4.9.44

Monday, Oom Jan arrives to pick us up in his Opel, for a drive at random.

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Bashful, we ask him while we are driving where he has found us a shelter. He had a solution, which we had not in the least expected. We will stay, for the time being, as guests in his home. And so unfolds the arrival of the “evacuees“ from Zuid Limburg, the “Faessen” couple. They are deeply touched by all the kindness and love of one’s fellowman and they can hardly believe that after the horrible past, they now have found the circumstances in which they will find freedom, refinement and cordiality.

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Seven children are at home. The oldest son, Jaap, studies at the University in Amsterdam. Leo, the second son, could not travel to the Noviciat of the Fathers of the S.V.D. in Steyl, as the advances of the Allies approached cautiously, and one could not know quite which parts of the country would become a combat theater. Willy, for the same reason, could not return to her beloved boarding school in Bussum. And Jan, who was attending gymnasium F.C. in Venray, had to stay home too.

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We are put up the comfortable guest room, something we had not been used to for a long time. In the living room we hear suddenly trusted voices, voices we had missed for quite a while coming through a radio transmission from the other side of the North Sea —England. The evening meal brings us two new innovations: eel salad and a warm tomato puree made by Tante Jo as the gourmet artist. And later on when the circumstances were much more difficult to cook with what was available, Tante Jo always made the food taste like a gourmet meal. Willy shows herself a good helper with all the household chores. Everything is like a dream. Can it remain this beautiful for us? We can scarcely believe it.

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5.9.44

the Mad Tuesday?!

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The news and rumors about successes in the war followed each other with the speed of an avalanche. An air of excitement everywhere! The radio announces: English troops have captured Breda. The laborers in Rotterdam are warned by the Headquarters of the Allied troops to prevent destruction of the harbor by the Germans. The German army is in retreat. The English troops and the Dutch Princess Irene Brigade are probably in Amsterdam tomorrow. Here at home all kinds of orange colored decorations appear suddenly. Leo travels to Amsterdam to witness the entry of the Queen. He takes along a suitcase full of potatoes (naturally, for Jaap). Has the hour of liberation finally, finally arrived?

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7.9.44

Everyone sobers up.

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The news of the approaching liberation has traveled faster than the facts. It seems that the English crossed the southwest border into the Netherlands, but that they were halted there. Breda was not yet in the hands of the English troops. The news was too premature. In Holland the Germans begin to offer resistance; General Fieldmarshall Rundsted has taken over supreme command again. Leo returns home without the Queen.

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Again we have to wait. How long now?! Both usual and unusual life goes on. Many things repeat themselves, either daily or weekly. We will therefore report some of the special events in concise form.

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For instance, we call Mondays, the laundry days. These days take up Tante Jo’s time from early morning till late in the afternoon. Oom Jan starts even earlier as fire stoker to heat the water. There was a competition between Fietje and Willy for a long time, who would be the one to help Tante Jo with the laundry. There would be tears sometimes, but  in the end they found a peaceful solution. And so the sun will shine again and life goes on. On days when she did not shine, which happened quite often, the laundry had to be dried artificially. For this purpose, the stove in the living room is fired up. After first hammering in some nails, tall Jaap spans a line from one end of the room to the other to hang the wash. He does it with ease; a stepladder is not all needed.

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Then there are the Thursday late afternoon bicycle trips of Oom Jan often in rainy and windy weather. But duty calls!  Gifts such as pens, cheese, butter, and jam accompanied him once in a while on his return trip.

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 We will not forget “the living clock“ in the figure of Mr. van Amersfoort, who for a long time, arrived at exactly two minutes before 11:45 A.M. to listen to the war news. He did this with such a regularity and punctuality, that it would make watchmaker Hinke jealous.

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We also remember the erstwhile evening competition when Mr. Larsen from Apeldoorn arrives to get a telephone connection and during the time it took to get the connection through we were entertained by his own speaking tube that rattled on. The Wednesday evenings brought the bridge games as sole relaxation for Oom Jan. The games alternated between the rectory, the Willebrand home, and here at home.  For lack of electricity and heating after a while, the bridge games would be at Willebrands and here at home.

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The potato peel trio worked pleasantly in the warm room while holding discussions and listening to the ethereal tones of the symphonies of Beethoven or Mozart.

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How often did the more or less out of tune sighs of the quarte-mains sound out the melody of the black exhibition piece by Botman!

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Certainly we should not forget the tasks of Oom Jan, increasing almost daily. He keeps up with the pace of misery and need. He has now three offices: one at City Hall, one at home, and the third one on the village streets. He would love to be able to be at all three at the same time. Willy handles the telephone and doorbell, while trying hard to find an answer to all the needs and questions. Not a meal for Oom Jan passes without interruption. He always shows the same calmness and willingness to help. Never a word of spite.

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Leo is always busy with all kinds of household chores. He is the successor to his father as pigkeeper. He has to prepare the tasty meals for V1 and V2 while Wim takes care of his rabbits and Fons feeds his goat.  Tante Jo cares for the rest of the family. Some time later Leo opens a molasses factory that soon reaps an enthusiastic clientele. Besides he is a much sought after teacher for seminarians, while Jaap tries to increase the scientific knowledge in the brains of future women scholars, first Fietje and later also Netty van der Donk.

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We listen at night to the droning roar of the Tommies and the Americans on their way in the air to their targets in Germany . During the day, we see them as flocks of silver birds returning to their bases.

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People, who had to evacuate, are arriving daily;  for example the van Amersfoort family from Den Helder. Oom Jan organizes the placement of evacuees  on a large scale, which brings out petty excuses from some local residents. Often people come to understand such need after they experience it for themselves.

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Winter has arrived!  Cold, but no fuel. Darkness, but no electricity for many people. The hours that gas is available are rationed, only to disappear all together later on. Electricity is available less and less often. Only a few of the public buildings and the home of the Mayor still have electricity, but that is also on the decline. First some hours at regular intervals, then it becomes very irregular. Finally the electricity is cut off altogether. And with this total outage, the many friends, who had been using the electricity clandestinely, were without any too. The Germans have instituted the death penalty for clandestine use of electricity.

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After a short period of lighting with oil lamps, the kerosene lantern graces the table. However, this lantern was also doomed. There was always rejoicing about the wonderful light, and then...soon sorrow to see the clear flame diminish after a life of short duration.

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The specter of famine treads incessantly closer, ever more threatening and horrible. He sends his messengers from the large cities. They arrive by bike or foot. Children and elderly collapse on the streets, exhausted and weakened. From the pulpits, clergy such as our Pastor Nolet, reach out to the hearts of parishioners with shocking descriptions of the deprivation and misery in the big cities. They beg parishioners for help taking in the hungry children. The effort’s success is astoundingly large. By the end of March 1945, 400 children will have been placed here with parishioners. 

 

For weeks, scarcely a day passes, that shelter does not need to be provided  for someone, often late at night. Leo goes out and finds that shelter.

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Sometimes two or three times a week, acquaintances arrive. Or it may be acquaintances of acquaintances looking for food and shelter. Willy offers her bedroom for the night and she sleeps as the divan acrobat in the enclosed rear porch.

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Almost daily, hungry people ring the doorbell for a sandwich, which has to be eaten on the spot to prevent its barter in the black market; people also ask for lunch, soup, dinner, potatoes etc.

But there are exceptions: Nelly, 1.77 meters tall with a stomach of a sparrow, makes Tante Jo’s life difficult by eating—practically nothing.  Tante Jo finds this more serious with every passing day. But Nelly works steadily and hard, and does not look like someone on her deathbed and does not succumb.  This mystery may require a different solution.

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“Potatoes, potatoes” is the slogan at present. Oom Jan’s wizardry juggles potatoes out of the soil again and again. The guilder fall out of demand.  Potatoes are the common currency. Even dawn breaks with potatoes in her mouth. The windows of almost all the stores display all kinds of articles in exchange for groceries: diapers, shaving cream, stoves, shoes, ersatz coffee, matches, safety-pins, dresses, etc. No wonder that the cobbler of Dr. Schlichting arrives and keeps on arriving with tools and repair kit to exchange labor and material for foodstuffs.

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During the bitterly cold winter months, the fuel question is of equal urgency. Old trees are chopped down. The landscape changes her face becoming naked and empty. But how many are out there who are not able to cut down trees or do not have the money or articles to barter the fuel for heating and cooking? Oom Jan knows a way. He provides heat —for the stove and for everyone in the house. He strikes a barter of our potatoes for trees from Harderwijk.  He also locates trees in other towns. Almost daily, applicants come by to add their names to the list for wood.

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This was how the life went on. In this reflection of more or less normal every day engagements, a few special days should be remembered.

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18.9.44

For quite some time we hear alarming rumors about razzias involving young men in Amsterdam.

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Jaap is no longer safe there. Also Oom Theo Schlichting called in view of the worsening food crisis and asked for shelter and food for 4 of his own children. As always, with Oom Jan and Tante Jo the question is not “Can we do this?“ but “How will we do this?“  After a brief discussion the decision was handed down. Two children will be housed here and the other two with Piet Koster. Tini, the second maid, will vacate her room and move back to sleep at her parent’s home.

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Oom Jan leaves with his Opel, marked as a police car under the protection of a police officer, for his last drive. That same evening, Jaap and also Hildegard and Liesbeth Schlichting arrive in house “Elastiek.”

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23.9.44

The row of birthdays, since the Faessen invasion, starts with Jan.

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His father, Oom Jan, gives him a magnificent missal.

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24.9.44

This Sunday begins mysteriously. 

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Ready for the High Mass, we hear Oom Jan knocks at our door and say: “There is someone downstairs who would like to speak with you.”  That must be a mistake. Who, at this time of the day, would like to see us?? Downstairs was...Fietje!!A reunion after a separation of many months. We did have a rare exchange of letters with her. The always helpful Willy was a cheerful courier to Hoogkarspel. She would bring letters from Fietje and now and then kisses  –very nice – but not often enough. Willy also carried out the loving plan of Tante Jo and Oom Jan to bring Fietje to her parents. In the early morning hours, around 6:30 A.M., when it was still dark, Willy climbed on her bicycle and, with a second bike for Fietje balancing in her right hand, was on her way to Hoogkarspel to bring the lost daughter to house Elastiek. This Sunday visit began with Fietje falling ill and ended, after her recovery, with her incorporation into the occupying forces. And so Fietje became a permanent guest.