Poncke Princen

Johannes Cornelis Princen (November 21, 1925 in The Hague – February 22, 2002 in Jakarta), 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.

Princen and his three siblings were the children of free-thinking parents with anarchist tendencies. His great-grandfather had been a deserter from military service, who had long been chased by the law and whose life was described in a book by Anton Coolen.

Despite his upbringing, the young Princen conceived an interest in Catholicism under the influence of the parents of his mother, Theresia Princen-Van der Lee. In 1939 he entered the Holy Ghost Seminary at Weert – where he was followed by his younger brother Kees Princen, with whom he was to maintain correspondence throughout all the vicissitudes of his life. It was while he was at the seminary that Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands in 1940.

Princen did not become a priest. In 1942, being only 17 years old, he was accepted as an economic councillor at Teppemaand Vargroup Groothandel voor Chemische Producten, a chemical company based at The Hague. However, he did not keep this position for long, either, being determined to take up arms against the occupiers of his country.

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.

...
Wikipedia