Poncke Princen

Johannes Cornelis Princen better known as Poncke Princen, was a Dutch anti-Nazi fighter and colonial soldier. In 1948, he deserted, joined the pro-independence guerrillas in the then Dutch Indies, lived out the rest of his life in Indonesia, became a prominent human rights activist and political dissident under various dictatorial regimes in his adopted country and consequently spent considerable time in detention.

In 1943, Princen was arrested by the German occupation authorities in Maastricht, while trying to get to Spain - from where he intended to travel to Britain and enlist in an Allied army fighting the Nazis. He was convicted by the occupation authorities of "attempting to aid the enemy" and in early 1944 was sent to the notorious Vught Camp.

On D-day, he was transferred to the Kriegswehrmachtgefängnis (Wehrmacht Military Prison) at Utrecht. While there he entertained fellow-prisoners by reading aloud chapters from a favourite book, Pastoor Poncke ("Pastor Poncke") by Jan Eekhout. Thereby, he acquired the nickname "Poncke" which he was to keep for the rest of his life.

Later, he was transferred to the prison camp at Amersfoort and from there to Beckum, Germany. Altogether, before being finally liberated by the arrival of Allied forces, he had passed through no less than seven Nazi prisons and camps.

Directly upon being freed from Nazi imprisonment, Princen joined the Stoottroepen Regiment Brabant (Brabant Stormtroop Regiment), based in the southern Dutch province of Brabant. In 1945, he also worked for the newly founded Bureau voor Nationale Veiligheid (Bureau of National Security nl:Bureau Nationale Veiligheid), forerunner of the present Dutch Security Service - at the time mainly involved in hunting down collaborators and war criminals, but also keeping under surveillance those natives of the Dutch Indies, resident in the Netherlands, who were sympathetic with the rebellion against Dutch rule that was spreading in their homeland.

Source: Wikipedia

Wikipedia Poncke Princen dankte zijn bijnaam Poncke aan het boek Pastoor Poncke van Jan H. Eekhout