1922-2018
Jean Franckson, nicknamed âMartialâ, began his medical studies at the UniversitĂ© libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 1939 at the age of seventeen. He quickly became involved in the student resistance. In October 1940, he helped found the clandestine intelligence network ComitĂ© de Surveillance de lâUniversitĂ© Libre de Bruxelles. Together with his father, engineer Marcel Franckson, he took part in resistance operations that would later develop into the intelligence and sabotage organisation Service Hotton. He was also active in the Luc-Marc intelligence network. In 1943, Jean became local leader within Service Hotton in the Chimay-Couvin region.
Resistance work was certainly not limited to intelligence work. Gradually, father and son switched to targeted sabotage operations in support of the Allied advance. What started as part of the Independence Front evolved into an independent resistance group, which later joined the British Special Operations Executive (SOE).
From June to September 1944, âGroup Francksonâ carried out around sixty sabotage actions. Ten locomotives, ten trucks, three armoured cars and a tank were destroyed. Wehrmacht communication cables were repeatedly disabled and around 150 German soldiers were put out of action. These actions were accompanied by heavy losses: eight group members were killed, 61 were arrested by the Sipo-SD. Of these, 23 were executed or died of exhaustion in Nazi concentration camps.
On 27 May 1944, Jeanâs father was arrested by the occupying forces. He died in 1945 in the Buchenwald concentration camp. Jean, then 22 years old, took over the leadership of the extensive network on his own. However, he had also been living in hiding since February 1943, after he had only just managed to get to safety in time after being denounced.
After the liberation, Jean resumed his studies, graduated as a doctor and built an academic career as a professor at the ULB. Even after the war, he remained active in veterans' organizations and was committed to the memory of the resistance. Jean Franckson died in 2018 at the age of 95.
Sources:
â Resistance in Belgium: https://data.arch.be/wiki/Item:Q7939
â Cegesoma: https://www.belgiumwwii.be/nl/belgie-in-oorlog/artikels/guerilla-speciaâŠ