We found the
relatives of
Pierre Juin
and Lucien Laugerette
Pierre Juin and Lucien Laugerette were two French concentration camp prisoners who probably worked as forced laborers in a sub-camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. Both died in early 1945. Many years later, Ton van den Berg from the Netherlands happened to find hints that Pierre Juin and Lucien Laugerette were buried in the cemetery in Bad Sassendorf. He was searching for the families of the missing prisoners ever since. In the summer of 2021, Pierre and Lucien’s great-nieces could be found.
Ton van den Berg and his brother-in-law Adriaan van Lierop initially set out to research the fate of Antoon van Lierop, Adriaan’s brother. Antoon had been deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp by the German occupiers and was assigned to what was known as the 11th Construction Brigade. This prisoner brigade had to work in the region around Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia repairing railway tracks that had been destroyed in Allied attacks on Nazi Germany’s infrastructure. Many of the forced laborers died there during these attacks. The victims were buried in a mass grave in the cemetery in Bad Sassendorf, and some of their names are inscribed on a memorial plaque there.
The mass grave in Bad Sassendorf where Pierre Juin and Lucien are buried. Copyright: Ton van den Berg.
Ton van den Berg wanted to find out more about the anonymous victims, and he learned that nearly half of the 98 men buried in Bad Sassendorf had subsequently been exhumed. He was able to determine the former prisoner numbers of three of the people, as well as the numbers of the graves in which they were buried after the exhumation.
These numbers led to three names: Pierre Juin, Lucien Laugerette and Georges Bachelet. Alyn Beßmann from the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial confirmed the identities of the three victims in 2014. Ton van den Berg has already been able to find relatives of Georges Bachelet and let them know that their uncle is buried in Bad Sassendorf. He has also been looking for the families of Pierre Juin and Lucien Laugerette since 2014, with the involvement of the French authorities and French association of former prisoners known as the Amicale Française Neuengamme. Unfortunately, the search has been unsuccessful.
Death book entry of Lucien Laugerette.
“I have tried to contact as many people and organizations worldwide as possible, and to find as much information as possible about the missing prisoners, particularly in the area around Bad Sassendorf.”
Ton van den Berg
Found!
In April, we asked for your help in finding the families of Pierre Juin and Lucien Laugerette. At the end of May, a French lady contacted us with great news. With the help of the Baudrières town administration, she had found Lucien Laugerette’s birth certificate along with information about his sister and wife.
She continued her research and discovered his great-niece, to whom we were then able to send our information from the online archive. She was also successful in finding relatives of Pierre Juin and wrote to his great-niece. We would like to say thank you for this great support!
