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Roelf Simon Lanting
Born	9 August, 1907 Oud-Loosdrecht, Netherlands
Died	2 April, 1993 Ermelo, Netherlands
Allegiance	Netherlands
Service / branch	Netherlands Armed forces of the Netherlands
Rank	captain
Unit	Infantry
Battles / wars	Second World War

Roelf Simon Lanting (Oud-Loosdrecht, 9 August 1907 - Ermelo, 2 April 1993) was a Dutch reserve captain.

Biography

Early years

File:Staf te Deurne in 1939.jpg

Military staff in Deurne in 1939;Lanting is the one with glasses

Lanting, son of a preacher, attended highschool (a five-year trade training) and a training to become a reserve officer and was appointed assistant-chief at the social department of the Glasfabriek in Leerdam in 1929. As of January 1 he was appointed reserve second lieutenant with the third regiment infantry; before this date his rank was those of ensign. In 1931 he was promoted to the position of Deputy Sales Manager, section home and abroad and as of 1 January 1934 promoted to reserve first lieutenant with the third regiment. In 1939 Lanting served, in his rank as reserve-first lieutenant, in the 27th regiment infantry, founded by reserve colonel De Brauw. This regiment was during the mobilisation of 1939-1940 part of the Peel division with their headquarters in Deurne. In May and June 1943, when the Netherlands was occupied by Germany the Dutch governement in exile appealed to Dutch citizens not to become a prisoner of war.

Lanting organized several popular scientific meetings; these meetings were attended by many, often of different social status and religion. The Germans banned these meetings, however Lanting continued them illegally with the staff of the Glasfabriek. He was also a member of the regional office "Vijfheerenlanden and the Alblasserwaard". This office was created to counterbalance the so called "Heemkunde" (the importance of heridity, as investigated for example by Josef Mengele) and was lead by Louis Rudolph Jules van Rappard, major of Gorinchem. However after some time the Germans closed the office. During the mobilization in April 1938 he was offered the postion of communication officer at the staff (27 R.I.); later he was also appointed trust officier and secret service officer in the military authority area "Peel en Maas". Because of his illegal activities Lanting was arrested in 1943 but was released for lack of evidence. At the end of the war he was appointed lieutenant - aide-de-camp (1944) in the already liberated area of Nieuw-Ginneken, and in November 1944 appointed head of the military staff.

Military work

War grave in Berlin, where Lanting worked

When the east part of the Netherlands was liberated Lanting was transferred to the staff headquarters in Hengelo, where his job was to test new staff members (900 men) and to set up six new companies. He finished this work in two months. Lanting was promoted to the rank of captain on 20 February 1945 and was send to the border post, where he was placed second in command. In November 1946 the tactical part of Oostings unit was taken over by the Marechaussee and Lanting was appointed as a member of the "Dienst Identificatie en Berging" (Identification and Burial Service). He and another officier were send to Berlin tot take part in the exhumations of Dutch citizens, who died in concentration camps or elswhere. Lanting performed his job in the then Russian part of Berlin but also in the four allied zones of the city. In Frohnau, at the war grave, more than 100 Dutch people were buried between people from Belgium, France and Luxembourg at the National French Cemetery. Many Dutch people were just temporarily buried here before they were identified by the group of Lanting and brought back to their family in the Netherlands. The Identification and Burial Service was supervised by France but Lanting had full autority over the group. Not only had the group of Lanting to identify the death but their job also included a lot of research work abroad, for example in Russia.

When the Identification and Burial Service was completely set up and functioned well Lanting was, against the wish of the French authorities and his own, released from his duties and send to the Netherlands. Lanting fought a long battle to be rehabilitated and received support during this fight from but not limited to Minister of War C. Staf.

• 
  Exhumation of corpses from a German mass grave

External links

• (in Dutch) Lanting on Deurnewiki

References

• 1974. (in Dutch) De dominee gaat voorbij. Familiealbum van driekwarteeuw protestants leven in Nederland. Uitgeverij Ambo.