Valkenburg Resistance - After The War

After The War

Members of the Valkenburg resistance agreed to keep their activities a secret after the war, so as not to brag. This posed a problem for historian Loe de Jong when he wrote his famous Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, because he couldn't get any information. So he concluded there had been no resistance there. Ironically, the only person who was willing to talk was someone who had been on a death list of the resistance, but ultimately not executed. But the personal archive of Pierre Schunck proves the contrary, with photos, real and fake 'Ausweise' (identifications) and ration cards, illegal stencils, a file on Jewish victims and the like.

For his work in the resistance, Pierre Schunck was later awarded the Verzetsherdenkingskruis.

Years later, during a wake at the Margraten cemetery, a US soldier started asking around for someone named Paul Simons, but almost everyone had forgotten that name. When he finally found him it turned out he was the soldier who sat behind him with a rifle pointed at his head. He had had sleepless nights because of this and was happy to find Pierre Schunck in good health. This soldier was Bob Hilleque from Chicago, the only member of the A platoon of the 119th regiment who was still alive at the time. Pierre and Bob subsequently became good friends.