us-005578-irn548153-irn560335
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Jan Marie Schoffelen (1921-2007) was born on 14 July 1921 in Heerlen, the Netherlands to Emile (1891-1982) and Sophia (née Custers, 1893-1954) Schoffelen. He had nine siblings: Jeanne (b. 1917), Joseph (1919-1990), Rudolph (b. 1920), Cecile (b. 1923), Henricus (b. 1924), Paul (b. 1925), Wilhelm (b. 1927), Alice (b. 1930), and Emile (1932-1994). Emile was a teacher and school principal and Sophia was the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Jan lived in Sittard, the Netherlands since the 1930s, and was a student when Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. On 5 September 1940 Jan, along with three others, was accused of being a spy. He was arrested and sent to the prison in Maastricht. He was interrogated and kept in solitary confinement. Jan was released in November 1940 but remained under surveillance by the Germans and the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging or NSB). He went to Wageningen to attend school, but returned to Sittard in spring 1941 due to ongoing depression related to his imprisonment. He learned that he was still wanted by the Germans for other student activism activities he wasn’t involved with, and went into hiding for several months. After returning to Wageningen, he learned that the Germans demanded the students to sign an oath of allegiance, and that failure to sign would mean deportation to a labor camp. Jan and his brother Paul went into hiding. Paul remained in hiding for the duration of the war. Jan moved around, hiding with different relatives. He returned to Sittard where he met Reverend Pex and the Köke family, both of whom were involved in the Dutch Resistance. He became friends with Ingrid Köke, whom he would later marry. He obtained false identities from Reverend Pex, and got involved with resistance activities that included smuggling Jews and others from Germany into Limburg province, smuggling Allied pilots to Belgium, manufacturing forged food stamps and other documents, and helping …
has beginning date: 1937-01-01
has beginning date: 1940-01-01
has end date: 1965-12-31
has end date: 2007-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: nld
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had subject: 701
has or had subject: 684
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn560335
is or was included in: us-005578-irn548153
record resource extent: box 1
record resource structure: The collection is arranged as two series: Series 1: Biographical material, 1937-2007; Series 2: Wartime documents, 1940-1944
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: The collection documents the experiences of Jan Marie Schoffelen and Ingrid Köke (later Ingrid Schoffelen) of Sittard, the Netherlands during World War II as members of the Dutch resistance. Included are false identification papers, forged documents and stamps, blank ration coupons and forms, and propaganda leaflets. Correspondence of Jan includes two letters written by him while imprisoned in Maastricht in 1940. Other material includes identification, education, immigration, and employment papers; a handwritten memoir by Jan describing his wartime experiences; photographs of Jan and Ingrid; clippings; family genealogy research; and a typewritten diary of Herman Hofte (relation unknown) describing his wartime experiences in Sittard.
title: Schoffelen family papers