DIGGING IN THE DIRT OF HISTORY

I was born in 1941 in the town of Doetinchem, the Netherlands. My father was a member of the underground, and was also head of Civil Defense which made him not subject to curfew.

In the war, all young Dutch men were required to go to Germany, not to concentration camps, but to work in German factories to keep the war machine going, since all German men were at the front.

Some young Dutch did not want to go. We had one of those hiding in our home with false papers.

Subsequently, the underground brought to our house an Austrian defector, so HE hid in our house. Then the Gestapo came and checked out the size of our home to see if there was a spare room for some of their people. They took our salon and we were henceforth not allowed to enter. More...