Christiaan Lindemans

Dutch double agent during WW2, working under British, German and possible Russian control. Christiaan was the fourth son of Joseph Hendrik Lindemans (23 December 1879, Rotterdam - 2 April 1960, Rotterdam) and Christina Antonia van Uden (10 September 1881, Rotterdam - 17 December 1944, Rotterdam). They married 18 September 1901 in Rotterdam. His brothers were Jan Hendrik (12 June 1904, Rotterdam - 2 December 1951, Rotterdam), Joseph Hendrik (18 July 1905, Rotterdam - ) and Hendrik "Henk" Lindemans (7 April 1915, Rotterdam - ) His father was a fortunate garage owner, he could allow his children both to study and to enjoy sports and cinema. Chris followed first the Higher Civil School, but he could not finish this preparing him for University study. But he learned to speak foreign languages. In 1929 he got his diploma as a car mechanic at the more practical oriented Ambachtschool. He worked with his brother Jan Hendrik as a mechanic at his fathers garage in Rotterdam. He enjoyed risky sports like boxing , gliding and car driving. As he was tall and risk seeking, his nickname became King Kong. In the summer of 1936 (Wiki, 1934 according to his KNAW biographer), he was injured in a motorcycle accident sustaining a cracked skull and injuries to his left arm and leg which left him walking with a lumbering, simian-like, gait. After the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, the harbour of Rotterdam became invaded with spies. Like Anton van der Waals (both had elder brothers), the crippled Kin Kong was not called to arms, but enjoyed the pub stories about James Bond like secret agents for which there existed no laws. Lindemans started to work as an informant for the British secrets service since the spring of 1940, relaying shipping movements to London. August 1940, he found work as lorry driver on the Lille to Paris route carrying petrol for the German air forces. In Lille he met his wife Gilberte Letuppe (15-9-1922, misspelled as Sindemans in Neurenberg trials), who brought him into contact with the French resistance. They married 23 August 1941 for the church. In September 1942, Lindemans established his own escape line in Abbeville, transporting refugees through occupied Belgium into Spain and Portugal. November 1942, he was arrested after being denounced by a woman living in Paris, an acquaintance named Colette. He was imprisoned by the Germans for five months, being the only one of his organization to be detained. After his release in 1943, Lindemans served as a contact man for resistance movements, some with Communist tendencies such as the RVV (Raad van Verzet or Council of Resistance, being engaged in both communications sabotage and protection of people in hiding), the CS VI group of Amsterdam (a clandestine sabotage and intelligence organisation) the illegal papers Trouw (Fidelity) and Het Parool (The spoken Word), the Dutch-Paris escape line run by John Henry Weidner and for evasion networks within the jurisdiction of the British MI9. Lindemans was also a member of the Belgian underground army called Les Affranchis (The Liberate,founded by Camille Tromme), allowing him to remain in possession of a machine gun and a revolver. As "le Tueur" (the Killer), he undertook missions to kill and was ready to shoot at the slightest provocation. Both feared and admired, he became one of the leaders of the Dutch resistance. He had begun collecting jewels and other valuables from rich women to provide fighting funds for the underground "escap Read less