On April 29, 1945 the US troops liberated Dachau concentration camp. I could post thousands of pictures of teh atrocities which were perpetrated there, but most people would probably only look at one or two pictures and then turn away,because the horror is just too great to endure. The normal human mind can’t fathom the images of the evil in front of them.
I decided to focus on just one victim who was murdered in Dachau, Chaplain A.S.A.A. van Lierop, AKA Noud van Lierop, He was a Dutch Catholic priest born on September 25,1897 in a small town called Steenbergen in the south of the Netherlands.
There were 3 things that surprised me about this man. Firstly when I saw his name I was convinced he was someone from my hometown, because the name van Lierop is a well known name in Geleen, hey used to have a small chocolate shop and factory, but Noud was not one of my town folk. Secondly I had never heard of him and what he did before the war and what happened to him during the war. Thirdly there is no mention of him on his birthplace wikipedia page, several notable names are mentioned but his name isn’t one of them which I personally think is a disgrace.
Who was Chaplain A.S.A.A. van Lierop?
He started his work as a Chaplain in the city of Breda in the Netherlands and was also the chief editor of the Katholieke Wereldpost, an influential catholic magazine
Already in the 1930s van Lierop saw what was happening in Germany and he warned about the rise of the Nazi regime and warned about the crimes committed by them. The magazine was established as a Catholic counter alternative to Fascism and Communism. It employed several exiled prominent Catholic Germans and the HQ in Breda is quickly seen as a hotbed of Anti German propaganda.
After the Nazis invade the Netherlands in May 1940, agents of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt(Reich Main Security Office) raid the offices of the Katholieke Wereldpost and van Lierop is arrested and sent to Dachau as a political prisoner. On November 27,1942 he is killed in Dachau, aged 45.
He may have been a forgotten victim but from now on he will always be a known hero to me, and hopefully to others.
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Sources
https://brabantsegesneuvelden.nl/persoon/noud-van-lierop-steenbergen-1897
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