row: 1. Grave: 36. Janny Apotheker was also arrested on 22-02-1945, and remained imprisoned in the House of Detention in Assen until the liberation in April 1945. Landwachter Dorenbos, who had become a member of the NSB in August 1940 and played a treacherous role in Kremer’s arrest, stood trial before the Special Court in Assen on 27-01-1948.

Janny never recovered from the shock and spent the rest of her life in complete solitude. And the children of his sisters also suffered lifelong consequences from his violent death. Next Saturday, Luit Kremer will be commemorated with the placement of a memorial on the banks of the Van Starkenborgh Canal

where he was executed by the Germans.

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