A bulb-grower and bookkeeper before becoming mayor, Jan Elders participated in the agricultural trade federations throughout North Holland and beyond from the early 1930s onward, eventually as a leader. This regional network would prove invaluable to Burgemeester Elders during the years of German occupation for ferrying food, forged documents and ultimately, fellow humans to their intended, if temporary destinations, for one night, one week, or one month or longer.

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Jan Elders would serve a total of 30 years, 1935- 1965, as the mayor of Bovenkarspel, during which time the village quadrupled to 4,000 inhabitants. He laid the groundwork for the merger with the adjoining villages of Grootebroek and Lutjebroek into the municipality known today as Stede Broec. Thereafter, he would go on to serve as the dijkgraaf of the Drechterlandse Waterschap until 1975, as well as chair of numerous charities and other organizations.

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The Elders and Fröhlich-Schipper families have remained close throughout the ensuing decades. On Wil’s honeymoon trip with her new husband, Dr. Jos Wiegman, she visited Oom Georg and Tante Edith Fröhlich in Karlsruhe in 1957, showing off her wedding dress as the photos below attest.

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In 1959, after the birth of their first child (me–Leo) in Zeist, Wil and Jos followed Sabine and Cor to the United States, and raised seven children in New Hampshire. Jos was a county doctor and Wil ran a tight ship at home while volunteering for local schools and libraries and hospitals for years.

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Meanwhile, the little dagboek lay in a desk drawer in the home of Jan and Johanna Elders for the ensuing decades, first in Bovenkarspel through the 1960s, in Hoorn in the 1970s, then in Driehuis in the 1980s, and finally in Dalfsen.

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A personal note 

Our Opa Elders spoke very little about the war and its trials, even when pressed by his many curious grandchildren.

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One time in the summer of 1976, Opa Elders, calmly described as much as I and my brother, Jan,  ever heard him say: “Ja, ja, jongens. Er moesten taken ondernemen worden–soms onaardige taken. Er moest absoluut stilte heersen om elke deelnemer te beschermen. Een ieder werd zijn taak toegewezen. Een ieder voerde zijn taak uit voor de gehele inzet van de groep.” (“Well, boys. Things had to be done, sometimes unpleasant things. We had to maintain absolute silence in order to protect each participant involved. Each was assigned his task. Each carried out his task for the entire commitment of the group.“)

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When we pressed Opa about talking once more, he simply replied, “Er waren jongere deelnemers, nog veel jonger dan ik. Daarom de stilte.” (There were younger participants, much younger than I. Therefore, the silence.)”

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At the time, I remember thinking of Cor Schipper, Sabine’s husband, whom we knew as Oom Cor, and calculating that Oom Cor was one of those ex-resistance members, “much younger than” Opa and still protected by Opa. I am sure the feeling was mutual between Oom Cor to Opa Elders. To the best of my knowledge, Oom Cor never said much either.

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Opa never said more than those few words to us about the war years. Even decades later, the code of silence still ruled. But that does not mean we today cannot learn from that silence. Quite the contrary: Silence as character, honor and trust.

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For centuries, Europe had rarely passed a few decades without a major war breaking out. Burgemeester Elders was an early proponent of the European Union, sporting a “EU” decal on his Peugeot sedan years before the “Europe without frontiers” became a reality. With others of his generation, he used a keen memory of the patterns of the past, both good and ill, to guide the present into the future.

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Opa’s silence always reminds me of “Je maintiendrai,” (I will persevere) the motto of the House of Orange inscribed on the coat of arms of the Netherlands. Opa had been awarded the Order of Orange-Nassau (Orde van Oranje-Nassau) by the Queen and would wear the tiny blue-white-orange Oranje-Nassau ribbon on his suit coat lapel for special occasions.

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When afforded the opportunity to design his own crest as a long-serving Dijkgraaf, Opa chose the motto, “Diligentia et Labor,” with the sun representing diligent constancy in her daily arrival and the bee representing persistent labor. This work is published as a Diligentia et Labor Edition, in honor of those twin values.