In November 1944, Reuver had to endure artillery fire when the Allies reached the west bank of the river Meuse. Reuver was targeted because that's where German troops were positioned. After weeks of shelling and being hit by multiple strikes, the Reuver church tower collapsed on January 18, 1945. The spire gave way and the church roof was severely damaged by shellfire. The story above is just one of the examples of the impact of the Second World War in Reuver. When walking this themed route, the hiker will encounter similar stories that shed light on the history of the town and the stories that haven't been told before.

The Netherlands

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Former gas station and cinema in Reuver

Tank ditch

Church in Reuver during the war

Border history in Reuver

In Reuver, several small bridges and roads have been blown up. It is expected that we will be free within a few days. Between 4 and 5 o'clock, they say that we are free here in Reuver. We hear that Tommies are moving from Kaldenkerken to Venlo. The orange pennant is waving behind the tanks. The streets are busy. Partisans are already walking around in their orange hats.Friday, March 2, 1945 Haven't seen any Tommies yet. The tricolor flag is already waving cheerfully in some places. So we hoist the flag too. Hip hip hooray!We have already seen a few Tommies. In Venlo they handed out candy and oranges, and in Tegelen too. At home, everything was lying on top of and mixed up. That was a sad sight. We worked all day to make our café somewhat habitable. For the time being, we are still sleeping in the cellar and living in a section of the café. American soldiers are being billeted here. We dug the clothes out of the ground.Life can return to normal. And men are already returning from Germany, as well as cars with evacuees from Groningen and Friesland, among others.The siren wails then. That is customary when evacuees arrive again, and the whole village runs out.

Liberation of Reuver

During the Second World War, in the autumn of 1942, all church bells were requisitioned by the German occupiers. These were melted down for the armaments industry. The three bells of Reuver did not escape this fate either. In total, 6,700 bells were confiscated in this manner in the Netherlands.During the final period of the war, the church tower served as an observation post for the Germans to locate Allied positions on the other side of the Meuse and to determine the impact of their own artillery fire. After weeks of shelling and being hit by multiple strikes, the Reuver church tower collapsed on January 18, 1945. The spire gave way and the church roof was severely damaged by shellfire.The war damage to the church was repaired in 1946-1947. On April 25, 1948, the new bells were consecrated and placed in the tower the following day. The reconstruction of the tower dates from 1957.

The St. Lambertus Church

During his first Holy Mass in Reuver, the pastor preached: “There is only one Führer, and that is Christ.” These words cost him dearly. He was betrayed, deported by the Germans to the Dachau concentration camp, and murdered on September 14, 1942, in the euthanasia center/NS-Tötungsanstalt Hartheim (Austria).On August 30, 1944, resistance fighters Ben Verstappen, Hubert Ummels, and Rinus Pereira were shot dead in Belfeld by the German Sicherheitsdienst. They were part of a fighting squad that operated from a hideout in Belfeld and provided shelter to people in hiding.Cor Janssen, not a resistance fighter himself, was also shot dead in Beesel on October 7, 1944. He refused to provide information about others to the Sicherheitsdienst.Henk Gommans was shot dead in Belfeld on the same day. He was not a member of the fighting squad, but performed other tasks for the resistance.The monument for these war victims was maintained by the local community. In 1957, it was renovated by the War Graves Foundation, after which the foundation permanently took over the monument in August 1984. The existing grave monument was demolished and replaced by the individual white gravestones. The War Graves Foundation has been responsible for the maintenance of the graves ever since.

War victims in Reuver

A tank ditch or anti-tank ditch is a deep and wide trench dug into the earth with steep sides that tanks or other military vehicles cannot cross without aids. A trench is a trench dug into the earth through which soldiers can move and are protected against enemy fire.The tank ditch and trench in Reuver are part of the first-line defense intended to delay an Allied crossing of the Meuse. This delay allowed the second and third lines at the foot of the high terrace to be put into a state of defense in time.The first-line defense consisted mainly of trenches and a tank ditch. In addition, there were observation posts everywhere that mapped the movement of the Allies on the other side of the Meuse.Parallel to the dirt road, which at this location leads towards the floodplains of the Meuse, lay a communication trench in the open field that ended in a trench constructed perpendicular to it (a kind of T-junction). Three forward positions, equipped with a machine gun, were located here. These positions were aimed at the Meuse and the west bank, which was in the hands of the Allies. Where we are standing now, the connecting trench connected to the kilometers-long trench that followed the bank of the Meuse from north to south.A section of the trench and anti-tank ditch has been reconstructed. This reconstruction shows what trenches and anti-tank ditches looked like during the Second World War.

Tank ditch in Reuver

The monastery dates back to 1891. During World War II, it was inhabited by 90 sisters who provided refuge to people from diverse backgrounds. In December 1938, 120 Jewish individuals arrived in Reuver. They had fled Germany after Kristallnacht and found shelter in the monastery that had been set up as a reception location. They stayed there until August 1939. Because the Jews did not feel safe because of Reuver's location so close to the German border, they were transferred to Hoek van Holland. Before their departure, the Jewish refugees built a Maria grotto (Lourdes grotto) in the convent garden as a thank you for the loving reception by the sisters. This cave was spared from the violence of war.After the Rotterdam bombing on May 14, 1940, 50 Rotterdam orphaned children were housed in the monastery. The caring sisters looked after them. In February 1942, the Dominican Fathers joined the sisters. They had been ordered by the German occupiers to leave their monastery in Nijmegen and found temporary refuge with the Dominican Sisters at the Heilig Hart Monastery. The fathers remained in Reuver until after liberation, serving the local population.The German occupiers also utilized the monastery. On September 25, 1944, a unit of the Grüne Polizei (order police) was quartered there. Two months later, on November 19, 1944, the monastery was hit by four grenades, causing severe damage. The residents sought shelter in the cellar until they were evacuated to the Teeuwen brick factory on the east side of the Rijksweg a week later.

The Holy Hart Monastry

The residents of Reuver on the west side of Pastoor Vranckenlaan had to leave their homes at that time and were relocated to the east side of the Rijksweg. The Teeuwen factory served as a shelter for these people. They stayed in large, brick factory ovens, which provided protection against artillery attacks due to their thick walls.&nbsp;In November 1944, the Allies reached the west bank of the Meuse, including Kessel. They continuously targeted the east bank (which included Beesel and Reuver) with artillery fire because that’s where the Germans were positioned.One of Teeuwen’s ovens provided shelter for several families, totaling around 30 people. The priests and nuns, who were forced to leave the monastery, were also accommodated in ovens 8 and 10.&nbsp;After the bombardement of Rotterdam a group of Rotterdam orphaned children cared for by the nuns stayed in oven 1. Daily well-attended holy masses were also held in the ovens.&nbsp;Due to the danger posed by shelling and artillery fire, it was too risky to transport the sick and wounded to the hospital in Tegelen. Therefore, an emergency infirmary was set up in the factory, with medical care provided by the nuns from the monastery. On Teeuwen’s factory grounds, known as “het Lager” in Reuver, an emergency cemetery was established. The regular cemetery was off-limits due to the risk of shelling. Several deceased individuals were buried here during the final months of the war.In late November 1944, when the male population was compelled to work for the Germans, many defied this order. The Germans conducted raids to apprehend these men. To evade capture, some went into hiding, including in the smoke channels that led from the ovens to the factory chimneys.

Teeuwen Clay Factory

The Jewish monument in Reuver (municipality of Beesel) is an expression of gratitude of the more than one hundred German Jewish refugees for the help and hospitality they received from the Dominican Sisters during their stay between December 1938 and the end of August 1939. The monument has the shape of a Mary's grotto and was built with clinkers from a Reuver-based stoneware factory. A memorial at the grotto is a reminder of the stay of these refugees.