2
12
35
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/190ca0d498eb08dfc67b37cda70f177b.pdf
07c9e1925f2b8f1269073d847cb94419
PDF Text
Text
The goal of the Axis powers in its major attacks was to obtain
contro~ of the opponents economic infra-structure and as much
as proved possib~e and to obtain it in the best possible condition.
The economic infra-structure intact. offers the occupying forces
valuable help.
If the major attacks destroy too much, the rebuilding of the
infra-structure in war time defies the imagination, logisLically.
a
Regrdless of the system mankind lives under those in power rest
their hope on the public's amnesia.
It has become the invaluable achievement of the underground press
and of tne British Broadcasting Company that amnesia aid not
occur. The hope for tne great goal of the wettern democracies
to be free again under the rule of law, was kept alive,
its flame never was extinguished. ana 1£ one bearer of the flame
fell, other hands gripped the torch tightly and carried it
forward.
That is one side of the human factor. The opposillte represents
the inexactness of social studies in evaluating human behavior
as inexact asi: the stux:dy of economics has proved to be.
Roger Morris who served on the National Security Counci~
under the Johnson and Nixon administrations, recently wrote
about our capacity to take the devil as an ally.
He starts to say : " It was a rare , fleeting , ugly glimpse
into the aark unaerside of American foreign policy, a worid
that 1·ew of us can imagine "
And speaking in that artic.i.e about tne CIA. he states
"The C!A and its predecessor, the old offoce of Strategic
Services, harbored and hired Nazi war criminals as allies
against tne Sovjets in the early days of the cold war. For
tne SS and Gestapo officers, no questions were asked."
Paul de Man, a Belgian is a perfect example.
During the NAZI occupation of his country he wrote some 100
articles and book reviews, always rabid ant.i-Semitic in
the Nazi newspaper Le Soir.
Yet he became a professor at Yale, teaching 11 deconstruction"
amethou, not a coherent boday 9f knowledge, Which in
effect a vast amnesty project for the politics 01· collaboration
during WWil.
IffY
In this connection l want to repeat personal conviction that
despite the exponencially exploded literature about nazism
and fascisme, tnere remains a wide gap, which can only be
filled. by a study in all West European countries of the newspapers and magazines that were allowed to appaer during the 5
years of occupation. David Lehman wrote a lucid article about
Paul de Man in Newsweek and m:, remarks are being attributed
to him, but ffiey struck the still VJJry sensitive strings
in me which longed for just such a study.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
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RHC-144
Format
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Text
Image
Type
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application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
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eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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Identifier
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RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_Lecture-Notes-historical-context-325
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Lecture Notes
Description
An account of the resource
Notes by Pieter Termaat on the goals of the Axis powers during World War II.
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War, 1939-1945
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
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Text
Format
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application/pdf
Language
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eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8c6a6ef4fceaf7322a08d927c573513a.pdf
825e07e5ae1fec012feecfb1f9a89102
PDF Text
Text
The elation of victory has become the memory of the elderly.
There boiled in us a powerless rage; and the normally stolid
people, do have the propensity for a wild outburst of fury.
Once the 5 long years of enemy occupation were over with its
violence, its terror and the total desbuction of freedom
the longing for the liberation had become a fervent hope that
from that day on happiness and savoring of freedom would continue
for the same amount of time.
It was not to be.
This unhappy composition of humam nature has as its result
that no suffering, no violation of mind or body, no destitution
nor fighting the good fight, is properly recognized and honored.
Payment has been in blood, tension and risk, but in exchange
come~ only a few days of elation and the hope that all will soon
improve must be payment en~ugh.
The great anticipation becomes sufficient reWfFd
No architect builds a house without ca culating the forces of gravity.
It should be no different when we build our societies, The essential
needs of the human being, the characteristics of his mind and organs
his relation with his envirement , all these are easily subjected
to scientific observation.
mnitil now man has been occupied with availing himself of all
the abundance of the 1',net and dazzled by the material results
of his scientific advances. But now civilization has reached a
point where it U~eatens to destroy mankind.
The unprecedented dangers of warfare with modern weapons,
the imbalance between riches and poverty that has given birth
to Marxisme and Communism and the retreat from morality in public
and private life, we need not describe in detail.
We have put so much emphasis on intei lect and so little on moral sense.
One of the qualities of the intellect is its inability to understand
life. Moral sense is so much more important than intellect,
When that disappaears from a nation, everuthing else begins to
crumble •
But how is it to be done on a great enough scale to reverse the
flow of materialism in our civilization; how do you change the
motives of men? Obviously from the top down.
Having received a Hi gh School or College diploma , does not mean
that you are educated • At be·s t you have been opened up a permanent
wish, even hunger , for more information, more good thoughts, more
ideas. There is low road, the minimum road which will provide a living
or get by socially. The other, the high road leads you to read
a couple of books every month for the rest of your life, to conceive
and carry ~ut fresh ideas and work at them.
And you, young men and women who are in your junior and senior
years, cab be a solid guide to freshmen and sophomores, simply
by your attitude and your behavior .
�Having had a solid formal education has been through life a
good foundation.
High schools and colleges should introduce subjects that will
tie in with the later needs of the graduates in the real world.
We will have to teach them history and geography simultaneously
as both these subjects are intertwined
Specialization will be beneficial but it also may make communication between the technical ( the so~called beta's) and the
salespeople ( the alpha's) •
Bothalpha and beta are based on the system of higher education
in The Netherlands, where at an early stage is being determined
which school will be attended.
The Netherlands' resistance operated behind enemy lines, atacking
them whereever possible, preferably where they were most vulnerable.
Writing about their exploits, based as it is on historical events
requires some research and one's own experience.
Like most men who have experienced extensive combat, resistance
members are notoriously closemouthed about their exploits and
generally unwilling to talk about themselves.
Since however it is germane to the overall story (history) the
more factual material as can be gathered and made relevant, do
belong to be put in writing.
Frightened people do frightful things
In the night from March 11 to 12 , 1938 /\.ustrian authorirties invited
the German in: Heim ins Reich ( Back to the fatherland) ~nschluss
( one state) ; the prodigal son coming home; the correction of a
historical mistake.
On April 10, 1938, one moneh later a referendum was held and 99.75
%of the voters approved what had happe:imed.
Europe would pay a high price: 70 of the Gestapo was composed of
Austrians •
On order of the Cabinet in London in September 1944, all resistance
groups would be bound together into a unified fighting force.
Those in the Resistance from the beginning clearly saw the danger
of infiltration of such a force by traitors or by individuals who
before D-day had been laying low or worse had been cozying up to
the occupier. There fears became in many an instance true.
~dd to this the total inexperience in intelligence work and in the
field of panning and executing the hard and stern work of striking
there where it counted, and you have a situation where efforts were
wastmd and mresulted in very many unnecessary casualties.
Enemy infiltration became also an ever present danger.
�Returning refugees; memories endure.
In 1945 Britain sent back to their homelands, and death, 70,000
Cossacks and Jugoslavs. Nobody wants to see a repetition of that
For most of todays boatpeople the impetus is that of wanting a better
life. There is nothing wrong with that. It is the same impetus impetus
that brought the forebears of most living ~mericans to the U.S.,
Many of these "boat" people also risked their lives in crossing the
Atlantic; no one turned them back at Ellis island because of an
inability to prove persecution back home.
The unduckable problem to day is in the numbers .
¢Faced with so many, western countries, even ~merica have long abandonned
any pretense of indiscriminatingly accepting everyone.
Most have decided that you can gain admission quickly if you are rich,
useful, related to a citizen of the country, or a refugee escaping
specific persecution. If not you must take your place in a queue as an
ordinary immigrant.
El DI
Seek purpos-e and duty as an ideal. Power and fame fade always.
Nothing in life just happens; you have to have the stanmila to meet
obstacles and overcome them and to struggle without ceasing.
the questions are simple What happened and why did it happen?
What might have happened, and why did i~ not.
under the evanescent surface, only a few countries remain in ~sia. that are
in control of themselves: these are Indonesia and Thailand.
Octavias Ceasar told Cleopatra's story to the Romans in their four principles
1. foreigners are inferior
2. women are inferior
3. a man dominated by a woman is no longer a real man
4. such a man is unaccountable for his crimes: the fault is the moman's.
�Thomas Jefferson, asserted that whenever a man has casts a longing
eye on public office , a "rottenness " begins in his conduct .
Too often since 1945 , loudly confident Americans, have so got up the
noses of other nations, that they have achieved the precise opposi~te
of their intentions.
quote: the strong one is mighty_ alone.
marriage is a bond of servive
and honors are a cult by themselves
events command; we perform
make it your hobby my sons, to watch the show go by.
and know yourself_ there is but one first aid - help yourself
in hindsight, how it all fits together, all of life.
there is danger everywhere down here and that too is necessary.
poverty: the school of vice
and joyous ia who can find joy
the currant does not know itself
your mind has to be tormented and exalted, before you can see God
that is hard
Death and life are in the power of the tongue;
and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21
Plato: Education does not consist in telling people new things
it consists in extracting from their memories what they already know.
In the 19J0ties, it proved much easier to recruit committed antifascists in Europe for espionage work than for fascisme to recruit
its very limited band of supporters abroad.
�They had just stepped away from the road when they saw an army truck roll kl
by, filled with soldiers with their rifles at the ready. They could not
make out what unit they were from J ......:.f- M ~ J
~~
From the road the meadow was sloping down to the river. They kept
running until they reached the bank. Crouched behind the summer diEke
they kept running towards the city and only stopped when they saw the i:la:m!:e
lumber mill. The willows on the other side had some branches deeply
ha~ ng till they reached the water.
Th~ river seemed wider than it appeared durin~ the summer.
The water was high, swollen by the rains that always c~me in abundance
during the fall. Its current was swift with treacherous whirlpools in the
middle and near the stretch dams built into the river on the outside
of its many vurves •
They could hear the water scour the low dikes. The moon light was reflecti ~
1
in the myriad little waves and the depth of the water seemed uncertain.
It was hard now to measure the distance to the other bank.
Though the oppositebank looked quite uninhabited , they knew that even
if they managed to swim across, they would later have to proceed across
the only bridge that crossed the river in the hiiddle of the city.
There would undoubtedly be guards onE the bridge and even if they managed
to bring their small weapons and ammunition wrapped in oil cloth across
safe and dry, the thought of running into the guards seemed out of the
qµestion •
In the summer in bright daylight you could cross the river swimming,
even when the melting snow from the t1.lps had swollen the the stream
and speeded its course. You only had to swim diagonally with the flow
and not fight it to cross straight.
ot
~nd crossing here, and then proceed north to the brige and cross the
river again when the bridge was in sight was too risky. The current
could smash them into one of the bridge piles, and even in the pale
moonlight they would be visible from the bridge or its heads and draw
fire from the guards.
-L..-r,
·
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_Lecture-Notes-Advice
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Notes and advice to young people
Description
An account of the resource
Notes by Pieter Termaat about the Dutch resistance movement and advice to young adults.
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Netherlands -- History -- German occupation, 1940-1945
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
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application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ec630aa7a3f34864fe76d218a3e1e735.pdf
90cdddd29d054028bd9557d475f26d47
PDF Text
Text
GVSU
From the middle of the 1930ties, the seemingly parallel lines
of development of Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan were being
forged into diplomatic contacts to bend these lines to a point
certain where they would converge and then intersect.
Together they pursued ~eo-political goals from the A~lantic to
the Urals and in the Pacific a mare nostrum for ZJapan.
In Europe a defense system was pursued from the North Cape to
tne Spanish border; Norway, Denmark. Holland, Belgium and
France would have to be taken after wnich tne ultimate goal
- - - - - - ~of congering England would De reached.
The German High Command , at·ter the det·eat in WWI I where a
cease fire in 1918 made the allied armies come to a halt short
of enterl.ng Germany, set the goal for the next war.
Japan after winning a war against Russia in 1904 - 1905 Decame
the first Asian state to defeat a European power and conceived
a stat,egy to conquer Korea, Mansjuria · - •• and in particular
the Netherlands East Indies.
ere raw materials were availabie
l.n abundance , as ..._ -.- WPr.>
labor •
The conquest of the west of Europe would lay a protective shield
in front of Germany's heavy war ind.~try in the Ruhr , and wnen
WWII started. Heil.and and Belgium bor.e"~unt of tne newly developed
air forces, besides for Germany being the jumP-off point for the
attack on England, and for the Allies a point of entry into
Europe
for Germany's defeat.
- - - -- - On September
10, 1943 Hitler's right hand man Joseph Goebbels
wrote 1n nis diary :
11 The FUhrer expects the Anglo-American invasion attempt to come
in The Netherlands. We are the weakest there, and the
population would be most inclined to give the necessary local
support for such an undertaking, As everybody knows, tne Dutch
are the most insolent and obstreperous people in the entire west."
- - -- - - ~Quote, unquote.
- - - - --
For Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain it was clear that they would
have only one chance to achieve their goals: a oordinated and
fast attack.
In a mi~ ary conflict a strong economic base is more vital in the
long term than military superiority. Stretching militarily beyond
what taeir economies will sustain, nations are looking for a fall.
History gives us concrete examples:
the Hapsburg monarchy went unier througn deficit financing and
inflation;
Spain's Philip II with a large deficit• attacking Holland , Belgium
and England, with the Duke of Parma's landing Army contained by
the Dutch shallow draft war snips, while the larger Dutch and
English war ships defeated the foolish toP-heavy ships of the
Armada ,. with all the refined tools of torture froma Torquemada aboard.
And we ourselves are hard put to fulfill the mili~ary obligations
which came to us at the brilliant victories over the Axis powers,
in 1945 •
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_Lecture-Notes-322
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Lecture Notes
Description
An account of the resource
Lecture notes by Pieter Termaat about the rise of fascism in Europe and the lead up to World War II.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Fascism
Germany -- Social conditions
Social conditions
Germany
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/61c5db2c80dc63b88439d28c4da87bbf.pdf
5ef334244767c60a48f8646958f1ff00
PDF Text
Text
OUR FATHERLAND
Prologue
''Tomorrow at )lawn, stand fast", read the coded message from Major Sas,
Netherlands' military atta~ in Berlin to Army Head Quarters in The Hague. Our strict
\
neutrality violated? Yes. Just another broken promise from Hitler. Naively, too many in
responsible positions underestimated the evil that existed across the border. Half a dozen
broken promises between 1935 and 1939. Under the surface of the fast developing events
ran the deep feelings of our people; the shock of the attacks, the unexpected speed of the
defeat after the torching of Rotterdam, and the slow adjustment to the status of an occupied
nation. And then, the at first difficult to discern, but irresistible tightening of the screw of
oppression. Then the moral angle. Where do I call a halt? Are we sliding from bad to
worse? Where is the fine line between right and wrong? Between good and evil? Some
people were confronted at an early moment with a moral choice, some for the sake of
principle, others because circumstances had placed them in a particular situation, at a
certain time, which demanded a fast and clear-cut decision. But in those five years of
occupation, too many were never confronted with a sharply defined cho~ce.
As for the Resistance, one also had to judge each situation as it took place at that
time. In the afternoon of Tuesday, May 141 1940 the military surrender of the Netherlands,
with the exception of the province of Zeeland and the Netherlands' East and West Indies,
'b~came .a fact. Further resistance in the face of the overw e ~ blOJY _Of the fall of all oF
.
-·-·---- ---- - - L.:.
-~ --
western Europe from the North Cape iri Norway --to the Spanish border in 10 short weeks,
�2
appeared useless. The Nazi's were there. How were they to be thrown out? An early
expectation of that was unrealistic.
But to get along meant to perish as a free and
I
democratic nation. No resistance of some kind meant to perish. For the mc!n'ient resistance
/
'
from ~thin seemed the only and long road left to be liberated.
Awareness that resistance would face repercussions was painfully acute. Very limited
at first, growing stronger as the barbaric tyrant forced tragic decisions on o_u r people, the
varied resistance groups, unprepared, inexperienced, began to fight back with determination
and against great odds.
Many generations had passed since they had to face so sharply a choice between
survival and extinction. For the past, its benefits, its tradition and determined striving for
freedom, we were grateful. Not since the murderous Spanish Inquisition had a generation
been faced with so clear a choice of destiny. All that we were as a people was laid as a
trust upon our generation. To fight the good fight for a free country, perhaps in ruins, as a
sure foundation on which our children would build the country anew as had our ancestors.
Freedom, true justice and honor, with our inherent strength, had always prevailed.
In our generation, the times past, and the times to come focused together, when
history and prophesy called our generations to our sacred duty to God, Queen, and
Fatherland.
Our personal active participation in the Resistance started right after the
Netherlands' capitulation, which was caused by the destructive bombing of Rotterdam on
-
May 14, 1940. We could then only anticipate that the occupation, just started, would not
be over soon.
�3
My dad was an aide-de-camp with an Infantry Regiment, engaged in the count~/
/
/
attack against the German breakthrough west of Arnhem.
!n 1940 the population of the Netherlands had pas·sed the nine million mark, of which
150,000 were Jews, a ratio of about one and a half percent. Ninety percent of the Jewish
minority lived and worked in Amsterdam, while the remaining 10% were to be found across
the eleven provinces. In our hometown of Alkmaar, there were about fifty Jews, on a
population of approximately 34,000.
We started the Underground started in August, 1940 with press releases from
England. It would continue until May 8, 1945 at a rising cost in lives.
Nobody escaped the pressure of a pure material choice, forced upon the people
through the ever tightening clamp of war-economy on food, clothing, transportation, and the
ever diminishing opportunity for relaxation and respite.
The net, in which we were caught, pulled ever tighter as gold, silver, gold, copper,
bronze (coins and artifact), radios, bicycles and food, obtained on 'hunger trips', was
confiscated. The dark shadows of self esteem, stolen by being chased by the slave haulers,
and forced to hard labor at hunger rations far from home, became a way of life. _ _ - '
Gradually the resistance grew. It began to express itself in seveE._al forms. At the same
time many varian~es of collaboration became manifest. Only few acted on principle, most
were based on opportunistic grounds, because Germany at that time seemed to be on top.
�I
I
4
/
In the occupied countries of Europe, the Nazis ruled in several cµfferent ways,
I
/
adapting tactics which all served their
- purpose. Naive underestimation of( the real designs
/
of nazism, fascism and corporatism was the rule. It was wishful thinking to not hear, see
I
and understand. Nazi Germany instituted the draft in 1933, grabbed the Rhineland in 1936,
joined Austria with 99.75% of the vote in 1938 and its "homecoming" in the Third Reich,
and annexed the Sudeten territory in Czechoslovakia in 1939. These acts, _aggravated by
England's and France's complicity, were as many violations of good faith as any astute
observer should need to arrive at the only possible judgement: 'Who is next and what can
be done about it'.
Nov.
9,
1938:
The infamous Kristall Nacht takes place.
Fifty years later, on November 9, 1988 I have the honor to address the congregation
of Temple Emanuel, and the 'Congregation Ahavas Israel' in Grand Rapids, Michigan in
commemoration of this unforgettable event as follows:
"It is with great sadness that we commemorate together the infamy of fifty years ago,
of what has become known as 'Kristan Nacht' or 'Night of Glass'.
It happened less than a year before Poland was partitioned between Germany and
Russia. In March of 1938 Hitler's armies had been invited into Austria, and that country
was in its entirety integrated. Austria had among its population 185,000 Jews; many of whom
were arrested and sent to the concentration camp of Dachau. But among these were 20,000
-
Jews with Polish nationality, who tried after the German-Austrian unification (Der
L
Anschluss ), to return to Poland. The Polish government refused to take them back, and SS
�5
General Heydrich had these 20,000 people loaded on trains and dropped off at the Polish
border where they, exposed to the elements, wandered about in a no-man's land.
After some six months an accord was struck between Germany and Poland, whereby
each country took in half of these helpless refugees. The inhumane conditions in which these
twenty thousand people lived for six months aroused widespread sympathy in Europe, but
little practical help - for two reasons. To reach them deep inside Europe during the tense
situation already existing between Germany and Poland was virtually impossible. In the
second place,~ western European governments were hesitant, even loath allowing Jewish
refugees into their countries. Hitler's mad ravings over the radio had intimidated many of
these so-called statesmen.
During that horrible fall of 1938, Dutch journalists covered the news along the border
with Germany, and bitter indeed were their memories. For example, they saw a six months
old baby lying on the luggage counter in the Customs building at the border post of
Oldenzaal, without its parents. Not being able to get away themselves, the parents had
apparently put their baby in a train compartment destined for Holland. And there it was,
between the luggage, crying. But the Government's dictum stood: 'it did not want any more
refugees', and the smuggled baby was sent back to Bentheim, across the ~order.
After the war, the prominent journalist Bakker received a phone call. An English
speaking lady wanted to come and see him. The young woman he met was unknown to him.
She showed him a picture of a healthy set of twins and said: 'Without your help these
children would never have been born.' Confused, the reporter looked up. Then she said:
'Kerkrade', and that's when Bakker made the connection - a small Dutch restaurant close
�6
to the border, and two young people cowering in a corner; across the road a German border
guard waiting to take them back. They had fled from the gruesome violence of Kristan
Nacht and had fled to the Netherlands, trusting on its noble tradition of asylum. An officer
of the ~tate Police arrived to hand them over. The man cursed from indignation at this
task. Bakker asked him to delay the matter and called the Department of Justice in The
Hague. Twice they turned his request for asylum down. The restaurant owner advised the
young couple to throw a couple of stones through the window of the Police station. After
al1, a Dutch jail was always preferable over going back to Germany. But the young man
shook his head and said; "Ach nein, die Hollaendische Behoerden haben uns <loch
anstaendig behaendelt." ("Rather not, the Dutch policemen have treated us decently").
Bakker managed to negotiate another half hour's delay, and called the Justice Department
again and told them: "This is my third call, and I want you to know that I will dip my pen
in poison and publish this nationwide. I have sufficient influence to bring this matter up in
Congress. So, unless these two people can stay, only then will I be silenced." It worked.
They were allowed to stay, and after the war Bakker sat there as he fumbled with a picture
of the twins. It was alas but one exception to the Dutch government's rule.
Among the first Jews to be rounded up for the no-man's land between Germany and
Poland were the Grynszpans, whose son, Hershell, was a student in Paris. Unsettled by the
fate of this parents, he shot and killed Ernst von Rath, Third Secretary of the German
Embassy in Paris. It shocked the always hysterical atmosphere in the Nazi Party and
-
inflamed it to such an extent that Hitler gave the order to attack all Jews in their homes and
business on November 9, 1938. In one night two hundred synagogues went up in flames;
�7
eight thousand storefronts were devastated, and shattered plate glass littered German
streets. It was later estimated that the destroyed plate glass represented half a year's
production of the Belgian plate glass industry, from which it had been imported. Eight
hundre~ stores were plundered and thirty five jews murdered. Thirty thousand Jewish men
were arrested and put into the concentration camps of Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and
Dachau. After six weeks they were set free; but only after an additional four hundred had
been murdered. A fine of one million Deutsch marks was imposed, and one fifth of their
investments confiscated. Poor Jews would no longer be eligible for social care and were
concentrated in work camps.
Theaters, musea, public parks and swimming pools became off limits for Jews. Their
children were removed from every level of schooling, and the total number of Jews in
Germany, three hundred thousand (about one percent of the population and unarmed) were
concentrated in Berlin and Vienna.
Protest rallies were held all over Europe, but to no avail. The churches in Holland
remained totally committed to helping the Jews, and the number of their martyrs, after they
themselves were subjected to five years of occupation, testifies to that eloquently.
The only concession before the war was that children would be admitted in limited
numbers, without their parents. England would accept ten thousand; Belgium one thousand;
France six hundred; Switzerland three hundred; The Netherlands one thousand five hundred
and Sweden two hundred and fifty. It proved too little, too late.
It had been night, and now it was day- KRISTALL NACHT- Night of Glass - had
made its horrible mark in history.
�8
After my years at Almere College, my parents sent me to the Pedagogic Academy
in Alkmaar, where I stayed with my grandparents until my parents and brother followed me
from Kampen out there, half a year later. I graduated in 1933 and continued my studies
towards a Masters degree in education.
Due to the financial pressures of the depression, severe budget cuts had to be made
by the schools and, as a result, the maximum number of great school students per class,
which until now had stood fixed at 25, was with one stroke of the pen increased to 45.
Consequently, there were massive lay-offs of teachers, and for us newcomers there was no
chance whatsoever to find employment.
After seven months I finally landed a job with the local government. It was a very
modest position of paymaster with the job description of 'Computing Unemployment
Benefits', and controlling payments in cash on Wednesday afternoons.
I switched my studies to Accounting and Economics at the Business Institute in the
city of Leiden, which I completed in just two years, and on April 18, 1939, in spite of the
increasing threats of war, Janny and I were married.
August 28. 1939:
Mobilization of the Netherlands 200,000 soldiers and
sailors total now: 300,000
September 1, 1939:
Germany attacks Poland. England and France declare
war on Germany.
�9
Jan. 13-April 9, 1940:
The Netherlands are put on general alert.
April 19, 1940:
The Netherlands are in state of siege.
~ur first son was born on April 27th, 1940 and named Cornelus Barend, after his
paternal grandfather. It had been a tense night at the Termaat's home. It had been a very
difficult birth, with labor lasting two days. ·However now, although exhausted, Janny and
Kees were doing well, and with the assistance of a registered nurse, good food and a few
nights of sound sleep, the young mother would soon be back on the road to recovery.
Unfortunately, this could not be said about the political situation of the country, as
newspapers and radio news broadcasts were reflecting the tense international situation at
the eastern border with Germany. Bridges had been mined, ready to be blown up at a
moment's notice, and road blocks were in readiness. The water table had been allowed to
rise slowly. For the western part of the country, which was situated below sea level, this
meant flooded meadows and farm land. The western half of the country lies below sea level.
An intricate pumping system, taking place in several steps, drained the excess water from
the lowest level in several steps to sea level.
May 10, 1940:
Germany invades The Netherlands.
A little before 4:00 a.m. German planes were heard flying overhead in formation. It
wasn't the first time. They had been flying across Holland ever since Poland had fallen and
�10
England and France had declared war on Germany. As a result, the Dutch Minister of
Foreign Affairs had ordered the German Ambassador to his office, protesting strongly
against this violation of our neutrality, but it had been of no avail. The German planes
continu~d to fly across. Was this going to be just another attack on England? It didn't take
very long to find out that it wasn't. Half way across the North Sea, the Nazi squadrons had
turned their planes around, splitting up into separate formations, entering low across the
Dutch dunes, attacking the airports of Ypenburg, Valkenburg, Bergen and Ockenburg, in
a surprise attack, largely destroying the small Dutch Air Force. Nazi paratroopers landed
at the airports around The Hague, the seat of the Dutch Government, and the residency of
the Royal family. Although many parachutes did not open, too many of them did.
Besides The Hague and the above mentioned airports, paratroopers also landed at
the Waalhaven airport, across the Meuse River, south of Rotterdam, and on the two
Moerdijk bridges, the bridgeheads across the main rivers to the south. They were right on
target in order to cut off any attacks by French troops and their armor, which were moving
north, through Flanders, to attack the southern flank of the German army. Smaller para
units jumped at the De Kooi airfield near the naval base of Den Helder, and near IJmuiden,
where one of the major canals, which was also a major water transport connection with
Amsterdam reaches the North Sea. Around The Hague Dutch Army Reserves consisted of
a well trained battalion of Grenadiers and untrained Reserve troops, barely six week under
arms.
Between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. of May 10th, German troop carriers landed one thousand
troops for the attack and consolidated of the three airfields around The Hague. Fifty seven
�11
of the carriers immediately sank up to their axles in the soft soil, and for the next three days
became the target of the attacking Dutch troops, which either killed or captured the entire
German attack force.
~n the meantime however, heavy German bombers (Heinkels) attacked strategic
bridges in . Rotterdam, Dordrecht and Moerdijk at high cost. The Dutch air defense
destroyed five hundred of them, including the previously mentioned transpo~ planes, which
during the five-day war had become stuck in the soft soil and sandy beaches. These losses
would hurt Germany for years to come.
Most of the enemy planes were piloted by
instructors. Nevertheless the German air force kept flying into The Netherlands through the
same air corridors for five days.
Losses on the Dutch side were considerable, as one
hundred and twenty eight officers, two hundred and seventy nine non-commissioned officers,
one hundred and sixty four corporals and one thousand four hundred and ninety one
soldiers lost their lives. Six thousand nine hundred soldiers were wounded and two thousand
one hundred and fifty nine citizens killed. Shot as traitors in the field were two officers, one
non-commissioned officer and two soldiers. The Navy lost one hundred and twenty five men.
Army officers counted for four percent of the army's strength, six percent of which were
killed in action.
The reason behind the German Headquarter's estimation to defeat the Dutch armed
forces in 24 hours, was that they had counted heavily on the success of their airborne
landings around The Hague. This would be a first in military warfare of vertical attack.
-
According to German military sources, the 22nd Luftlande Division (Airborne troops)
sustained very heavy losses, both in men and material. Twelve hundred para troops were
�12
captured, and at order of General Winkelman, C.I.C, Army Chief of Staff, these were
immediately transported to England, an action which threw Hitler into one of his tantrums.
The German air attack force used the instructors from the air force training school
to fly t~e attack planes. They were not easy to replace. German losses in bombers and
fighters amounted to one third of the force sent into combat. Transport planes lost fifty
percent of their total force. Such losses were felt for years to come and were a factor in the
delay of the attack on England in September of 1940. General Winkelman decreed that the
defense industry was not allowed to work for Germany. Gas and oil use for the German
attack on Western Europe amounted to three hundred thousand tons. They captured one
and one half million tons in Holland, Belgium and France, of which half a million in The
Netherlands alone.
Elsewhere, German troops had crossed the rivers Rhine and Ijssel and established
bridgeheads despite heavy casualties. They wondered why the dead float? Why the wounded
sink?"
The mid-country railroad center of Amersfoort lay now in the line of attack. As a
result, the Chief of Staff ordered the complete evacuation of that city and its surrounding
areas to the city of Alkmaar in the northwest.
Forty thousand people arrived by trains and buses, hoping to find shelter with the
local citizens. It was a chaotic and pitiful scene, as bus loads and train loads of people
arrived with only the clothes on their backs.
Janny and I opened our doors to a family with five of their ten children. The
remaining five children were placed with our neighbors across the street. Unsettled by the
�13
events however, they naturally gravitated towards their parents. Most of the evacuees dared
not imagine what could happen if the war machine would roll over their city. The fear that
they might lose their homes, their businesses and all their personal belongings worried them
greatly.
The, situation at our home had become chaotic, to say the least. Seven guests were
sleeping in the one and only guest room, in a home with only one bathroom. And all this,
while Janny was slowly trying to recuperate from a difficult childbirth. To complicate
matters, I was called up for air reconnaissance duty in the city, but thanks to my mother and
our family doctor, who stopped by on his regular house calls to check on Janny and Kees,
we made it through until a larger home was found for our seven guests. Next, we received
a young mother with one child, whose husband had been drafted and could not be
contacted. After one month our guests were able to return home. Their city had been
spared serious destruction.
Due to the strong counter attacks by the Dutch, the German plans to take over
Holland in twenty four hours failed, and the battle continued from Friday into the following
Tuesday. Frustrated, the Germans forced the issue by bombing Rotterdam on May 14,
resulting in the loss of nine hundred civilians and the destruction of twenty four thousand
homes, two thousand five hundred stores, one thousand two hundred businesses, five
hundred restaurants, seventy schools, twenty one churches, twenty
1:_ank buildings,
twelve
movie theaters, four hospitals and two concert halls.
To prevent destructions of other open cities, which already had been targeted by Nazi
�14
squadrons, Holland at last capitulated. Our country was now occupied territory, as were
Norway, Denmark, and Belgium. France was soon to follow, and the British expeditionary
force was evacuated, stripped of all armaments. Immediately, the German army began to
prepare_for the attack on England.
Inland shipping vessels were requisitioned for use as landing boats in this attack,
known as the 'Battle of Britain'. However, after the Battle, none of these ships were ever
returned to their rightful owners.
Queen Wilhelmina and the Royal Family, as well as the Dutch Cabinet left for
London, England, from where they continued to govern the East and West Indies. Only
Queen Wilhelmina and Prime Minister Gerbrandy stayed within the city of London during
the entire war from 1940 to 1945. The other cabinet members preferred the luxurious estate
of Crowe Court near Worcester.
In a country dominated by the commercial middle class, any authoritarian tradition
had remained weak. An absolute monarchy had never developed, and during the 19th
century and the first decades of the 20th century a parliamentary democracy had evolved,
and without major upheavals.
Conquest was indeed a shattering experience for the Dutch people.
Reverend
Welter, the minister of the gospel to the Royal Court expressed the overall feelings best in
his poem:
�15
''No, you did not flee but followed, when God called;
I don't ask what you went through, a battle, so intense, so painful.
We kneel down with you and beside you, with our eyes and hands raised to God;
Please give Holland back to the House of Orange,
and the House of Orange back to Holland.
And come what may, we pray, stay silent, the night is black, the day draped in black,
but iord, Your will be done."
On German orders all windows had to be covered with black paper shades, so that
no glimpse of light would shine through. (Kees told us years later of his fear of uncovered
windows. Likely from impressions received at the age of two). Children were not allowed
to fly kites any more out of fear that they might signal to British planes flying over!
Really!
The Wehrmacht, the soldiers belonging to the regular army units, were astounded by,
what they called, 'the luxurious life style' in Holland, compared to the pre-war economy that
had been ravaging Germany for some time. Bakeries and tobacco stores were swamped
with soldiers. It should be said however, that they paid for what they bought, at least for the
time being.
When the Dutch prisoners of war returned home in July 1940, we heard many stories,
about empty store windows, women without stockings, and badly worn shoes. Surely, the
depression years had hit Holland too, and hard, but the availability of food and merchandise
had been ample. However it was not going to last. Within a few months of the occupation
we were beginning to notice the first shortages as certain food items and other products
were rationed, which aggravated, as people started to stock up in anticipation of worse times
to come.
�16
Rationing, in principle, is a flexible system, which can be controlled by determining
quantities and valid time periods, both of which can be either increased or decreased.
Retailers will only be able to stock their merchandise by delivering the ration coupons,
receive~ from the consumers, back to the wholesaler, who in tum can replenish his stock
by delivering the ration coupons to the government inventory warehouses. As a result, a
retailer who sells items without receiving ration coupons, cannot restock, etc.
This would have been too simple however, and the administration of the ever
expanding rationing system for manufacturers, stores and farmers became very burdensome
and very time consuming. It qualified by and by as a national food stamp plan, expanded
to include also non-food items.
The following is a list of the first rations in 1940:
Bread, Flour, Coffee and Tea;
Butter, Margarine, Cooking Oil, Rice, Noodles, Corn, Flour,
Soap and Detergent;
September:
Meat and Cold Cuts;
October:
Coal, Cheese (4 ounces per person per week);
November:
Grits, Eggs, Baked Goods;
December:
Cooking Gas and Electricity;
When I arrived home one day, it must have been around lunch time, I found Janny
and Kees gone. Concerned, I called both sets of parents, but no one seemed to know where
�17
they had gone. Our neighbors had seen her leave the house earlier that day with the baby
in the carriage. Finally, at the end of the day, she showed up, exhausted, but happy
nevertheless. Frightened by the shortages, she had gone out and visited every store that had
wool for sale, a commodity which was still available in ·nominal quantities without ration
coupons. Bit by bit, she had been able to fill the baby carriage, hiding it underneath the
baby. Tired as she was, her toughness and persistence proved to be providential in the years
ahead, and for what would then be our two children.
Our modest savings soon began to run low, but not until I had managed to buy a case
of twelve bottles of peanut oil at a friend's wholesale business.
Meanwhile, the German tactics showed a clear goal: By all means, keep the
population calm. After the battles during the month of May, life continued somewhat
peaceful, keeping the occupied country calm.
Before the war I had served in the National Guard and as a member in leadership
position in the N.J.V., a national youth movement of which Her Royal Highness, the Crown
Princess Juliana, was honorary Chairwoman. The N.J.V. became the first organization to be
banned by the Germans, and among the rank and file of its membership were the first
Resistance commandos to be executed in 1940.
Shortly after the fall of Holland I met Sam Wolf, the son of the Rabbi of Alkmaar.
Like myself, he too had been a member of the National Youth Organization since 1932.
Sam was depressed.
The Amsterdam newspapers had publicized the death of some
�18
prominent Jewish people. We were all aware that there had been many suicides, but except
for vile language, until this moment nothing had been openly undertaken against the Jews.
This too, however, proved to be just another tactic to lull the people into a passive frame
of mind.
Janny and I had joined the 'Nationaal Jongeren Verbond' (National Youth Union)
in 1932 following the initiation of the West Friesland Chapter. At that time there were
chapters in all parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with a combined membership of
1,500. These chapters formed a catalyst among loyal citizen groups on national holidays and
attracted students who would give historical and patriotic lectures throughout the year. We
felt at home because of the shared moral and patriotic high ground. In those crucial years
we worked alongside men and women who were courageous, idealistic and dedicated to a
degree which until that time had seldom been seen among other youth groups.
Our group had been preceded in 1927 by a youth organization, which mainly directed its
efforts against the marxist propaganda for unilateral disarmament. Its transformation to the
National Youth Union under the honorary chairpersonship of her Royal Highness the
Crown Princess Juliana didn't come until later. Besides the goal to strive for a strong
national defense, (not too long after the carnage of World War I, Europe was slowly coming
to a boil once again), the organization came out strongly for the unity of our kingdom as it
had existed for centuries, not only in The Netherlands, but also in the Dutch East Indies,
from Sumatra through New Guinea, the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao in the West
Indies, and last but not least Suriname.
�19
Just prior to our wedding day on April 18, 1939, an order for pre-mobilization of
specialists and strategic regiments was issued. Total mobilization followed on August 29.
1939. Recalling all too well the often critical shortages during 1914-1918, the years of The
Nether!ands' neutrality in World War I,
a distribution system was instituted in September
of that year. Ration cards were issued under the management of the Centraal Distributie
Kantoor ( Central Distribution Office) in · the Department of Commerce,. Industry and
Shipping. Allocation of food supplies was administered by the Department of Agriculture.
Thanks to proper foresight, the Cabinet had stockpiled such critical items as wheat,
vegetable oil, rice, gasoline, coffee and tea.
After the capitulation to the German Armed Forces on May 14, 1940 our youth
organization was the one which stayed on a steady course and participated in the national
public celebration of Prince Bernhard's birthday, on June 29.1940. Orange buttons were
worn by just about everyone, and orange bunting was featured all across the country. People
everywhere were wearing white carnations (Prince Bernhard's favorite flower, which he
always wears), and outside the Royal Palace in The Hague and at Royal Monuments flowers
were piled up. Thousands signed the palace register with their congratulations, which was
later confiscated by the Nazis.
In our monthly 'De Trom' ('The Drum'), we encouraged people to stay loyal to the
Queen and our fatherland and to ignore the German presence as much as possible.
Sometime after June 29, 1940 two members of our national board, Messrs. Van
�20
Santen and Schiebergen, were arrested and our organization was awarded the high honor
of becoming the first organization to be banned and we, the members, became part of the
first organization, which had now been declared illegal by the invaders. Another
organiz~tion, besides ours, which also received the honor of becoming illegal was the 'Order
Service' (O.D.), consisting of military personnel only.
May-Nov. 1, 1940:
A curfew is put into effect for the coastal provinces of
Groningen, Friesland, Noord Holland, Zuid Holland and
Zeeland. No one is allowed outside between 10:00 p.m. and
4:00 a.m.
After November 1, everyone has to be inside by
midnight.
I
A free press and radio had disappeared immediately at the beginning of the
occupation. It was forbidden to listen to the B.B.C., London and on May 13th, 1943, all
radios were confiscated. We hid ours carefully.
This gap needed now to be filled by writing or printing pamphlets with the latest
news releases clandestinely received via the B.B.C. from 'Radio Oranje' (Radio Orange),
the official broadcast of the Dutch Government in exile in London.
Insidiously, in all of Europe, the Nazis had never exercised pre-publication censure
(prior restraint) of the press. They simply rationed the amount of paper the newspapers
-
were to receive. As a result those publications not liked by the Nazis were put out of
business. The rationing, however, cut so severely into the size of the remaining publications,
�21
that nothing substantial was printed. All this took place very gradually, step by step.
However, to resist step by step proved futile. The steps were nearly always too small to
provoke any major reaction from the publishers. But, as with the rationing of all our other
needs, ~he iron ring around our necks, personally as well as a nation, became tighter with
every turn of the screw.
Starting in the fall of 1940, men were recruited to work in Germany, in factories and
on farms. In 1941, many of them were sent to help build the Atlantic Wall from the North
Cape on the Barent's Sea to the Pyrenees in Spain. It all started on a voluntary basis. Being
unemployed at home, as a result of the depression, made regular wages very tempting.
However, in the spring of 1942 this type of employment became compulsory, for German
manpower had eroded swiftly, either through heavy military losses in Russia or casualties
of bombings at home, and slave labor all across Europe was initiated. Many men refused
to go.
Winter 1940/1941: No light is allowed visible to the outside, as windows are
covered with black shades.
Store windows are kept dark. Street lighting and lights on trains and busses are
minimal. When travelling, one notices quickly that very few people read the paper.
Headlights on cars and bicycles are kept down to a narrow slit.
Flashlights are not
available; it's substitute was a hand-driven dynamo with a bulb, called 'knijpkat'.
�22
Before the start of the winter the Germans order all pigeons destroyed, nationwide,
for fear that they might carry messages to England.
Obviously, the Germans didn't
understand that a pigeon had to be brought over from England first, in order to return
messag~s.
The-winter evenings were very long and very cold, especially during this first war
winter. By the middle of December, 1940, rivers and canals were frozen solid and stayed
that way until the end of February. Powerless and angry, we had to stifle our emotions.
Braving the bitter cold, for two and one half months transported underground newspapers
to our contact in Broek op Langedijk by skating over the Hoornsche Vaart and the
Ringvaart (both canals). Among the papers I transported were 'Vrij Nederland' (Free
Holland) and many more regional papers. Fortunately, I never encountered evidence of the
enemy. To control he multitude of waterways and the low-lying soggy land was apparently
just a bit too much for them.
The bridges which were blown up by the Dutch military at river crossings had not
been repaired, and in the spring of 1941, old hand-drawn ferries, pulled along a cable, were
put back in service.
From 1940 until August 1944 the daily rations in terms of calories for adults had
been reduced to about half the pre-war intake. During these four years, the average ration
amounted to less than 1500 calories per day. Although it did not qu~e represent a famine
level, it did lead to a progressive decrease of physical energy and lowering of resistance to
disease.
�23
At that time refrigerators or freezers were not in use. People's ability to stock up was
limited to non-perishables. Thus we began stock home-canned foods, which had never been
a common practice outside farming communities. Then there was a psychological factor at
work. \Yhatever goods were made available on ration cards were purchased, whether or not
they were needed within the next week or two. A perfect example was the purchase of
cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobacco. Non-smokers would purchase whatever smoking articles
became available and either gave them to family members or friends or used them as barter
or sold them at higher prices.
From September 1939 until May 1940, when the occupation by enemy forces became
a fact, only sugar and peas had been rationed, although in adequate quantities and with
reasonable frequency. What was making things worse for the Dutch people was, that only
very recently they had begun to recover from the aftermath of the terrible depression during
the years of 1929 to 1938. Because of this depression, household items, furniture and other
basic necessities had already become depleted by the time the war started. During the first
eight months, ending December 1940, the German authorities rationed yet another 22 items,
affecting 70% of the average family's consumption, and by November 1943, 95% of the diet
was rationed.
Every person, 14 years of age, and older had to carry and I.D.
card with picture and fingerprint.
Meanwhile the list of rationed products keeps growing:
�24
March:
Milk and Surrogate Coffee
Potatoes
All articles made from copper, nickel and chrome
must be surrendered.
All Preserves
November:
Cocoa
Every day items, such as soap and towels also become very
scarce.
Jan.
19, 1941:
We receive 12" snow in one night, something almost unheard of
in the Netherlands.
Feb. 22-23. 1941:
Four hundred Jews are put on transport to Buchenwald. Dutch
Nazis are attacked by the population.
Feb, 25, 1941:
Streetcars and city services in Amsterdam go on general strike.
Initiated by the Amsterdam dock workers. The strike quickly
spreads to the cities of Haarlem and De Zaan. Heavily armed
police cars cruise the streets. There is shooting taking place
and numerous people are killed.
The system of hostage taking had started soon after the capitulation and continued
all through the five years of occupation. Well-known citizens were arrested with the purpose
-
of intimidation of the population. Some were tortured and killed. If somewhere an act of
sabotage occurred, a number of hostages were shot and their names splashed on the front
�25
page of their hometown newspaper. For the survivors it meant years of internment.
The first group of about 300 hostages had been arrested in July, 1940 - two months
after Rotterdam burned. It was publicized as a retribution against the internment of all
Germar.i citizens present in the Netherlands East Indies~
These acts went so much against our ingrained feelings of justice, that the resistance
of the people grew stronger day by day, as did the realization of the risks and sacrifices that
we would encounter.
The women, serving in the Resistance, are fantastic. They act as couriers, transported
weapons, distributed underground newspapers and microfilms, and were active with illegal
newsprint. They assisted in falsifying documents, helped those in hiding, used secret radio
equipment and distributed stolen ration cards to tens of thousands of fugitives.
March 13. 1941:
The first execution takes place.
On March 13, on the Waalsdorper Vlakte, near the Hague, eighteen resistance
fighters die by firing squad, which act will become known as the "The 18 Dead", after a
poem by Jan Campert, a Senior at the Amsterdam University's Medical School. It proved
to be prophetic, as, later on in the occupation, Jan himself was captured and executed for
his resistance activities.
�26
THE SONG OF THE EIGHTEEN DEAD
A cell two meters long for me,
but not two meters wit:{e,
that plot of earth will smaller be
Whose whereabouts they hide.
But there unknown my.rest I'll take
My comrades with me slain,
Eighteen strong men saw morning break
We'll see no dawn again.
Oh bright and lovely land farewellr
Farewell free dunes and shore/
I vow that from the hour you fell
I thought of ease no more.
What can a loyal man and true,
At such a time essay,
But bid his wife and child adieu
And fight the useless fray?
My task was hard, my duty stern,
It brought me toil and strife,
But yet my heart would never tum
Back to my easy life.
Freedom was once in Netherland
Both honored and maintained,
Until the savage spoiler's hand
Its dwelling place pro/an 'd.
�27
Until that lying boastful one
Lengthened his tale of shame
When Netherland was ovenun
And we his serfs became.
Honour he claims, but knows it not,
he glories in our grief
And so"ows on our people brought,
That false germanic thief.
Berlins Pied Piper pipes a tune
Seductive, false and sweet,
But sure as death is coming soon,
My love no more I'll greet.
Nor ever sup with her again,
Nor by her side will lie,
His seeming kindnesses disdain
That fowler cruel and sly.
Remember always, you who read,
These friends who with me die,
Kinsmen and all for whom we bleed,
Keep green our memory.
As we have seen in days now gone
These words to you we say:
'The darkest night precedes the daw74
All clouds must pass away'~
�28
The early morning light I see
Gleams through that window high,
Dying, 0 God, a light make me,
My failures justify.
All men will e" though they may plan;
Thy mercy, Lord, I pray,
That I may quit the world a man
Before the squad to-day.
Jan Campert
In Germany, the extermination camps of Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Auschwitz,
Treblinka and many more, process their victims evermore efficiently.
Unauthorized possession of firearms or other war materials will be punished by
execution, as will the hiding of Allied air force personnel.
April 1941;
Bicycle tires are becoming very scarce, in a country where
virtually everybody uses this as a common means of
transportation
May 8, 1941:
It is still cold, but the first swallows have returned.
What was still an exception in 1940 - offering aid and helping to escape bailed-out
allied crews - becomes an active part of the Resistance movement in 1941.
�29
June 1941-1945:
Twenty thousand Dutch Nazis are killed in action in Russia and
Germany.
July 1941:
Leather is no longer available and soles on shoes are being
replaced by wooden soles, tied to the feet by silk-like straps,
that come loose with every step.
Fall of 1941:
Streets, squares, schools, public buildings, businesses and
products may no longer carry names of living members of the
Royal House of Orange.
Major portion of the harvest is sent to Germany.
November 1941:
Cars are disappearing rapidly. Coal and charcoal gas motors
are being built. Cylinders with compressed gas and gas balloons
appear on taxi cabs.
There is a squeeze on distribution, as a continuous lowering of quantities, and
tightening of rations continues. The results are visible in the faces of the Dutch people, as
they are beginning to lose weight. Both, Janny and are slimming down. Kees has first choice
to the food supply.
The black market is born.
�30
Nov. 22. 1941:
The "Kultuur Kamer' ('Chamber of Culture') is initiated with
compulsory membership for artists. It turns into a fiasco. The
Nazi regime tries to exercise total control.
Dec. 1941:
Hotels, bars, movie theaters and all public buildings become:
'FORBIDDEN FOR JEWS'.
Dec, 12, 1941:
The traitor Mussert, 'leader' of the Dutch Naz~ Party, swears
the oath of loyalty to Hitler in Berlin.
Bicycles are confiscated at fifty guilders per bicycle, about 20%
of the value, which is little better than stealing. The goal is ten
thousand. Actually taken are three thousand six hundred.
And the rationing continues ....
1942:
January:
AH silver and copper coins are replaced by zinc coins.
May:
Chocolate and sugar candy gone.
~
Private persons may not transport vegetables.
lYJy;
Drastic cuts in the rations of butter, cheese and fats.
Bicycles are only available with a special permit.
September:
Skimmed milk
December:
Apples
�31
Living from September, 1942 on in a rural and fertile area, a typical meal would
consist of meatballs without meat, although made from home-grown kidney beans, onions
and oatmeal, it turned out very nourishing; "Hutspot", made from mashed potatoes, onions
and carrots, mixed, and if available a tiny piece of bacon to add to the flavor; "Cement",
named for its consistency of a mixture of mashed potatoes and navy beans; pea soup or red
bean soup and cabbage.
Already in 1940, the Department of Agriculture has decreed that the emphasis should
be shifted from dairy farms to agriculture. Cattle breeding is to be curtailed, and meadows
turned into arable land, with emphasis on the production on potatoes, rape seed, sugar beets
and rye.
Chemical fertilizers however are in short supply and the shrinking cattle herds
diminishes the change-over.
Farm power begins to depend more and more on horse power, but they too are
requisitioned by the Germans, as their supplies of oil and gas start to dwindle.
During 1942 some poor farmers are seduced into going east, with the promise that
they will own their own farm. In reality, however, they are used as front laborers in Russia.
Janny Termaat relates ...
By now everything was rationed and as a young housewife (I was 26 at the time) with
small children it was very difficult to make food, and other necessities of life, last from
coupon day to coupon day. Children, fortunately, do not understand including our young son,
Kees, who had an enormous taste for butter. After I had just finished setting the table for
�32
lunch, one day, with all its pretty dishes but not much food to put on them, I had briefly
returned to the kitchen to make a pot of fresh tea. When I returned to the dining room I
found our son, two years old, seated in the middle of the table consuming the butter. He
sure had his fill and he seemed very content. But only for the moment. Besides a terri~le
case of diarrhea, he broke out in great big lumps all over his body. The doctor was called
but there was not much he could do about it. Nature had to run its course and we had to
live without butter that week.
Janny, pregnant with our second child, receives a modest extra ration. We arrange
to have the baby born in the hospital where food is more plentiful. On New Year's eve, at
11 o'clock p.m., we check into the hospital oblivious to the New Year. At 4:30 a.m., January
1, 1942, Nicolaas Pieter Jan is born, named after his maternal grandfather.
FebruaQ'., 1942:
A telephone cable of the German army has been cut on two
different occasions, for which the city of Alkmaar is punished
with a fine.
Signs saying: "JEWS NOT WANTED' are posted everywhere.
Under protection of darkness, the word 'not' is often blacked
out.
March 11. 1942:
The Japanese occupy the Dutch East Indies.
Because the
Dutch Government has put Germans, livjng in the Dutch East
Indies, in internment camps, movies or slide presentation about
these colonies are no longer allowed.
�33
Because of the massive unemployment, plans had been made in 1938, at the national
level, to separate the Unemployment Reduction Program from the other Social Services
Programs. In 1941 the Plan had finally gone into effect, and I became a federal employee.
pie occupied Netherlands East Indies were subjected to forced labor on a la~ge
scale, and delivered at ten cents a head by the communist Sukarno.
Some one hundred twenty thousand laborers from our country had found work in
Germany, because trading, shipping and fishing on the high seas had come to a standstill.
In the spring of 1942 the German Nazi, Boening, issued a directive, forcin~ unemployed
people to accept work in the German war factories. Large German losses at the Russian
front combined with Allied bombing was putting a heavy drain on German manpower and
on the rebuilding of bombed-out factories.
As mentioned earlier, at the depth of the economic depression, I had switched study
directions, just to get an ever so modest paying position. After eight years, I had progressed
to the position of Regional Manager for the evaluation and placement of the unemplyed.
Suddenly, in April of 1942, I was faced with an order from the occupation forces to select
and send men to Germany over my signature.
On May, 1942, I wrote a letter to the Regional Direct, which read as follows:
"I hereby confirm my verbal communication that, for my conscience sake, I cannot
execute the latest directive about placement of members of the Dutch labor force in
-
Germany. I, therefore, request that you will grant me an honorable discharge from federal
p.
employment. Signed: The negotiator for Traffic and communication, P. Termpiat."
�34
Shortly after I received an answer, which read as follows:
"In answer to your letter, you are notified that, on the basis of a directive from
President Boening, no discharge may be provided to those who do request this on the basis
of conscientious objection against the execution of the labor draft."
After receiving this reply, I resigned. As it turned out, I had been the only one.
Janny and I had unanimously decided to take this step. Having been married only
three years, with two small children, the oldest, two years of age, and the youngest only four
months, and no money in the bank, it had been a difficult decision, however principle won
over self-interest. We fully realized the political and economic consequences, but our prayers
sustained us powerfully. My career, which had been rapidly moving upward, had now come
to an end, with no other financial resources to fall back on.
Meanwhile the availability of food, textile, coal and other utilities, as well as cleaning
supplies reached unknown low levels. From 1944 to 1945 food rations would reach a low
of 350 calories a day, if available.
Those, who had refused to work in Germany had their ration cards canceled because
of non-compliance. Now, besides trying to find hiding places for them to protect them from
being arrested, we also had to find ways to provide them with ration cards as well as I.D.
cards, both of which were difficult to produce, and many a time we_had to take by force,
that of which we were short. In a decent and non-violent society, this was a difficult turn
around, which weighed heavily on our conscience.
�35
As time went on, the number of fugitives steadily increased. Among them were flight
personnel of the British Bomber Command, which had bailed out of their crippled planes.
In 1943, the American Air Force began their air attacks, flying the more dangerous daytime
missions. Naturally, our rescue missions were more difficult by day than by night. Vje
began to receive some weapons, as they were parachuted to us at night in remote areas by
pre-arranged signals.
I vividly remember the first American I rescued. He was an Oklahoman. Most fliers
were hidden at first, their uniforms and identifiable items destroyed. Then, after being
furnished with used civilian clothing, false I.D. cards, ration coupons, as well as escape and
evasion kits, the contents of which were coins, sometimes hidden in the hollowed heels of
their wooden shoes, they were passed along the underground railway through the
Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain to Lisbon, Portugal, from where they were
returned to England. How many of them ever made it back to fly just once more? We
could only hope, and hope was in ample supply among our forces. It was the only thing that
helped us to see it through, along with iron determination .
Sometimes a parachute was being kept as a trophy and carelessly used to make a
woman's blouse. And sometimes a parachute had failed to open. At the point of impact we
could see a piece of the parachute sticking up out of the mud, and we realized that, several
feet down in the soft wet soil, a brave allied flier had perished.
We were frightened by the risk we were taking, to say the least. If an Allied flier or
a Jew was found hiding, all family members of the Resistance family, except for their
�36
children, were sent off to the concentration camps in Germany, and their worldly goods
confiscated. If a man was caught hiding because of his refusal to work in Germany, he would
be sent there under armed guard.
May 2. 1942:
All Jews are ordered to wear the five-point yellow Star of
David, with the word JOOD (JEW) printed in the center. They
have to purchase them themselves at the cost of four cents plus
one textile ration coupon!
After that another step is taken. Jews are ordered to live in a certain section of
Amsterdam. Barbed wire fences are quickly put up to surround this section, and SS guards
keep a twenty four hour watch at all control points.
Strikes are breaking out everywhere out of sympathy for this tiny and defenseless
group of people. Who can choose his own heritage?
Despite the pre-war publicity, we did not realize, nor could we imagine the horrors
that were yet to come.
May 15. 1942:
Two thousand Dutch military officers are sent to P.O.W. camps
in German.
140,000 Jews are at risk, as are the resistance fighters and their families, the
resistance SWAT teams, as well as those men who refuse to work in Germany, gypsies,
�37
hostages and political prisoners.
July 1942:
The first group of Amsterdam Jews amve in the Dutch
concentration camp of Westerbork, a 'holding tank' for furt~er
transportation to Auschwitz.
August 15, 1942:
The first political prisoners are executed.
The resistance loomed high in the mind of the German Command, but in realistic
terms, it was a modest-sized force, relentlessly pursued by the Nazis. One of us paraphrased
it as follows: 'One can squeeze a bee between two fingers until it dies, but while dying, it
will sting the hand that kills it. You might say that this is precious little, but if the bee did
not sting, bees would have become extinct a long time ago.'
During the course of 1942, armed resistance is getting organized. resistance fighters
of every sector of the population, cooperate in damaging the enemy, whenever and wherever
possible.
Fall 1942:
An old, historic theater at the Plantage Middenlaan in
Amsterdam is put to use as a central point from where Jews are
being sent to the concentration camp Qf Westerbork in the
province of Drente. From there they are sent through the
concentration camps located mainly in Austria and Poland.
�38
Amsterdam alone lost 80,000 Jewish citizens.
A despicable Dutch Nazi supporter, by the name of Puls, who is president of a
moving and storage firm, collects Jewish possessions from their empty houses. These are
shipped to_ Germany and marked 'Love gifts from the Dutch people.'
By the end of 1942 my resistance group begins to receive requests from the
Amsterdam Resistance groups to find hiding places for the few Jews who have escaped the
Nazi dragnet. Ultimately, by the end of the war only some fifteen thousand will have
survived, either through hiding or as wretched survivors of the extermination camps. This
number represents ten percent of the pre-war Jewish population.
It is obvious that, when we compare the number of Jewish survivors with the number
of other fugitives, the aid to the Jews accounted for only a small part of the Resistance
work, but they were the first to express their appreciation, once the war had ended.
Did the Resistance, and the European population as a whole, do enough to save
those hunted down? Many of us who lived are still being plagued by that thought. More
could possibly have been accomplished if more people had taken heart.
Wherever the Germans marched in, too many citizens collaborated. However, when
the Americans, Canadians and British marched in, their excuse was: "We resisted." The
record of heroism, courage, hypocrisy and compromise prompts one to wonder. Which of
today's intellectuals would collaborate if the Russians were to appear in their countries?
�39
Does lack of perception of the immensity of the crimes planned and committed provide
sufficient excuse? I think not. Retroactive observation, weighing the pros and cons, fortified
by intuition and association, do fully justify our efforts during those five years. Jan Campert
express~d it so well in his poem The Eighteen Dead'.
Every decision by the group to protect and rescue was made individually, one by one,
often on impulse. Every day yet another person had to be taken care of. Our staff
meetings, opened and closed with prayer, were held as often as possible within the rural
confines of the maze of narrow waterways of our small country. These historical safe places
had proven to be so decisive in the Eighty-year War against the Spanish Inquisition.
In 1982, when we were decorated by His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard at the
Embassy of His Excellency Dr. J.H. Lubbers, the Dutch Ambassador the United States, we
received wholehearted support and cooperation from Congressman Harold S. Sawyer.
Among his many actions on our behalf was a commendation from President Reagan. It
mainly mentioned our aid to the Jews. Having been cited honorably by Israel and the local
Congregation Ahavas Israel, the President's commendation only added to this particular
aspect of our resistance work. It did not acknowledge, however, the Commandos' wide
range help and support to the Allied cause, actions which lead to the death or crippling of
many comrades-in-arms. To provide a more balanced view, and to ~onor those comrades,
I deemed it necessary to present my view.
�40
After 40 years, it is very difficult for us to understand that most of the Jews let
themselves be deported without much resistance. However, one has to understand the
many, often complicated causes. The hard rule of the occupation authorities and their ilk;
their si!}ister cleverness to play different groups against ·one another; the tragic role of the
Jewish Council, which thought it could choose between lesser and greater evil, by
cooperating in selecting who could and who could not be sent away; the idea of many Jews
that they were only sent out to Germany or Poland to work, and of course also the nonJewish Dutch who did not wish to get involved, and failed to help.
Few indeed, were the Dutch who helped Jews hide, trying to suppress their fear for
their own well being, and that of their families. Occasionally, some of those Jews were
caught, either through treason or by accident, but always with the ultimate consequence for
their protector - death.
Anne Frank is the symbol of this perilous existence.
Besides Westerbork, several other Dutch concentration camps began to appear on
the scene, such as Amersfoort, Ommen, Schoorl and Vught. From the concentration camp
of Westerbork alone, a total of ninety three trains, each consisting of twenty nine freight
cars, loaded with Jews, departed for concentration camps outside the country.
Dutch railway personnel carried out all transports.
A Jewish girl, from my own Almere College, managed to throw
a postcard from the train. It read: "We are going to leave Holland. Mom is going too.
�41
Hope to see you soon." Three days later she died at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Inhumanity by the occupied forces increases. Cruelty without mercy reigns. But in
the
faU_of 1942 the tide of war begins to tum.
British troops from all parts of the Empire
defeat Rommel's army at El Alamein. At Stalingrad the German armies are halted at first,
then surrounded. At German Headquarters reality comes to pass, and the possibility of an
Allied landing on Europe's west coast looms and seems more and more possible. Hitler and
Goebbels are convinced that the Allied landings will take place in the Netherlands.
Dr. Joseph Goebbels, who had acquired a Ph.D. in 1921 at the age of twenty four,
(few Nazis were that literate) was a most skillful and immoral liar. He writes in his diary
(page 494 ): "The Fuehrer expects the Anglo-American invasion attempt to come in The
Netherlands. We are the weakest there, and the population would be most inclined to give
the necessary local support to such an undertaking. As everybody knows, the Dutch are the
most insolent and obstreperous people in the entire west."
In the dunes around the Hague thousands of pill boxes and hundreds of gun turrets,
made of reinforced concrete, are being built, all connected by paved roads. The German
thinking is clear: 'the shortest way to their war production center of the Ruhr leads from
The Netherlands to Dusseldorf - 135 miles. The Netherlands and Belgium were conquered
in May 1940 primarily for the attack on England, but also to protect G:rmany's war industry
in the area called 'the Ruhr', where Albert Speer kept his war production in full force until
late in 1944.
�42
Church bells are hauled away for the German war industry, and a new sign appears
clandestinely: 'WHO SHOOTS BY MEANS OF GOD'S BELLS, CANNOT WIN THE
WAR'.
!n The Hague and Scheveningen a steel wall is to be built as an important bulwark.
To make this possible, a colossal demolition plan is taking place. Houses, stores, office
buildings, even entire neighborhoods are flattened in furious tempo. Through The Hague
a gigantic tank ditch is being dug, very deep and miles on end, thereby creating a crosswise
excavation, which hides inventive obstacles, which are to impede the breakthrough of tanks
and other attack vehicles.
Among the German army units along the Dutch coast are battalions, forced to serve,
from India and Russia (specifically from the Caucasian region of Georgia). Nazi mayors
publicly forbid women and girls to consort with 'non-germanic' soldiers!
October 14. 1942:
First armed attack by the Resistance on a distribution center in
Joure, Friesland takes place.
That fall a characteristic incident occurs. The Military Police, still in their pre-war
uniform, and one hundred percent trustworthy in their dealings with the Underground,
usually patroled at night. I had just picked up a Jewish man at his hiding place in order to
take him to another one. I remember that he had a valise and an umbrella with him.
Between the tiny village of Broek op Langedijk and St. Pancras a Military Policeman
appeared, identifying me with his flashlight. "Out for a walk, Mr. Termaat?" he asked. We
�43
chatted for a while, and as we did, the policeman completely ignored my companion. It
came off so naturally, that only later it hit me: he had protected both of us, me and my
Jewish companion.
November 1942:
The start of the British offensive from the Egyptian border to
the west, and the Russian offensive along a three thousand mile
front from the Wolga and Don rivers to the west.
But for us the allies are still far away.
Targets in the Netherlands, such as airfields, harbors, ship yards, and factories, are
more frequently attacked by Allied Bomber Command.
Bomber sorties against The Netherlands' industrial and mining targets result in many
civilian casualties.
Rationing and confiscations continue.
lW
Au~st:
All vegetables and fruits rationed
November:
Textile available with special permit .only
Fish is not rationed, but rarely available.
When a store has some, queues immediately begin to form.
�44
At the same time, the meat ration of four ounces per week per person is cut to four
ounces per two to four weeks per person. Prices skyrocket; precipitous drop in purchasing
power; real poverty has come to most people. The task of the house wife is getting tougher
all the time, as endless repair of clothing and mending of socks is being performed with only
daylight to-work in.
Life is continuously in a turmoil, and it seems that 'make do', 'improvise', 'look and
plan ahead', 'be prepared for the unexpected' and 'make the most of what you have on
hand' are the order of the day. So says Janny, as she relates the following story.
We were now burning wooden shutters in order to save fuel, and this morning I had
made pea soup on our potbelly stove, and to enhance the flavor I had added a small square
of bacon. I had made enough to last us at least three days. But wouldn't you
know, at about 5:00 p.m. we were unexpectedly visited by Piet's brother, Cor, and his
Jewish 'house guest' Mr. Mau Kleinkamer. They had just escaped a raid in Alkmaar and
decided to come over to our house where they knew they would be safe. Having waded
through a shallow, flooded polder for about 8 kilometers, they were soaking wet, cold and
obviously in need of a meal. I didn't know whether or not Mr. Kleinkamer adhered to the
Jewish dietetic laws, so I said: 'I have just made a large pot of pea soup, but I've put some
bacon in it. Would you mind having some?' He didn't seem to have a problem with it,
because in just one meal the three days-worth of pea soup was completely gone.
After dinner Mr. Kleinkamer asked if he would be allowed to d_ry his underwear? Cor
had already taken some of Piet's underwear and exchanged it for his wet ones. But how
about the proper, well-educated Mr. Kleinkamer? Well he decided to remove his underwear,
�45
(in private of course), put his wet pants back on, and seated in front of the potbelly stove
held his underwear up to dry.
Feb.
5,
1943:
Dutch General Seyffardt, ·commander of the Dutch Nazi
Volunteer Regiment, which serves at the Russian front, 1s
executed by the Dutch Resistance.
Mar. 11, 1943:
The 'Landwacht' (Military Dutch Nazi Organization) under
command of the 'Waffen SS', receives extra rations, as well as
financial aid for their families, and free medical care for all
their dependents and parents.
Mar, 27. 1943:
The Amsterdam SWAT team, lead by Gerrit-Jan van der Veen
attacks the building in which the Population Registration is
kept. Despite the quiet support of the fire brigade, which tries
to maximize the damage, 85% of the registers remain in tact.
Crippled Allied planes sometimes come down on cities; bomb bays are opened
prematurely, mistakes in navigation over populated areas, all of which results in many
casualties.
Apr. 1943:
A new German edict: three hundred thousand former soldiers
are to be shipped out as P.O.W.'s.
�46
The real reason is germany's shortage of manpower in their war industry. This,
however, backfires and from April 29 to May 3, 1943, general strikes paralyze industry and
striki:r;ig men gather threateningly. The strikes are total in the provinces of Gelderland and
Friesla:pd. The German command is taken by surprise, but they react quickly; summa,ry
justice by the Gestapo and soon the first death sentences are handed out - about 200. Many
of those arrested are sent to concentration camps, but the goal of the strikers is achieved,
and the P.O. W. scheme is dropped. Only eight thousand are sent to Germany.
The normal complexity of pre-war human existence is now shot
through with a new miserable tension; the antitheses of 'good' and 'bad', who can you trust,
who talks too much.
The velvet glove which Seyss-Inquart had offered m 1940,
to Hitler's great
satisfaction, has turned into a mailed fist.
May 13, 1943:
As Germany suffers military setbacks on many fronts, SWAT
team action against traitors is stepped up. Two Frenchmen, who
turned Nazi, are shot in The Netherlands, while in Alkmaar the
former Sergeant Hogeweg, now a Nazi police officer in
Alkmaar, is shot down for treason.
Summer 1943:
Radio receivers are being confiscated.: Possession will be
severely punished.
�47
Systematic raids continue to take place. Jews are concentrated in a section of
Amsterdam, and on May 27, 1943 this section is surrounded, the Jews are arrested, and via
the Muiderpoort Depot transported to Westerbork and from there in ever increasing
transp~_rts to the destruction camps in Poland and Austria.
Sept. 1943:
The last large group, exempt till now, which includes the Jewish
Council, are put on transport.
After this date, there are only one kind of 'free' Jewish citizens in The Netherlands these who are in hiding.
At this time we had taken in a Jewish boy, fifteen years old, who we would only know
as Ben Nijdam, his forged name. His real name, Jaap Lobatto, would not be revealed to us
until after the war. Hiding people was very frightening for all parties, as Janny relates.
It was late summer or early fall of 1943 in the small village of Broek op Langendijk.
I was at home alone with the children and our Jewish teenage 'house guest', Ben Nijdam.
I wasn't expecting Piet until late. We were having a cup of surrogate tea. Ben was sipping
his tea, standing away from the window, looking out into the garden. I was having mine,
seated at our dining room table in the garden room, doing the endless task of mending
clothes. Suddenly, Ben dropped his cup, calling out: 'Look there!' About a dozen German
helmets were bobbing behind the wooden fence bordering ou! property; stopping
occasionally to look at our house. Talking among each other, they continued to walk around
the free standing house. I said: 'Ben, you better get back into your hiding place!' Ben's
�48
hiding place was in the attic, between a wall and the sloping roof. It had no light, and
the only furnishings were a pillow and blankets. The entrance to it was covered with a large
pile of branches of lima bean plants. He obeyed and quickly went upstairs, wondering what
was gotng to happen, while I kept a close eye on the intruders. Then suddenly they left, just
the way they had come, without ever having rung the doorbell. What were they up to? I
continued my sewing, and after a while Ben decided to come downstairs again.
Pretty soon it was time to get dinner ready. Since Piet would be home late decided
not to wait for him.
The house was very quiet and quite dark, with only the sporadic flickering of a
candle. All of a sudden we heard someone walk across the pebbles on the south side of the
house towards our back door. We heard the latch being lifted, but the door did not open.
Ben and I looked at each other and he immediately sneaked back into his hideout. What
was I to do? It had to be a friend, I told myself. I opened the door slowly and in the
darkness of the night a figure rose in front of me. 'I am Herman Barners', he said. He didn't
give me much time to recover, when he continued. 'What did you think was going on this
afternoon?'
'No idea.' I replied.
'Well, let me tell you. The Germans are looking for homes they want to take over
for their own use including everything that's in them; putting the owners out on the street.
I have been appointed to show them possible houses. When the Ge~ans began to discuss
the merits of this old house, I casually made the remark: 'You don't want this one. It's a
pigsty. I know the people. She is a terrible housekeeper. Nicht Sauber.' Indeed, that was not
�49
what they wanted. I was dumbfounded. Thanking him, I closed the door, realizing that in
the pitch-darkness I hadn't even been able to make out the man's face. Again we had been
saved because of some quick thinking. Ben was able to leave his hiding place and we were
safe ag_~in for another night.
October 1943:
The Dutch Nazis, known as the 'Landwacht' is changed to
'Landstorm' and a new corps is initiated to serve as auxiliary
police in the fight against the Resistance, but in the year and
one half that follows, until VE-Day, they will have also
terrorized their own people, especially during the war winter,
when they robbed and beat up people at random.
The occupation starts to weigh still heavier on the population as German reverses
on the battle fields increase. The active Resistance, though still limited in numbers, acts
bolder as the pressing need for shelter, food and I.D.s as well as safe passage from hiding
place to hiding place becomes more pressing. We are facing the grim prospect of the
fourth winter under enemy occupation with less and less of life's necessities available.
A carefully planned attack by boat on the ration office in the next village of Zuid
Scharwoude has come off like a charm. The only bad moment came when we had to cross
under the connecting bridge between the two villages, Broek op Langedijk and Zuid
Scharwoude. Suddenly, there were foot steps and voices. We stayed under the bridge while
spying the street before proceeding. We had taken off from the west side and had to cross
�50
underneath the bridge to the east side where the ration office was located. We unpacked
the stolen coupons in the carpenter's shop of Jacob Balder nearby, and began repacking for
distribution the next morning. Female couriers, the packages hidden underneath their
clothing, would take them for delivery in the larger cities~ An inventory list was hidden until
we had a chance to hand it over to our contact at the local IRS office. Their files would not
be touched. Our district Internal Revenue Service hid many documents. We gambled that
the occupation forces could hardly be interested in these offices.
In October 1943, while walking the short distance from our home to the office, I
passed the manse of our Reformed church, when the minister Marius Koole hailed me with
some urgency. Locking the door behind us we sat down and I learned the reason for his
calling me in. After three and one half years of occupation nothing surprised us anymore.
Marius related how he had just received a call from a fellow minister, who now was minister
in the Reformed Church of Rumpt, Reverend Koole's previous parish. It appeared that the
Gestapo had raided a small monastery in the neighborhood of Rumpt, which had been
providing hiding places for Jews. Several of them had managed to escape and two of them
had found a very temporary hiding place in the house of the school principal of Rumpt.
They were a German Jewish couple, engaged to be married.
Since the Gestapo was searching and raiding the surrounding areas, it had become
necessary to find another hiding place farther away, and as quickly as possible.
The
difficulty however, was that Rumpt was situated in the province of Gelderland, sixty miles
south, one of the four provinces with territory south of the Rhine, Waal and Meuse rivers.
�51
These four provinces formed a buffer zone just west of the heavily industrialized German
Ruhr district and had been put under martial law. Passes were required to cross back and
forth. Moreover, these passes had to be signed by German authorities. The Rhine and
Meuse _rivers flow from the south to the north until they reach the alluvial hills north , of
Arnhem. There they bend to the west. The Rhine divides itself into two river beds, called
the Waal river and the Neder-Rhine river, which is named 'the Lek' to the west.
These rivers form a natural barrier of which one, the Neder-Rhine, would have to
be crossed to reach the village of Rumpt. Marius was not too hopeful whether we could be
of help, but I told him that we would try. Opposite the manse was the Post Office and next
to it, the carpenter shop of Jacob Balder, also a member of our Resistance SWAT team.
Jacob and I sat down to talk things over. We would be able to reach the Rhine river, south
of Utrecht, by train. But, considering the martial law, how were we to cross the river
unnoticed? Who would be willing to venture a boat of some kind to help us cross the fast
flowing river to Rumpt and back? To what extent were there German guards patrolling?
How about on the train, and at the last stop before the Neder-Rhine bridge? Maybe at the
first stop across the Neder-Rhine river bridge? Were they patrolling the river banks? Were
there fixed defenses along the river banks? There simply were no immediate answers to
most of our questions. We were facing a task wrapped in uncertainties, and time was of the
essence. Finally we agreed on a plan that seemed to offer not only a possibility, but also
the necessary expediency. Jacob, the couple and I would be at high ~sk, but not to try was
to virtually condemn these people to a terrible fate.
Jacob and I agreed to buy two round trip tickets to 's Hertogenbosch, the first sizable
�52
town south of the rivers, but beyond the place where we wanted to go. Before that city,
there would be only one stop, called Geldermalsen. It had only a small station which
accommodated the rural area between the Neder-Rhine river to the north and the Waal
river to_the south. We would try to leave the train at Geldermalsen, if we could get there.
Geldermalsen is situated some seven miles from Rumpt. Would this prove to be impossible,
we would then continue to 's Hertogenbosch, and on the way back, have another try at
Geldermalsen. The risk of having I.D. control on the train would have to be faced, but we
counted on the possibility that control might not affect all passengers, and we would use a
ruse by buying two newspapers, one printed in German and the other one a Dutch Nazi
publication. Furthermore, we would not sit together, and would not take a gun. If in a
bind, we could at least try to pull the emergency brake and try to jump out.
We boarded the train in Heerhugowaard after leaving a message for the other SWAT
team embers to find a hiding place for the couple, and to look out for us in the evening.
At the depot in Alkmaar we bought the newspapers, and agreed to meet in the Amsterdam's
Central Station, where we would switch trains for the direction 's Hertogenbosch. The trip
from Alkmaar to Amsterdam was uneventful. An armed German soldier kept pacing back
and forth between compartments but never bothered anyone.
Switching platforms in
Amsterdam went off without a hitch and we boarded the train for 's Hertogenbosch without
every seeing a German guard on the platform or on the train. After several stops we
crossed the Neder-Rhine river bridge without stopping on either sid~ of it. When we got
close to Geldermalsen the train slowed down and we opened a window to have a look at
the small platform. A lone German soldier sauntered back and forth, visibly bored stiff.
�53
When the train came to a halt, we waited for a moment until his back was turned, then·
quickly we got out and hid behind the small building that served as a depot, until the train
had left. The road to Rumpt was about 50 yards away, and we reached it unhindered. We
set off _on foot, but after a few miles we were passed by a flat bed wagon pulled by two
horses, and loaded with bales of flour. We asked for a ride and we were allowed to jump
on the backboard. It was a beautiful sunny·day, and the countryside was a delight to watch
as we rode by.
Once in Rumpt we had no difficulty finding the school principal's house. He opened
the door himself, and after we identified ourselves by mentioning Marius Koole's name, he
invited us in. He was very surprised to hear how we had managed to get into this closed
military district of the country.
In a room at the back of the house we met the frightened couple. They were tense
and nervous because of being moved around, being hunted, and not knowing what the
immediate future would bring. We tried to reassure them, and it did calm them down
somewhat. Then we got together with the principal and one of his teachers to plan for the
return trip. They put a basket with apples before us to munch on while we planned, a luxury
as we did not have orchards up north. The principal and the teacher were able to provide
us with four bicycles to enable the six of us to get back to the Geldermalsen depot. It would
get us there three times faster than it would if we had to walk. After dropping us off, the
principal and the teacher would return on their bicycles, leading t~e extra two by hand.
They insisted on buying train tickets for the couple from Geldermalsen to Heerhugowaard,
but in order to cover our trail, we suggest that they better buy tickets from Geldermalsen
�54
to Alkmaar. Once in Alkmaar, we would buy tickets for them to Heerhugowaard. It was
agreed that we would leave at dusk. The principal and the teacher were to take the couple
on the baggage carriers of their bicycles, while Jacob and I would go ahead together and
leave t~e bikes in the back of the depot. Jacob and I arrived there safely with our large
bags of apples, which they had given us. Luckily the guard had left and so the four of us
would be the only passengers boarding. we signalled to the oncoming foursome that all was
clear, and the couple joined us. the teachers purchased the tickets, shook hands, and waited
for the oncoming train to stop. On boarding we found a compartment for six with only one
passenger in it. Though the trains were lighted by small blue light bulbs, in order not to be
detected by planes at night, we noticed that the man wore the uniform of the Dutch Nazi
Youth Group. Jacob and I looked at each other, and from long standing cooperation,
reacted in the same way, motioning the young couple to take the seats next to the Nazi,
while Jacob and I took the opposite seats. During the ride between Geldermalsen and
Amsterdam an armed soldier passed us twice but paid no attention, other then a quick
glance into our compartment. Did the young Nazi's uniform satisfy him? Who knows? The
young man, with his elbow on the window sill, his chin resting on his hand, kept looking out
into the night until we reached Amsterdam. He never moved. We could only wonder what
was on his mind. Maybe the battle reverses for the Nazis?
All five of us left the train in Amsterdam. The Nazi went right to the exit, while the
four of us went down the stairs t~ transfer to the platform for the tra~n to Alkmaar. At the
bottom of the stairs we turned right, be we were stopped by a curt 'Halt!' It was definitely
a German accent, but the man was wearing civilian clothes.... Jacob and I were carrying the
�55
apples, and the man wanted to know where we got them, and where we were going. We
told him that the apples were a gift from friends who lived on a farm and that we were
going home. 'Too few for the black market', he said, and let us go. Meanwhile, the couple,
who had walked behind us, had upon hearing 'halt', simply continued walking while yte
talked to the man, a presence of mind we truly appreciated. We boarded the train for
Alkmaar without having our papers checked, and upon arrival purchased two one-way tickets
for the Heerhugowaard station. We arrived at 10 p.m. and were met by three SWAT team
members who took the Jewish couple to their new hiding place, which they had been able
to secure. The whole operation had lasted not quite twelve hours. The couple survived the
war and saw freedom return to their land.
During the winter of 1943/44 a very small German garrison was moved to Broek op
Langedijk. These were mainly older men, and their equipment included a truck, which used
smoldering wood blocks to produce gas, piped to the engine, to run it. They also had
horses. Their truck was carelessly parked next to some bales of hay in the auction hall,
normally used for flower expositions. The truck caught fire and a good part of the building
burned down. Living only three houses further down the street, J anny and I, as well as our
boys, Kees and Nico, slept right through the commotion. We later learned from the
neighbors that the Germans had been running around, yelling: 'sabotage!'
Peter relates .. .In order to save our precious fuel, we were living in the smallest room
of the house, because it was easier to heat. Kees and Nico used to play quietly with their
�56
blocks while Janny sang to them. At bedtime, I would read them stories. They each had
their favorites and after reading the same ones over and over again, I got to know them by
heart. Kees would catch me on a missed word. Weather permitting, the boys would play in
the yar~ and their greatest pleasure was to let our two rabbits out of their cage.
Kees often wanted to go to the horses, which the Germans had brought with them.
and which were stables next to the bakery ·a t the corner. Even though the Germans were
friendly to the little three year old, we could not allow him to go there. Besides, the
neighbors had warned us, that he had told them that 'daddy had a shooter, and he was going
to shoot the krauts.' In order to keep Kees and Nico on our premises, it became necessary
to lock the gate to our yard.
February 22, 1944 Nijmegen's city center is hit. Situated only one mile from the
German border, this too is a navigational error, causing eight
hundred deaths.
The same type of error causes nine hundred deaths in Arnhem and Enschede, both
equally close to the German border.
April 11. 1944:
Six low-flying Mosquito light bombers destroy the building of
the 'Central Population Administration Bureau' in Amsterdam,
guided by Resistance Intelligence.
�57
On May 8, 1944, one month before D-Day, our home was raided by a ten-man squad
of the Gestapo led by SS Commander Viehbahn. Only the fast and timely actions of our
Intelligence Group saved my life, but our home was no longer a safe haven. During the
year th_at followed I was forced to live somewhere else, staying away from our home
al together.,
The traitor, a member of a communist resistance group and forced into being a
counterspy, was caught by our Commandos within 6 days and ordered executed. Looking
back, to be betrayed by a communist to the Gestapo, and live to tell about it, almost seems
impossible. The events evolved as follows.
This particular Sunday morning had started out quietly, in spite of the fact that
during the night the heavily vibrating drone of allied bombers, on their way to their assigned
targets, had kept everyone awake. After the last squadrons had passed however, there had
been the usual lull until the first planes returned. No message had been received by the
resistance of any bail-outs from crippled planes that night, at least not in our area. When
daylight came, we could see the tight formations in seemingly endless squadrons fly
overhead. Fighter planes, flying protective cover as far as their range would allow, looked
tiny from down below, as they maneuvered their faster planes to stay with the bomber fleet.
How far did their protection reach? Certainly not as far as their farthest targets. Still,
maintaining their original formation, while bound for home base, we could count the missing
planes, by the empty places. Frequently, some of them would be flY!_ng lower than others,
and we wondered if they would make it back to their bases.
Our children were up early too, and already quietly absorbed with their building
�58
blocks. Stillness enveloped the village on this early Sunday morning. Janny had started our
simple breakfast, a kind of porridge made out of ground wheat and water. Once a year,
ever since 1942, the brothers Tijssen, wheat farmers from the town of Oterleek, had
provided
- us with a bag of 150 lbs of wheat A great gift; considering that they charged only
.
10 guilders per bag, or some 6 cents per pound. Black market prices for such commodities
had gotten entirely out of reach. One of the brothers, Jan Hendrik, had mentioned to me
quietly that he supported the cause for which I worked. "Just stop by one evening. I'll have
it ready for pickup. You may count on it as long as the war lasts." It truly became a matter
of equilibrium as I rode my old bicycle, loaded with one hundred and fifty extra pounds of
wheat, along the dike until I reached the Middenweg, through the town of Heerhugowaard,
along the Stationsweg, past the farms of Gootjes and Wagenaar, where so many fugitives
had found shelter, and finally along the dike of the canal to our village of Broek of
Langendijk. (Both Gootjes and Wagenaar later emigrated to the U.S.).
We had rationed ourselves to a few pounds per week, which we shared with our
parents. It was heavy work to grind wheat with an old hand mill, but what excellent
nourishment it was.
My resistance to infection had gone down to the extent that the
slightest scratch caused blood poisoning. Armed with a prescription from our family doctor,
Willem Verdonk, I had visited some of the outlying dairy farms. The prescription simply
stated that for health reasons I needed half a liter of milk every day. One farmer, by the
name of Zuurbier at the Middenweg in Heerhugowaard, immediately_agreed to sell it to me
at the going ration price. Later in the afternoon, after the milking was done, Janny would
go and pick up the bottle of milk. Many were the farmers who helped their compatriots
�59
without barter or charging them exorbitant prices. And so, on this quiet Sunday morning,
our breakfast consisted of coarse ground wheat with some milk. Saying grace had become
more meaningful than ever. Since one of us had to stay with the children, Janny had gone
to the morning church service, while I planned to go that night.
In this land of market-gardens, it had become against the 'new' law to sell directly
to the consumer. However, when in season, such items as cabbage, carrots and potatoes,
even though in very small quantities, were still sold, in spite of the 'new' law. The meat
rations, as well as butter and margarine, had shrunk drastically, and were usually saved for
the Sunday dinner, and it was for those few potatoes, and a cabbage, that we had become
so very grateful. We were still able to send some of our ration coupons to friends in The
Hague, where the population suffered real hunger.
And so, on this quiet Sunday morning our breakfast consisted of coarse ground wheat
with some milk. Saying grace had become more meaningful than ever. Since one of us had
to stay with the children, Janny had decided to go to the morning church service, while I
planned to go that night.
In the afternoon the four of us had set out for a walk along the village street.
The Dorpstraat was the only street then, and traffic was almost non-existent. Most
I
agricultural traffic moved along a network of canals that surrounded the village.
Later that day, as I was getting ready for church, the doorbell rang. On our doorstep
stood Evert Brink, one of our best friends, and a staunch Resistance man. He started right
off. "Gestapo is going to arrest you. Let's clear the house ... rehearse the cover story and
have the papers ready...come with me ...you will learn more later!" Speechless, Janny and
�60
I looked at each other and immediately set to work. A few false ID cards, pistols, ration
cards for people in hiding, micro films from air drops, and illegal news bulletins were
quickly gathered, and all hiding places double checked. Young Arie Boon, our neighbor
from across the street brought over a wooden box in his flat bottom boat and we packed
everything ·away. Then, after one more quick check of the house, Arie Boon took off to
bury the box in one of his far away island acres for the time being.
Meanwhile, Janny and I went carefully over the cover story and papers. Then the
most difficult moment had arrived, a tight embrace, and a hug for the children. A few
moments later Evert and I were on our way, heading our bicycles in the direction of the
village of St. Pancras, were we parted.
Evert took the road straight ahead, direction
Alkmaar, while I took the narrow bike path behind the 'Witte Kerk' (the Reformed Church,
commonly known as 'the white church'), west to the village of Koedijk, which stretched
along the Noord Hollands canal. Across from the canal lay the main road between Alkmaar
and Den Helder. Before the war Den Helder had been our main naval base. When I
arrived at the canal, the wide open country side allowed me to scan the road in both
directions. There was no traffic of any military convoys in sight. A few hundred yards
south, in the direction of Alkmaar was a bridge. It had short ramps on either side, and two
floating ramps, which could be withdrawn under the entrance ramps to allow boats to pass
through. It was typical for this part of the country. It appeared I was able to cross the
bridge safely at that point to get to the main road to Alkmaar. So I Qid. turning right into
the first side street, I at last reached Evert Brink's house through the back entrance, and
that Sunday evening I learned the chain of events that had led Evert to warn me.
�61
Earlier, that Sunday afternoon, Police Officer Jacob van Dijk had been alone on duty
in Alkmaar's Police headquarters, when a young woman had entered the building,
identifying herself as a member of the Gestapo.
She had demanded the use of the
telephone to contact her headquarters, which were · located at the Euterpestraat in
Amsterdam. Jacob had offered her the phone of his desk, and as he continued his work,
he was able to overhear the conversation during which she reported to have received a false
identification card from a Pieter Termaat. She called for his immediate arrest, giving his
home address in Broek op Langedijk. the woman left. Shortly after, at 3:00 p.m. Jacob
completed his watch.
It just so happened, that Jacob's mother and one of my uncles were sister and
brother. Both of us were born in the town of Kampen, where we had lived through our
teens. Needless to say, Jacob and I knew each other quite well. Besides, he and I belonged
to the same Resistance group, covering Alkmaar and the surrounding areas. Jacob was
aware of the fact that I had been living in the village of Broek op Langedijk since 1942, He
also knew, that a very close friend of mine, Evert Brink, was living nearby, in the town of
Alkmaar, and so on his way home he stopped at the Brink's house and told Evert what had
transpired earlier that afternoon. Evert immediately left on his bicycle for my house.
Treason had been committed ..... somewhere ...by someone ...., resulting in Evert's visit to our
house, leaving Janny and the children behind in Broek op Langedijk, along with a welldesigned business cover and a 'clean' house, while I joined Evert at this home in Alkmaar.
In neither home there was much sleep that night. On Monday morning Janny had managed
to get a message to me, telling me that nothing had happened during the night. A hurried
�62
conference took place, during which we had to decide what to do, or what not to do. The
fact remained that the woman had warned the Gestapo. Unfortunately, Jacob's description
of the woman had left us without a clue, and so the decision was made for everybody to
remain in place, while the woman's description was being circulated among the members
of our resistance circle. We could taste the danger, as the hours of the day crept by and the
nights seemed longer yet.
Meanwhile the nights for Janny were not only very long but quite eventful at that,
as she relates .....
The first night after Piet's departure I hardly slept at all. The following day I was
totally exhausted, and it didn't take long to fall into a deep sleep that night. It must have
been somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. that I suddenly was awakened by heavy blows
on our front door. I ran to the window and peeked through the curtains, and noticed several
trucks, cars and a number of men, some in uniform, others in civilian clothes, in front of our
house. I knew, that if I didn't open the door soon, they would no doubt force their way in,
so I quickly turned around and grabbed the first piece of clothing I could find to wear over
my nightgown. It happened to be my light grey spring coat, which had 13 buttons, and to
this day I remember buttoning every single one of them.
The moment I opened the door, the men entered our house. Equipped with rifles
some of the men in uniform posted themselves at the windows, while the rest of them made
-
their way to the bedroom, where they checked the bed for 'another warm spot' besides
where I had been sleeping. Although satisfied that I had been sleeping alone, they continued
�63
searching the rest of the house, opening each and every closet, leafing through our books,
and asked question upon question, demanding answers from me while holding a flashlight
in front of my face. I noticed that one of the men, obviously their leader, was not only
imma~lately dressed, but was also wearing a very strong scented perfume (quite unus1;1al
for a man, -especially in those days!). Little did I now what an important part this perfume
would play later on in our lives. While they continued interrogating me, I told them my
'cover story' without hesitation, telling them 'that plans were in the works to built a deep
freeze installation locally, once the war was over. (Which was true and indeed has been
built), and that heavy financing was needed, which was not entirely available locally. As a
result, Piet had been put in charge of finding possible investors for the project and as a
result was of town visiting and interviewing prospects.' I must have been very convincing,
because they seemed to believe my story and left.
And what about our two young sons? Believe it or not, but they slept through the
whole ordeal. But not so our neighbors, who had been watching the whole drama unfold
from behind their curtains, because unlike me, they had been expecting the raid, as the
following story became unraveled.
First thing next morning I went over to see our neighbors, the Jacob Balder family.
Jacob was deeply involved in the Resistance and had until only a short time ago 9 Jewish
people hidden in bis home. His wife was pregnant and expecting their sixth child. Jacob
wasn't home, but I told his wife that something was up in the air, and I begged her to make
Jacob go underground. My pleading fell on deaf ears, because she told me that, considering
her condition, Jacob had refused to go into hiding. He wanted to be near his family.
�64
As I had feared not too long afterwards, Jacob was arrested, and shot in the dunes
along the Dutch coast, where many of the members of the resistance faced their death.
(Jacob never saw the baby, which he and his wife had anticipated so eagerly).
9n that same day, May 10, while I was visiting the Balders, I also learned the facts
about the visit of the Gestapo, the previous night. Jacob Balder's daughter, who occasionally
did baby sitting for us, was employed at the town hall at the time. The mayor of our town,
who had decided to join the Nazi Party, had come up with a deceitful plan to try and arrest
Piet for reasons described previously, but unbeknownst to us. He had made up a list of
people whose homes would supposedly be searched during the night of May 9th, 1944,
conspicuously leaving the Termaats off his list. It was that list, that Jacob's daughter
happened to see. Excited about her discovery, she told her father about it, and as a result,
the people on the list were warned, but not the Termaats. Again we had been just one step
ahead of the traitors.
Soon after my visit with the Balders, I rode my bicycle to my mother's house, having
one boy seated in front of me, and the other behind me. On arrival I told her: 'Please don't
ask any questions. I have things to do. Would you please look after the children for me?"
And with that I got back on my bicycle again and via alleys and other roundabout ways, I
rode to the house were Piet was hiding. I reported the happenings, said goodbye to him and
left.
My message on that Tuesday was: 'They were at th~ house during the
night ... everybody safe ... business cover story listened to without comment....house surrounded
by at least 10 men.... all were dressed in uniform, except Nazi mayor Stoutjesdijk. ...and
�65
someone else, who smelled heavily of perfume. When leaving, the police van went into a
southerly direction ......
The latter part of the message clearly indicated that they had made their approach
north along the road Alkmaar-Den Helder, then east to 'the Langedijk and south along the
only road across the dike to our house.
It had become obvious, that Piet could not return home. In Alkmaar, as well as in
several surrounding villages, he was too well known. It meant that he had to leave the city.
A quick consultation took place. For one, he needed transportation, other than a bicycle.
Since members of the medical profession were the only ones allowed cars, a message was
sent to Nico Louis M.D.
Pieter relates that Dr. Louis arrived that same afternoon. "I wiggled myself into the
back seat of his small Renault, and the two of us drove off from the Bleau Straat, along the
Bergerweg to the Westerweg, then in a southern direction, through the Heiloo forest. Once
outside the city, I changed to the passenger's seat, so we could talk more easily. We
planned to drive as far as Uitgeest where I was to board the train in the direction of
Amsterdam. We arrived about fifteen minutes early, which allowed me just enough time
to explain what had happened.
'Any unfinished business?' He asked. I told him that a resistance group, located north
of Amsterdam, had been arrested. From what we had learned so far, the wife of the leader
had escaped, and had found temporary shelter in a home at Lange<!ijk. The woman had
escaped without I.D., money, clothing or ration cards. I had been able to furnish her with
an I.D. and some ration cards. At the time, she'd told me that she could not remain where
�66
she was, and was looking for a place to stay. She was willing to do household work or baby
sitting. {A preliminary check had indeed verified the arrest of the group, which had
included the woman's husband). My request to Nico Louis was: 'Would he follow up?' He
promised he would.
Meanwhile, the train had arrived and I boarded with the intention, at least for now,
to go as far as Koog aan de Zaan, where Janny had a cousin living. When I arrived at Koog
aan de Zaan, I got off with some twenty other passengers. As we began walking along the
highway in the direction of Amsterdam, which ran parallel with the railroad track, a boy in
his pre-teens stopped us, and told us that there was a Nazi roundup going on further down
the highway. Without another word, all of us turned into the next road to the left. Looking
back, we should at least have thanked the boy, but we had taken the warning very seriously
and were only too anxious to get away.
Walking along, my thoughts raced over the happenings of the last few weeks; some
of the people we had seen in our village, mainly outsiders, who hadn't given us reason for
suspicion. Then there had been the call from our Minister, Marius Koole, who had been
contacted by one of his colleagues, the Reverend Nell, who lived in the town of Noord
Scharwoude (the northern part of Langedijk). It was concerning a woman, who was hiding
with a Mr. Keeman, one of his parishioners. Reverend Nell had requested help for her,
following which Marius Koole had contacted me with the problem. I had given the initial
help. But what could have gone wrong? Why was the Gestapo on mr trail? Janny and the
children were all right, but she would undoubtedly be watched.
When I arrived at cousin Peter's home, I was warmly welcomed, and given the guest
�67
room. When I was ready to leave, cousin Peter had gone ahead to scout the train station in
Zaandam to see if there were any round-up activities. Fortunately, there weren't any, and
I boarded the train for Amersfoort, via Amsterdam. In Amersfoort I knew the family
Bouma. At the beginning of the war they had been liVIng in Den Helder, the naval b~e.
During the-early fighting they had been bombed out of their home and had been evacuated
to the Langedijk, where we first met them. From there they had moved to Amersfoort,
where Mr. Bouma had been appointed to the local college.
My plan was to proceed from Amersfoort to Kampen, my birthplace, where I still had
some relatives, who would undoubtedly be helpful in finding a new hiding place for me.
The Bouma's however told me that, where the road to Kampen led to the bridge across the
IJssel river, by rail or otherwise, I would run into a 24-hour guard. The risk of trying to cross
at that point was too great. Why not stay with them for a short while until more was
known? I accepted the invitation gratefully.
There was a Resistance group operating in Amersfoort out of the train depot, which
had their phone system operating independently from the national system. We transported
mainly ration cards to a contact at the Amstel train depot in Amsterdam.
Mr. Bouma turned out to be an avid walker, and while out on our walks, we
sometimes passed the Cavalry barracks across from the house where my family had lived
for 11 months in the year 1924. The neighborhood did not seem to have changed much.
Occasionally we saw a group of prisoners from the nearby co_,!lcentration camp of
Amersfoort, as they marched under heavily armed guard. Staring straight ahead, their heads
shaven, their cheeks hollow from malnutrition, dressed in flimsy prison clothes, they were
�68
ordered to sing. They were forced to work on a network of trenches, but were so obviously
underfed, that one had to question their value of performing heavy work. Needless to say
that my blood began to boil when I saw the group pass by. To talk to them was impossible
even t~e slightest eye contact was being watched.
The concentration camp of Amersfoort was notorious. It's camp commander, 35 year
old Joseph J. Kotaella, was a brute nicknamed 'the Hangman'. He would hit his prisoners,
while egging on his two large German shepherds, his constant companions.
He had
personally ordered and participated in the execution of prisoners. He seemed to especially
enjoy watching the bodies of his victims drop, as garrote the noose tightened, and the last
spastic struggle ceased. Some prisoners spent many days and nights in the open, surrounded
by barbed wire, without any food or drink. By means of the Red Cross, a certain Mrs.
Heemstra had, at times been allowed to take some food parcels into the camp. At such
times Kotaella turned on his fake charm and requested to be photographed with her against
the camp background.
It was not until much later that I learned that my brother-in-law, Jacob, Janny's
brother, was a prisoner at this camp at this time.
The number of planes passing overhead seemed even greater here than in the
Langedijk. One night, as we were sound asleep, a bomb exploded. Curled up in a fetal
position, I awoke from a deep sleep by the terrible noise. It scared the wits out of
everybody. All the windows were blown out, but the house was still standing. Hans Bouma,
the family's youngest son, already having a broken arm from a fall off his bike, had stepped
�69
in some glass causing severe bleeding, which we were finally able to stop by holding his foot
very tightly. There was glass all over the floor, the furniture and the blankets. At day break
we learned that a bomb had been dropped just east of the train depot, only five hundred
yards from the house. The Bouma's were lucky to get off with merely glass damage.
The_Bouma's lived at the Korte Bergstraat 8, and during my stay I had become
acquainted with some of their neighbors. ·
On the night of Monday, June the 5th, one of them had invited the entire family and
me over for a birthday celebration. By bartering some items from their clothing store they
had even been able to lay their hands on some pastries.
The following morning, on June 6th, I had left the house via the back yard to get a
haircut, when the neighbor lady came running out of her house. "Mr. Termaat!" She called.
"Don't go out in the street. .. the Allies have landed ... you never know what may happen ... they
may get here too!"
I quickly went back into the house. Mr. Bouma and I discussed this unexpected news
and decided to take a walk to the newspaper building nearby, where a billboard next to its
front door usually displayed the latest news items. Needless to say the unexpected surprise
when we read the bulletin confirming that small scale landings had taken place on the coast
of France. Amazed that the occupation forces would let this news leak out, we surmised
that it had to be more than a small landing, which could hardly be covered up, since the
BBC had warned everybody to stay away from Europe's coastal areas. We walked back to
the house. Shortly after that the door bell rang. It was my good friend Evert Brink, who
had come to bring me letters from Janny, clean underwear, as well as the latest news. Still
�70
in shock by the news of the Allied landing, I blurted out: 'What are you doing here?'
'Hell, what kind of a greeting is that!' He replied. 'You knew I was coming!'
'But the Allies have landed!' I retorted.
~You're crazy!' He commented.
Without wasting another word, I took him over to the newspaper building. Evert was
as taken aback as Mr. Bouma and I had been.
'You cannot stay here!' He said. 'They (the Allies) are going to bomb the railroads
and highways. If you stay, you will never be able to get out!'
That seemed sensible enough, and so after a hasty good-bye and many thanks to the
Bouma's, Evert and I boarded the train from Amersfoort to Amsterdam, where we changed
trains to Alkmaar. We agreed not to talk, and each bought a German newspaper. We
reached Alkmaar without any problems. Neither did we see or hear about any military
activities in our area, except the regular drone of bombers flying over.
My emotions ran high. I was getting closer to home, and Janny and the children
were once again within reach ... the Allies had landed!...Would they land at other areas,
besides France? ... Would they succeed? .... And if so, how quickly would they be able to
proceed? .. .I was filled with questions, tension, wishful thinking ... and hope.
But I also
realized, that if further landings would not take place, it could be a long time yet before I
would be able to surface, and until then I would have to keep moving around in the dark.
The internal railroad telephone had been a real blessing, b~t being back on the
national network made one once again alert to listening devices from radio detection units
of the Gestapo.
�71
We again spotted some troops from the Russian state of Georgia, as well as some
from British India, imprest battalions to fill in for the heavy losses of Germany's army. They
were obviously shifted around often.
~e people of the Dutch East Indies, residing irt Holland, had freely offered their
share in the struggle for freedom also. It was amazing how close we had grown during these
adversary times.
Still, German infantry battalions continued to march through the towns, but much
more disheveled looking, and not by far as cocky as four years earlier.
During my absence, there had been a notice from the Probate Court in connection
with the inheritance of my father-in-law, who had passed away the previous year. On the
day I had been scheduled to appear, I had been in Amersfoort and unable to comply. How
intensely dangerous the Gestapo was became quite clear, when they showed up at the
Probate Court and arrested my two brothers-in-law. It was obvious that the Probate Court
had connections with the Gestapo.
Even though my brothers-in-law didn't know my
whereabouts, their homes were searched, nevertheless. First the home of Jacob Schuurman,
resulting in the arrest of a man whom they had kept hidden because he had refused to go
to work in Germany. They also found a clandestine long wave radio receiver, which allowed
them to listen to the BBC. Moving alongside the house, Jacob tried to escape via the meterwide gutter connecting his home to the house in the street behin<!_ bis. He was shot at
immediately. Fortunately, they missed him by a hair. The center button of his coat had been
replaced by a hole. He was arrested and sent to the concentration camp in Amersfoort. Any
�72
further evidence against Jacob failed to tum up, and after four months of imprisonment a
contact group of the Reformed Church managed to purchase his freedom, as even camp
leaders were not beyond corruption.
J.,ikewise, my other brother-in-law, Henk van Zuylen, also had his house searched.
He too, wasn't aware of my whereabouts. And although the search didn't deliver any
results, he was nevertheless taken to prison in Amsterdam (Huis van Bewaring), were he
remained from May 17 to June 7, before he was let go.
The day after, Nico Louis, the doctor who had smuggled me out of Alkmaar in his
little Renault and had taken me to the train depot of Uitgeest on that Wednesday, May 20,
had taken up contact with the woman courier by means of Rev. Marius Koole the very next
day. She had shown up at his office that same evening. Cautiously, Nico had asked her what
he possibly could do to help her. Then, she had related the same story to him, namely that
she was in dire need of an I.D. card, as she was without one. Nico's quick mind was
immediately put on alert. Had it not only been yesterday at the train depot of Uitgeest, that
Peter had told him the story about the woman walking into the Police Station, calling the
Gestapo, ordering the arrest of Peter Termaat because he had furnished her with a false
I.D.? Nico kept his cool, not promising her anything. He told her to come back Friday
evening, May 12.
After she'd left, he'd alerted the local Resistance and that Friday evening, 5 days
after her initial call to the Gestapo, she was captured and made
~
full confession. The
question now was, what to do with her? Treason was proven and confessed to. She could
not be kept a prisoner. The vote was unanimous and the matter was referred to the National
�73
Resistance Organization. A terse order was sent back: 'Liquidate her!' Having been locked
up since May 12th, the woman was transported out of town to the east near the village of
Rustenburg, where the road runs across the dike. Here an injection ended her life and on
May 19_th, her body was hurried in the dike. A bloody mess. Only the slapping and sloshing
of the breaking waves would be heard. Then all became quiet.
A report was sent to Headquarters that the order had been carried out. How long
would it take before the Gestapo would catch on and begin their manhunt? Our Resistance
group immediately began searching for hiding places. It was none to soon.
Dr. Louis realized that the time had come for him to disappear, after all, it was more
than likely that by now, the woman had informed the Gestapo of her visit to his office.
In these last days of the war, fear had begun to grip the Nazis, leading to hysterical
actions, such as trying to remove all records, containing all names and address of men who
at any time had been unemployed, from the District Bureau of the Department of Social
Affairs. This was the office where I had worked until my resignation on May 1, 1942, when
I had refused to obey and execute their new laws, which would have sent men to Germany
as forced labor to assist the Nazi war industry.
Every evening, at about five o'clock, files containing these records were loaded on
a wagon and brought, under armed guard, to the vault of the Twentsche Bank near the town
square with its beautiful medieval tower. The route to the bank was not a direct one; a
block from the bank, the wagon would tum into a side street. Our plan was to destroy the
records before they reached the bank. In order to do that we needed gasoline, and Dr. Louis
�/
74
had just what we needed, five gallons of it, which I had previously smuggled into town and
stored at his home. We would attack the guards, pour the gasoline over the files and set
them afire. The point of attack was ideal - a maze of narrow side streets. The importance
of our plan was clear. If successful, all data concerning the total labor force of the district
would be destroyed.
Faced with an almost certain visit of the Gestapo, the Louis's packed a few suitcases,
loaded their car and disappeared. Nico was realistic enough to take the gasoline along on
his flight. They would not return to Alkmaar until VE-Day.
June 6. 1944
D-Day
Hitler and his staff now expected the main landing to occur in Calais, on the narrow
passage from Dover, and kept his 15th army with 100,000 soldiers at the Channel until
September. But on June 6th, the Allied invasion in Normandy had begun. Low flying Allied
planes flew in low formation over Europe's west coast, attacking Nazi traffic where visible.
Nazi losses of military vehicles were heavy, but what hurt most was the loss of military
personnel. To give them a better chance of survival, much of the traffic was conducted
during the night, while men were rounded up as forced labor to dig manholes along the
roads, and into the dike itself.
While digging near the town of Rustenburg, a crew discovered a lady's shoe. And it
was only moments later that they dug up the body of the liquidated..§py.
On June 17, 1944 an ad appeared in the paper, which read as follows:
�75
BODY FOUND IN RUSTENBURG
The Head of the Criminal Investigation Department in Amsterdam, located at the
Keizersgracht 103-105 (telephone 49055), requests on behalf of the Group Commander of
the Mi~itary Police in Heerhugowaard, to be informed of the identity of the body of a
woman found on June 13, 1944 on an elevated spot in Rustenburg (North Holland).
Description: Between twenty and thirty years of age;
height 1.63 meters; dark hair; small nose, wider at the end, blue-grey
eyes; well maintained teeth, fully intact; scar on right side of abdomen,
probably from appendectomy.
Clothing:
Short, dark blue coat with dark belt made of connected leather bands;
white blouse with blue-green checks, brand 2330 Margo 17144
Frulensis mit den 7 punkten Gesla; Erpco Compagnie KoelnNeumarkt, Gegr 1901; black flat-heeled shoes, light pink petticoat,
white panties, brand: 'Butterfly, Bijenkorr, pink camisole with the
letter 'N' inside the shoulder strap, ankle-height woollen socks.
Information urgently requested by the Criminal Investigation
Department.
Interestingly, no information was ever offered; the solidarity of the population showed
once again.
Soon after VE-Day the investigation, which had been going on during the last few
�76
weeks of the war, is completed with the following information.
One of the members of the Resistance group, operating just north of Amsterdam, had
an affair with his wife's sister. Infuriated, when discovering the affair, the wife decided to
go to th,e Gestapo and betray not only her husband, but the rest of his Resistance group as
well.
After giving her testimony, the Gestapo gave her two choices. Either she'd become
one of their informers or be sent to a concentration camp as an accomplice. She decided
to take the first option. The Gestapo relocated her to the village of Noord Scharwoude, one
of the four villages of the Langedijk, where she stayed with a certain Mr. Keeman, a small
exporter of produce, who was under no particular suspicion by the people in the village. It
was Mr. Keeman who introduced her to Rev. Nell with the story previously mentioned.
Having no connections himself, Rev. Nell called his colleague, the Rev. Marius Kool in
Broek op Langedijk, who in turn introduced her to us. A quick investigation of her story
confirmed that the resistance group, to which she and her husband belonged, had indeed
been arrested and imprisoned. Consequently her amateurish operation led to her speedy and
untimely demise.
When VE-day finally arrived, Keeman was instantly killed when his motor cycle hit
a tree. Suicide was suspected.
On that day, in addition to the three strongholds we had held for several weeks, we
-
also took over the town hall. While standing in front of the town hall with two fellow
officers, waiting for the first units of the First Canadian Army to arrive, Dr. Nico Louis
�77
hailed us and joined our group. After some light banter we were interrupted by an MP on
a motor cycle, who informed us that the father of the executed woman had been spotted in
town. He apparently was armed and had announced that he was going to kill Dr. Louis,
whom be blamed for the death of his daughter.
We guided Dr. Louis into the Town Hall and sent out a patrol to bring the man in.
It appeared that he had only partial information of what had transpired. After talking to
him and pointing out to him, how his daughter, through her actions, had caused her own
death, he accepted our explanation. He surrendered his gun and promised to leave town,
not to return or to bother Dr. Louis again. Truly a rotten deal for a father to be faced with.
By 1944 the number of refugees, men and boys between the ages of sixteen and sixty
had grown to five hundred thousand. Needless to say, our task became increasingly more
difficult, and we began to experience heavy losses among the ranks of Resistance fighters.
But we helped wherever help was needed, no questions asked. By D-Day, June 6, 1944, we
figured we had lost about two thousand fully active commandos. Latest evaluations showed
that their life expectancy, from the day they entered the Resistance movement, had been
three to six months.
Their strength was augmented by many trusted contacts in a
homogenous populations.
After a month of fighting and building up the armed forces in Normandy, Eisenhower
unleashed General Patton, and the Allied Forces began to make fast aEvances against strong
German opposition. By the end of August the northern part of France and part of Belgium
were free once more.
�78
On September 1, the harbor city of Antwerp fell to the Allies, and on September 4,
Hitler personally ordered the destruction of the harbors of Rotterdam and Amsterdam,
which order did not go into effect until September 21. Heavy detonations could be heard
twenty ~les away. So heavy were the continuous explosions, that in the Rotterdam sub~rb
of Katendrecht four thousand families saw their homes destroyed. The destruction in
Amsterdam was proportionate to that of Rotterdam, and that which once took decades of
hard labor and persistence to built, in true entrepreneurial spirit, was destroyed in a matter
of days. In Rotterdam, nine miles of wharf embankment was destroyed as were more than
half of the hoisting cranes, all floating docks, all petroleum tanks ( even though they had
been empty for a long time), shipyards and engineering works.
Raw materials were
transported in barges to Germany, were they would be used to rebuild Germany once the
war was over.
Ships were sunk in the main waterways connecting Amsterdam and
Rotterdam to the open sea, obstructing all maritime traffic.
Then there was the Field Marshall Montgomery blunder at Arnhem, when he
ordered the British Airborne, ten thousand men strong, to land too far from the last bridge,
needed by the Allied Troops to do any good. His miscalculation resulted in eight thousand
either killed in action, or wounded and taken prisoners of war. Only 2000 survived.
HRH Prince Bernhard, Commander of the Interior Forces, sounded bitter when he
stated: 'My country can never again afford the luxury of another M~ntgomery success'.
Meanwhile a mistaken radio news item in London named the Dutch city of Breda
as the first liberated Dutch city. If true, there was only a fifty five mile gap left from Breda
�79
straight north to the Zuiderzee, through which flight to Germany would still be possible.
Wild panic broke out among the Germans and Dutch Nazis, as they fled all through the
night towards Germany, either by foot or by any means of transportation they were able to
steal. The German Command however regained contr"ol once again, as they opened the
locks, flooding the low lying areas.
Having to leave home as a fugitive, our first thoughts were for the family's well being.
Part of that were the finances. Being self-employed in a partnership, we could count on a
small monthly draw to continue. Furthermore, the L.O., organized underground, (L.O.
stands for 'national organization') paid Janny a small stipend. They occasionally also
provided some scarce food, such as cheese. The surrounding market gardens contributed
cabbage, carrots and potatoes. These were sold in small quantities outside the rationing
system. Janny only spent money for what was available on ration coupons and on what the
village provided and not wanting to buy in the black market, items such as butter and meat
were simply not on the menu. And that way she even managed to save some money.
1944:
The rationing continues.
September:
All food and fuel rations are drastically cut.
The remaining
electricity ration is cut in half. We are forced to surrender any
kind of textile products left in our homes.
The city kitchen has opened her doors to the public and is
allowed to supply a ration of maximum 600 calories per person.
�80
December:
Bread ration is cut to two pounds per week per person. Ground
up bulbs (mainly tulips) are used as a substitution for flour. A
total ban on electricity is announced.
Homes are being tom up for firewood, kitchen doors, closet
shelves, etc. The need is great for a little warmth or just to heat
up a single pan. And as far as our beautiful trees
are concerned, there are none left.
'Hunger trips' are a common occurrence in the farm country, as
people knock on farm doors trying to buy, barter and, in some
instances, 'steal'. Many people are utterly despondent,
and desperate. Many die en route.
September 17. 1944 OPERATION MARKET GARDEN
Successful but not across the bridge, this operation imprisoned the population ~f the
western Netherlands for its last, but most terrible war winter. For them freedom would still
be eight months away, until May, 1945.
To add to the devastation, we got hit with an unusually severe frost which lingered
on. The only coal mines in Holland are to be found in the south eastern province of
Limburg, but because of the railroad strike, coal was out of reach for the rest of the nation.
-
The strike, which had been ordered by the Dutch Government on September 17, 1944, at
the time of the Allied airborne landings, was a total success.
�81
As a result, however, we had to find hiding places for three hundred thousand men
to protect them from being rounded up. Their families had to be paid a basic amount of
money to be able to buy what little was made available on ration cards. The finances needed
to keep_ the hiding places going and the care for the families of those men, who since 1940
had foughton the seas and in Normandy, had been guaranteed by our government in exile.
The financing through the banking system was a major help in the underground struggle.
Following the disastrous failure of the British Airborne attack near the city of
Arnhem in September, 1944 food rationing was decentralized and became now a local
responsibility. The size of the rations and its content depended fully on what was on hand
locally. Furthermore, the German army closed off the western seaboard provinces by a 20
mile long cordon, which ran from the Rhine river, just west of Arnhem, all the way to the
Zuiderzee. These provinces, the most heavily populated ones in the country, suffered
terribly. The order by Nazi governor Seyss Inquart, to put an embargo on all shipments of
food to the west of that cordon, was a major factor for the starvation rations.
Food
rationing in October, 1944 dropped to 1300 calories per person per week. In November it
decreased to 950 calories, in December to 550 calories, ending in January, 1945 with only
340 calories per person per week. The north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Friesland,
Drente and Overijssel managed to scrape by on 1300 calories per person per week from
September 1944 till May, 1945.
We weren't spared by the hunger either, which was weakening the health of our
family. Infections were chronic, and on November 9, 1944 (the birthday of father C.B.
�82
Termaat), Janny experienced a pre-mature birth in her four and one half months of
pregnancy. Our family doctor, Willem Verdonk, feared for her life, and urged me to come
out of hiding that night to be with her. Doctor Verdonk assisted us. It was a boy, so tiny
in death, is features resembling those of Kees and Michie!. But there was no time to lose.
I had to be gone by dawn. A box had to serve as a coffin and with our prayers, I carried him
outside to the backyard, where I dug a grave. Then Janny and I said our goodbyes and I left
again for my hiding place to continue the bitter struggle. Janny did not receive adequate
food to regain her strength. Her mainstay was thin buttermilk porridge. A neighbor lady
sacrificed some of her rations. "You need it more than I do", she said.
In order to look for food, Janny's sister, Lyda, and I decided towards the end of
December, 1944 to pay a visit to Oma (Grandma) Schuurman's relatives, who were still
living on active farms. Riding our bicycles, we met the day after Christmas, early in the
morning on the road towards the town of Purmerend. One bicycle had no tires at all, while
the tires on the other one were in bad shape. We had planned to go through the Schermer
polder towards Purmerend, and from there to the ferry in the Amsterdam harbor, if it
seemed safe to do so. But a little ways outside of Alkmaar we experienced an unexpected
obstacle. The Germans had flooded the polder to head off airborne attacks. So we rode our
bicycles through the water as far as possible until we finally had to start walking. With cold,
wet legs we at last reached Purmerend, and continued our journey along the canal towards
Amsterdam. When we arrived at the ferry, we scanned for German u~forms. We were able
to cross safely. We chose to find our way through east Amsterdam, thus avoiding the city
center, which we knew was infested with Nazis. Once we reached the outskirts, we continued
�83
to the town of Diemen, which was only a few miles down the road and from there we took
the country road to Over-Diemen. The last farm on that country road, just east of the
Amsterdam-Rhine canal, was the farm of Oma Schuurman's brother, nestled along the dike
of the Zuiderzee. This was the family farm of the Hennipman's (Oma Schuurman's maiden
name). Oma Schuurman, born in 1889 and her eldest daughter, my wife Janny, born in 1916,
were both born on the same farm in the same room and in the same bedstead.
We were warmly received, along with a hot meal. As we took our leave, we were
given butter, cheese and some bacon to take back home with us. We chose the road to the
west in order to cross the canal in the direction of the town of Hoofddorp, which was
situated to the south of the Schiphol airport. However, when we arrived at the canal we
noticed that the bridge we had wanted to cross was under construction. Only the piling, the
side railings and a one foot long ledge, on which the steel beams were to be laid for the
road deck, was all that existed. Neither the beams nor the deck were there. We had no
other choice, however, but to get across and thus I took one of the bikes under my arm, and
while holding on to the railing, walked across the ledge to the other side. Fifteen feet below
me, the water with its floating ice, looked very uninviting in the gathering dusk. Coming
back, I carried the second bike the same way. Next, I helped Lyda across. Safely back on
our bicycles, just as we passed the Schiphol airport, we ran into a heavy fog. Finding the
main road to Hoofddorp was not easy, but we did find it, nevertheless. Suddenly, from out
of the fog, came a voice: "Wer da?" ("Who's there?"). We heard the bolt of a rifle thrown.
Ignoring the command, we sped along the Middenweg till we reached the Roodenburg farm,
which belonged to Opa (Granndpa) Schuurman's sister, who was married to Jacob
�84
Roodenburg. Here too, we were warmly received. They fed us and invited us to stay
overnight, since by now darkness had set in. The following morning, after breakfast, we were
sent off with an amply supply of whatever the farm produced, among others several bags of
beans and peas, which would go a long way to supplement the starvation diet of which we
could not subsist. We thanked the Roodenburgs and left, carefully watching out for enemy
checkpoints and platoons of the 'Landwacht'. These platoons were a particularly vicious
uniformed group of Dutch Nazis, who roamed about roughing people up, sometimes even
arresting them, confiscating whatever they carried on them. As a result, we occasionally
checked with people before we decided to proceed in one or the other direction. Eventually,
we decided to return to Alkmaar by making a wide circle around the Schiphol airport in the
direction of the town of Velsen, where a ferry would take us across the wide and deep
Noord Zee (North See) canal, which runs from the Amsterdam harbor into the North Sea.
Once across, we would have a choice of several roads leading to Alkmaar. We made it
safely across, but shortly afterwards we lost yet another tire. We managed to reach Limmen,
a village several miles south of Alkmaar, and as dusk settled over the unlit road, we
proceeded slowly with our precious load along the main road. When we reached Alkmaar
we took the smaller side streets, which were so very familiar to us, until we at last reached
Oma Schuurman's house, just before curfew time.
Because of Janny's weakened condition, Oma Schuurman had ~aken her and our sons
into her apartment in Alkmaar in February, 1945. As far as our home in Broek op Langedijk
was concerned, we had gathered all our possessions into one large room and safely secured
�85
it with a heavy lock. The remainder of the house was then rented out to a refugee family.
My parents, Opa and Oma Termaat, were supplied with provisions by former soldiers,
now farmers again. (My dad had been an aide-de-camp with the 15th Regiment Infantry).
By March, 1945 however, their food supplies as well as those in Oma Schuurman's house
had dwindled considerably and was reduced to a level of scarcity that begged for
supplementation. Worsening the situation even more was the fact that Captain Vels Heyn
was also in need of food for Resistance fighters hidden in the city. And so one day, I
decided to make the four mile long walk along the back roads to the Langedijk were I knew
a man by the name of Jonker, who operated a one-man transport business, using a horsedrawn flat-bed wagon with canvas sides and top. After talking to him, I found him willing
to make a trip from Broek op Langedijk to Alkmaar. Several farmers on the way, who (
knew very well, were quite willing to sell us potatoes, huge carrots (in better days used for
horse fodder), and cabbage at reasonable prices. I then returned to AJkmaar by myself and
ventured into the city to visit a friend's house, who was the district president of the Chamber
of Commerce. We discussed the various problems I was faced with, and what I had done so
far to procure and transport food. It was now a matter of distribution. He was able to locate
a dozen or so large, sturdy crates at no cost, as long as they were returned intact. Next, Mr.
Jonker, once he had arrived in Alkmaar, loaded the crates onto his wagon and took them
to Broek op Langedijk, stopping at the various farms I had suggested and fill them up with
produce. I familiarized Jonker with his final destination, the house of Opa and Oma
Termaat, and a day for the transport was chosen. Seated on a box, Jonker gently, and at a
leisurely pace, guided his horse along. He managed to get into Alkmaar, across the Frisian
�86
bridge, which was used by all traffic to and from all eastern directions and, with our help,
unloaded the crates into the small barn behind the elder Termaat's house. The following
days, as soon as dusk had set in, but well before curfew, an orderly distribution took place.
For many it meant a lifeline during those last six weeks of occupation, and no one tried to
profit unseemly from this operation.
In the eastern part of Holland the battle still raged on. German anti-tank ditches
needed to be dug and temporary airfields built, and thus the chase for forced labor was on.
On October 7, 1944, raids on males between the ages of 16 and 60 take place in
Amersfoort, Kampen and Utrecht. Soldiers seal off the streets and break into homes,
carrying men and boys away like cattle, straight to waiting trains ready to take them to slave
labor camps in Germany. The enemy uses any kind of tactic to make men between sixteen
and sixty their target and sometimes they are caught by ruse. The moment the sirens go off
and as people find shelter in their homes, the German troops move in, blocking every street.
Then, as soon as the 'safe' sign is sounded, and the people are once more free to leave their
shelters, the men are caught and marched to the train stations with only the clothes on their
backs - destination: East. The first such raid takes place in Rotterdam on November 10 and
11, soon followed by the Hague, Amsterdam and Utrecht, the four largest cities. Rotterdam
is sealed off by two German divisions, seven thousand men strong armed with machine guns
and anti-aircraft guns. On November 10, between 4:00 and 7:00 a.m., the police has been
disarmed and all telephone cables are blocked. Everyone has been given a written order to
take warm clothing (few of them have any clothing left after four years of occupation) sturdy
�87
shoes (wooden shoes were already at a premium), a blanket, a raincoat, eating utensils and
food for one day. In return they are promised 'good food', cigarettes, 5 guilders a day and
care for the family members who stay behind. Homes are broken into and combed for
members of the Resistance, while others are driven irito the streets, marched off under
armed guards and taken to large buildings.
Many women assemble in front of the buildings where their loved ones are kept and
in their burning hatred hurl verbal abuse at the German soldiers. When the men are being
marched to the waiting trains or boats, they line up along the route, women and children,
trying to get one last glance of their husband's or son's face. Men and women call to each
other 'Courage', 'Orange forever'. Women cry, many pushing strollers. And then there are
the elderly women losing their husbands, and young girls with their arms around their boy
friends.
The total catch in Rotterdam is sixty thousand men, of whom some then thousand
are transported by train, two thousand five hundred by ship and some twenty five thousand
on foot. And then the amazing solidarity of the Dutch people shines through. During short
rest periods for those on foot, people from the neighborhoods, which they pass through, will
give them what they think may be useful to them. The same thing is repeated where the
barges are moored and at the locations where the trains stop. A large contingent of those
on foot are forced to march to Amsterdam, where they are loaded onto small freighters and
taken across the Zuiderzee to the cities of Kampen and Zwolle. In Kampen they are housed
in the former van Heutz military barracks. The weather is cold and unsanitary conditions
prevail. There is hunger and thirst and no medical assistance of any kind. Various kinds of
�88
shock, caused by anxiety and rough treatment, begin to affect the nervous system as well as
moral sensibility, but even more seriously and permanently affected is loss of personal
dignity.
Januaiy. 1945:
5 degree Fahrenheit
In the big cities, the ties between the tram rails are broken out for fuel. No
electricity, no heating gas, no food. Even the central kitchen, which has offered a thin soup,
with unrecognizable content, comes to a halt. Babies and old people are the first victims.
Mortality jumps three-fold. The dead are transported by push carts to the cemeteries. There
is no wood for caskets and they are buried in mass graves. In the big cities, the dead are laid
out on the stone floors of the old cathedrals.
A Resistance SWAT team attacks S.S. Chief Rauter. The result is that two hundred
political prisoners are shot. Between January 1 and May 1, 1945 a total of one thousand five
hundred and seventy nine political prisoners are executed, which is three hundred and fifty
one more than during the total period of 1940-1944.
Meanwhile, as mentioned above, Janny had moved in with her mother. The following
is her story.
The final winter of the war was a terrible one for everybody. We knew that the Allied
Forces were south of the rivers Rijn and Maas, but when would they come to free us? It had
�89
been almost five years since the occupation and the tension was thick. The questions was:
"When would we be free?"
I had been alone since May, 1944. I was very weakened by the stillbirth of our third
son, an9 I was glad when my mother invited me to move in with her and my two younger
sisters, Lyda, twenty four years of age, and Greet, ten years old. This way, I would at least
have some relief in the care of our children.
At this time we were practically hiding in our own houses, trying to survive the
ordeal. The Nazis were still after my husband and had even searched my mother's
apartment, including the roof, but to no avail.
In order to have some light in the evening we took turns riding the stationery bicycle,
to which a dynamo was mounted, but most of the time we went to bed early. There, under
the heavy covers, we could at least keep warm. Some times, while one pedaled the bicycle,
one of the others would try to read in the light beam of the bicycle, but the moment the
person would stop pedaling it became pitch dark.
We kept ourselves busy with such daily chores as personal hygiene, the most
necessary laundry and the preparation of meals. Toward the end we had to haul water in
pails from an emergency community pump not too far away.
Meanwhile, the rumors of the approaching Allies were flying and the Nazis were very
jumpy. One had to be very careful not to become to daring.
My brother Cor called attention to the fact that the family of Dr. J.B. van
Amerongen, who made their home at the Wilhelminalaan in Alkmaar, had employed a
�90
German nanny by the name of Ella Peterman, who hailed from the city of Cottbus. As it
turned out, this city later became the final prison camp for Nel Lind, a young woman from
Alkmaar, who, as a member of the Resistance, had been captured in Amsterdam by the
Gestapo, and had subsequently received the death sentence. In the Cottbus camp, Ella
Peterman had apparently been one of the wardens, but she had treated Nel Lind decently,
as well as Gre Hekket, another death row candidate, and a distant relative. of ours.
We were living on the Langestraat (the main street in Alkmaar) in an upstairs
apartment. One afternoon, a German patrol came through the street, fully armed, carrying
ammunition bands, wrapped around their shoulders, and pointing sub-machine guns at the
windows. They were obviously trying to intimidate the population. We stayed away from the
windows, but my husband, who had just recently joined us, awaiting the end of the war, had
reached the end of his endurance. He could not take it any longer. He suddenly drew his
revolver and aimed at the patrol. He was ready to shoot at them. Understandable but not
smart. I begged him not to do it. For all our sake. After all, none of us would survive and
we were so close to the end! He finally gave in to my reasoning and begging and had once
again regained his self control.
During that same week, on May 8, the Canadians came and freed us as they paraded
past our apartment. We were so happy! We opened all the windows and while I played he
piano, we all sang our national anthem and other patriotic songs. What a relief! Now we
could begin to rebuild our lives and our country once again. Times were still very difficult
�91
with everything still rationed, but we were free. Free to express ourselves, free to move
about and free to walk the streets with no fear of curfew.
Jbe little bit of food that is left is yet being rationed.
1945:
January:
Sugar Beets
City kitchen ration is down to one pint per person per day.
Water is only available per pail from newly dug wells in the
city.
January 28:
A neutral Swedish ship, loaded with food, sails into the harbor
of Delfzijl, a city in the far northeast part of Holland, which is
now liberated. The provinces of Noord Holland, Zuid Holland,
Utrecht and part of Limburg are still occupied.
April 24:
The city kitchen is forced to close, since food is no longer
available. The German High Command refuses to allow food
drops by the Allies.
April 26:
German Governor to the Netherlands, the Austrian born Seys
lnquart, designates a
few cities where food drops by
Allied planes is allowed without German interference.
April 29:
R.A.F. food drops take place near the Hague, Amsterdam,
Rotterdam, Haarlem, Alkmaar and Gouda.
�92
May 2:
Allied food transports by road are allowed to pass through
German lines.
Sprin~. 1945:
Bomber Command tries to bomb the rocket sites in a park in
The Hague. A mix-up in the coordination causes the bombs to
drop on a densely populated area. More than 500 dead, many
more wounded, three thousand three hundred houses destroyed,
one thousand two hundred houses heavily damaged, twelve
thousand people homeless.
During the five years of war a total of between forty and fifty five million soldiers and
citizens have been killed.
Burning dry eyes in a drawn face, embittered to a skin tight mask, the young widow
stood in front of the window of her neighbor's farm. Carrying her baby on her arm, she
stared at the still smoldering ruins of the small farm house and barn, which until a short
while ago had been theirs.
In young married bliss their first child was born just a few months ago, but their
happiness was not meant to last. The SS had swooped down in their vehicles from both
sides of the road, and surrounded the farm. They had driven her husband, herself and their
child out of the home, while they had searched the house throughout, breaking open the
-
walls, ceilings and floors. Angered by the fruitless search, they had put a revolver against
her husband's head, demanding to find out the whereabouts of two American flyers who had
�93
been hidden in the area some weeks prior.
Then, the Dutch Nazi, standing behind the SS officer, had spoken up: That's the
man, Herr Kommandant'! Next, there had been a sharp sound, and her husband had fallen
to the ground of his own farm yard, his hands digging the good earth, in a final sp~m.
Before they had left, the SS had torched the buildings, preventing anyone of trying to rescue
anything inside. A few of the Germans had walked up to the barn and had methodically shot
the cows. Our longtime friend, Jan Walter, was shot nearby.
Monday. May
7.
1945: Amsterdam liberated.
Enthusiastic crowds gather on the Dam Square, in front of the Royal Palace. Women,
who have fraternized with the Germans, have their heads completely shaven. A German
naval detachment fires at random into the crowd. Twenty two dead, sixty wounded - the
compliment of a sore looser.
At the start of the war no one knew what the future would bring, nor how long the
occupation would last, but one unyielding conviction we maintained: 'liberation from this
evil regime must come.' It would later be said that the imperviousness of the Dutch people,
as a whole, to Nazi contamination must be credited to the basic characteristics of its society,
rather than to external circumstances. It was foremost the fact thatjn Holland the family
and the churches had not abdicated their character-shaping and opinion-forming functions
to the state and political groupings. The basic family unit and the churches were
�94
comparatively inaccessible to Nazi ideology and could not be made to conform.
The following is a summary of the losses suffered by the Railway System:
12J2
1945
Steam Locomotives
872
126
85.5
Passenger Cars
1702
146
85.9
Luggage Cars
1236
0
100
and Cars
667
0
100
Gas-driven Vehicles
38
I
99
Loss in%
Electrical Locomotives
Freight Cars
26856
445
98.3
Total Losses
31371
718
97.7
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
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RHC-144
Format
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Text
Image
Type
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application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
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eng
nl
Text
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Dublin Core
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Identifier
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RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_Fatherland-Full
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Our Fatherland
Description
An account of the resource
Memoir by Pieter N. Termaat of the Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch
World War, 1939-1945 -- Netherlands
World War, 1939-1945--Occupied territories
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
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Text
Format
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application/pdf
Language
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eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc79cec9d36b8c39d9d262eb6272bfb0.pdf
848f5a7a4ae98f2fd836740edaa4eac1
PDF Text
Text
1
~
Economics in The Netherlands 1940 _ 1945 ( f/R-1.. r' 0 CCV f 11 ~rl..._,
Its impact on our family.
The two of us joined the National Youth Union ( Nationaal Jongeren Verbond)
in 1932 upon the initiation of the West Friesland Chapter. At that time
there were chapters in all parts of the Kingdom of The Netherlands with a
combined membership of 1,500. These chapters formed a catalyst among
loyal citizen groups on national holidays and attracted students with
historical and patriotic lectures throughout the year. We felt at home
because of the shared moral and patriotic high gro1.md.
In those crucial years we worked with men and women, courageous , idealistic
and dedicated to a degree at that time seldom seen in other youth groups.
The group was preceded in 1927 by a youth organization which directed its
efforts against the marxist propaganda for unilateral disarmament.
The transformation to the National Youth Union under the honorary chairpersonship of her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Juliana came later.
Besides the goal to strive for a strong national defense (Europe, so
shortly after the carnage of World War I was beginning to come to a boil
again) the organization came out strongly for the unity of our kingdom
as it had existed for centuries in Europe, Asia and South America.
Just before we married on April 18, 1939, the pre-mobilization command·
was issued for specialist and strategic regiments.
Total mobilization followed on August 29, 1939 .Recalling the often critical
shortages during Netherlands' neutrality from war during 1914-1918, a
distribution system of supplies was instituted in Se~tember. Ration cards
were issued under the management of the Centraal Distributie Kantoor
(Central Distribution office) in the Department of Commerce, Industry and
Shipping • Allocation of food supplies was administered by the Department
of Agriculture. With foresight the cabinet had stockpiled critical items
such as wheat, vegetable oil, rice, gasoline, coffee and tea.
After the capitulation to the German armed forces on May 14, 1940, our
youth organization was the one which kept a steady course and participated
on June 29th, 1940 in the national public celebration of Prince Bernhard's
birthday. Everywhere people wore a white carnation ( Prince Bernhard's
favorite) and at the Royal Palace in The Hague and at Royal monuments
flowers piled up.
Thousands signed the palace register of congratulation, which was later
confiscated by the Nazi's. Orange buttons and bunting were featured everywhere • In our monthly "De Tram" (The drum) we encouraged people to stay
loyal to the Queen and to ~ur fatherland and to ignore as much as possible
the German presence. After June 29th, 2 members of our national board,
van Santen and Schiebergen were arrested and our organization was accorded
the high honor of becoming the first organization to be banned .We the
members transfered to the first organization declared illegal by the invaders.
This was the O.D. (order service) consisted of military personnel.
From 1940 to August 1944 the daily ration for adults was about half of the
pre-war consumption in terms of calories. In these four years the average
ration amolm.ted to less than 1500 calories. This did not present a famine
level, but did lea.d to progressive weakening of human energy and resistance
to disease.
O.£
At that time no refrirators or freezers were in use; mostly the temperate climate
ranging from 20 to 70 Fahrenheit, did not make it necessary. So, thrown
into war circumstances, your ability to stock up, besides financial considerations1was limited to non-perishables. So, we could stock home-canned foods,
which were not popular outside farming communities.
�2
Economics in The Netherlands 1940-1945
Its impact on our family.
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And then there was a psychological factor at work. That what was made
available on ration cards, was purchased whether it was needttl or not
that week or fortnight. A good example was the purchase of cigars,
cigarett1_s and pipe tobacco. Non-smokers purchased what became available
gave it i'o family members gr friends or used .ns,d;- it as barter or sold it
at a higher price i/1v #..L. ,t.,C..c.-(. -n, ~e-'f. From September 1939 to May ,1940, when the occupation by enemy forces
became a fact, only sugar and peas were rationed , although in adequate
quantity and with reasonable frequency.
What worked against the people was, that they had only begun of late to
recover from the terrible depression of 1929 to 1938.
And so clothing, household items, furniture and other basic necessities
were already depleted ~ the start of the war •
In the eight months ending December 1940, the German authorities added
22 rationed goods, affecting 70% of the average family's consumption.
By November 1943, 95~ of the diet was rationed.
After the disastrous failing of the British Airborne attack at Arnhem
in September 1944, food rationing was decentralized and became a local
responsibility. The size of the rations and its content depended on what
was on hand locally.
Further1 the German army closed off the western seab9ard provinces by a
20 miles long~cordon running from the Rhine river just west of Arnhem
to the Zuiderzee. These provinces, the most heavily populated of the
country suffered terribly. The order of Nazi govenor Seyss Inquart to
embargo all shipments of food to the west of that cordon was a major
factor for the starvation rations.
In the west food rationing in October 1944 dropped to 1300 calories per
person per week: in November to 950 calories; in December to 550;
and in January 1945 to 340 calories.
The north-eastern provinces: Groningen, Friesland, Drente and Overijssel
managed to scrape by on 1300 calories per person per week from September
1944 to May 1945 •
. ()t,,l,t.,
The h,mger reached us as well and weakened the health of,~ family.
Infections were chronic. And then on November 9th 1944 (the birthday
of father C.B.Termaat) .Jarm:ie had a premature birth at about 4½ months •
Warned by our doctor Willem Verdonk who was in fear of her life, I came
home that night out of hiding to be with her. Doctor Verdonk assisted us.
It was a boy, so tiny in death, his features resembling those of Keith
and M:Yte • But there was no time to lose , I had to be gone by d'awn •
A box had to serve as coffin and with our prayers I carried him oupide
and in the backyard I dug a grave • Then Jm:t!d:e and I said our goodb~S::1
and I left again for my hiding place, to continue the bitter struggle.
~ did not get _adequate food to regain her strength ; het mainstay
was thin buttermilk porridge. A neigborlady_gave up some of her rations
"you need it more than me-'' was all she said •
Towards the end of December we decided that a visit had to be paid to
Oma Schuurman' s relatives., still living on active farms to seek food •
J&ir.flie~ s sister Lyda and I met the day after Christmas early in the morning
on the road to Purmerend. One bicycle had no tires at all and the other
tires were in bad shape. We had planned to go through the Schermer polder
towards Purmerend , and from there to the ferry in Amsterdam harbor if! .it
seemed safe.
�J
Economics in The Netherlands 1940-1945
Its impact on our family.
...
1"llfl.0W1V
A little ways out of Alkmaar there was bad news : the Germans had
flooded the polder to head off airborne attack. We rode the bicycles
through the water as long as we could, but finally had to walk.
With cold wet legs we reached Purmerend, and could then proceed along
the canal towards Amsterdam •
At the ferry we scanned for German uniforms and crossed safely.
We chose to find our way through east Amsterdam, thus avoiding
the center, which we knew was infested with the Nazi's. Reaching
the outskirts we went the last few miles to Diemen where we took the
country road to Over-Diemen. Just east of the Amsterdam-Rhine canal
lay the farm of Oma Schuurman's brother, nestled along the Zuiderzee
dike. We were cordially received; a warm meal was set and then butter,
cheese and some bacon were given to take home.
This was the family farm of the Hennipman's (Oma Schuurman's maiden name)
Oma Schuurman born in 1889 and·Ju_-,.ie her oldest daughter born in 1916
were both born right thefrt, in the same room in the same bedstead.
We took our leave and chose the road to the west to cross the canal on
our way to Hoofddorp, south of Schiphol; Arriving at the canal we
saw that the bridge we had anticipated was under construction.
The pilings, the side railings and a one foot ledge existed on which
the steel beams were to be laid for the roaddeck. But neither the beams
nor the deck were there.
There was no choice, we had to cross. I took one bike under rrry arm
held onto the railing and walked over the ledge to the other side.
~-'•
Fifteen feet below 1 the water with floating ice did look uninviting in ~
gathering dusk. Coming back I carried the second bike the same way,
and then helped Lyda across. Again riding the biclycles we passed close
to SchipholVwhere we encotmtered a heavy fog. Finding the main road
to Hoofddorp was not easy, but we did find i t . Suddenly we heard
a voice calling : 11 Wer da" , German for who goes • We heard the bolt
of a rifle I, said nothing and speeded along the Middenweg till we
reached the Roodenburg farm • Opa Schuurman' s eldeet sister was married
to Jacob Roodenburg. Again the reception was cordial. They fed us and
as it had become dark, we were invited to stay overnight.
After breakfast we were given amply from what the farm produced: several
bags of beans an:i peas • These too would go a long way to supplement
the starvation diet on which we could not subsist.
We thanked the Roodenburg's and took off, carefully watching out for
enemy checkpoints and platoons of the "Landwacht" a particular vicious
uniformed group of Dutch nazi's who roamed about roughing people up,
sometimes arresting them, and confiscating what they had on them.
We talked to people before proceeding in one direction or another
We decided to return to Alkmaar by circling wide around Schiphol Airport
in the direction of Velsen, where a ferry could bring us across the$
wide and deep canal which runs from Amsterdam harbor to the North Sea.
Once across we would have a choice of roads leading towards Alkmaar.
We made it safely across but shortly afterwards lost another tire.
We managed to reach Limmen, a village several miles south of Alkmaar
and as dusk was setting in over the unlit road, proceeded slowly with
our precious load along the main road, On reaching Alkmaar we took the
smaller side streets, which were ,<l{i so familiar to us and reached Oma's
Schuurman's house just before curfew time
�...
4
Economics in The Netherlands 1940 - 1945
Its impact on our family.
'
I
Because of Jarmie' s weakened condition • Oma. Schuurman took her and Keith
and Nico in her apartment in Alkmaar in February 1945. after the house in Broek
was closed; all our possessions had been gathered into one large room in
Broek which we had then secured with a heavy lock. The remainder of the house
was rented out to a refugee family •
V
J hJ v />/Ill£ rvrs Opa and Oma Termaatv'were helped by former soldiershwho were farmers , but
by March 1945 they as well as everybody in Oma S-chuurman's house were again
,
.il reduced to a level of scarcity which begged for some supplement.
~ lf-,"rtif~wMm- ~Also by then captain Vels Heyn¥was in need of food for resistance fighters
,
already hidden in the city •
"
; .,
.,._~tJfl J. lt!ll.l-~
I walked one day along the back roads to the Langedijk where I knew a man by:il'd~:r,11
V Tll.AtltpoP.:r the name of Jonker , who operated a one manybusiness with a fla-t?'wagon with
'la ·
canvas sides and top. I found him willing to make the trip from Broek to
Alkmaar. Several farmers I knew very well were willing to sell us onions,
potatoes, huge carrots1 in better days used for horse fodder and cabbage
at reasonable prices. I then ventured into the city of Alkmaar to a friend's
house who was the district president of the Chamber of Coll'IDlerce. We discussed
the problems I faced and what I had done so far to transport food •
He was able to locate a dozen or so large sturdy crates at no cost as long
as they were returned intact.
So Jonker picked up the crates which filled his wagon and brought them to the
village of Broek. There the crates were filled at various locations.
When I had familiarized Jonker with the destination - the house of Opa and Oma
Termaat, a day was chosen for the transport.
Jonker. sitting on ~fibox gently guided his horse at a leasurely pace.
'
I
He managed to get into Alkmaar across thedcanal bridge for traffic
t P~l..51111-i
torqll eastern directions and unloaded the crates with our help into the
small barn in the back of the elder Termaat's house.
During the following days after dusk set in, but well before curfew, an
orderly distribution was effected. For many it was a lifeline for the last
6 weeks of the occupation. No one tried to profit 'lll'lseemly from this
operation.
At the start of the war , no one knew what the future would bring nor how
long the occupation would last. But one steely conviction we held
liberation from this evil regime must come.
It would later be said that the imperviousness of the Dutch people as a
whole to Nazi contamination must be credited to the basic characteristics
of its society rather than to external circumstances.
Foremost was the fact that in Holland the family and the churches had not
abdicated their character-shaping and opinion forming functions to the state
and to political groupings • The primary family unit and the churches were
comparatively inaccessible to the Nazi ideology and could not be made to conJ:orm/.
llbl?.l/lt,/4-5
)(
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_Economics-1941-1945
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Economics in the Netherlands, 1940-1945: Its impact on our family
Description
An account of the resource
Essay by Pieter Termaat describing the economic conditions in the Netherlands during the Nazi Occupation.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch
World War, 1939-1945 -- Netherlands
World War, 1939-1945--Occupied territories
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b1e90475ffe79855bfaef6adcc89e2fe.pdf
375fed9dd08ebc9ee3919cb388a0087e
PDF Text
Text
-·
1 november 1990
Uitreiking Yad Vashem onderscheiding in het Raadhuis te
Hoofddorp.
Ik mag u namens allen die deze dag de Yad Vashem
onderscheiding mochten ontvangen heel hartelijk danken. Dank
ook aan allen die zich hier voor hebben ingezet.
Wij zijn zeer onder de indruk dat u na bijna 50 jaren wilt
terugdenken aan die tijd waarin wij gedurende langere of
korte re tijd onderdak hebben gegeven aan J00dse Nederlandse
v rouwen en mannen - en niet te vergeten kinderen - die door de
bezetter werden achtervolgd.
Wij willen u daarvoor danken.
De dingen die gebeurden in die donkere oorlogsdagen zijn bij
ons niet uit ons geheugen gewist.
Integendeel, die oorlog leeft nog steeds voort in onze
herinnering.
Het is een wezenlijk deel van ons bestaan geworden en
gebleven.
We zijn niet vervuld van trots om wat we deden. Ik denk dat in
onze gedachten over die jaren geen plaats is voor trots.
Wat we deden was ook niet iets geweldigs, in het · hele
oorlogsgebeuren van die dagen.
�/
-
2 -
We waren geen verdedigers van Stalingrad of Londen, geen
zeelieden op de schepen die ieder moment konden worden
getorpedeerd. We vochten niet aan de invasiestranden. Wij
waren geen piloten die honderden kilometers over vijandelijk
gebied vlogen met rondom een vuurzee van kogels en granaten.
We pleegden geen overval op een distributiekantoor of
gevangenissen. Wat we deden kwam niet in de krant.
Het gebeurde in het verborgene.
Niemand mocht het weten.
Er zijn er geweest die jaren Joodse onderduikers in huis
hadden,
zonder dat iemand buiten het huis dat wist. Zelfs de
verzetsorganisaties niet.
Niet trots willen we zijn omdat het ging over zo iets
onwezenlijks! Mensen die zoals wij, gewone mensen waren, die
in onze samenleving hun plaats innamen, zonder ook maar op te
vallen. Ze werden van de ene op de andere dag gevaarlijk. Ze
waren staatsgevaarlijk, ook de kleine kinderen.
Ze belemmerden de komst van het duizendjarig Rijk "De grote
Sociale Staat ter Wereld"
(Goebbels 12-2-41).
�,-
- 3 -
Het had ook ons kunnen overkomen.
De "Satans knechten" zoals opa Boogaard hen typeerde hadden
hun plannen klaar liggen om op een gunstig tijdstip al
diegenen die niet pasten in hun wereld uit te roeien.
De joden waren de voorhoede!
Omdat we niet mee wilden doen met het synistere spel van
ve rnedering van onze medemens hebben we onze huizen opengezet
o m toen het nodig werd aan Joden die onderdoken huisvesting te
verlenen.
Niet trots!
Omdat we niet vergeten zijn wat de onderduikers mee moesten
maken.
Ze konden niet in hun huizen blijven. Weg uit hun vertrouwde
omge vi ng.
Opgesloten in kleine kamertjes. Soms dag en nacht.
Regelmatig wegkruipen onder de vloer of in een geheime kast.
Zeker niet op straat. Soms even vlak·bij huis als het donker
was. Even een paar stappen buiten.
Ze waren er niet voor opgeleid onderduiker te zijn.
Ook de gastvrouw/gastheer hadden zich niet voorbereid op het
hebben van onderduikers.
�/
-
4 -
Angst - spanning en de kans om opgepakt te worden.
Er was een voortdurend tekort aan de meest elementaire dingen
van ons bestaan.
De gezinnen waren meestal van elkaar gescheiden.
Zonder op de hoogte te zijn van elkaars toestand.
Ik heb het al meer gezegd dat vooral onze vrouwen in die
situatie het zwaar hebben gehad.
Daar heb ik bewondering voor! Grote bewondering.
Gelukkig ging het meestal goed. Onderduikers en hun
gast v rouw/gastheer konden goed met elkaar opschieten.
Ve l e n werden vrienden voor het leven.
De meeste onderduikers waren te vinden in de kleine huisjes.
Niet velen waren zo gelukkig dat ze als de kleine Mozes konden
onderduiken in het paleis van de dochter van de Farao van
Egypte.
Hoewel zijn eerste onderduik-adres in een biezen kistje tussen
het riet van de Nijl was ook niet geweldig.
Mozes was denk ik één van de eerste onderduikers.
Na hem zijn er de gehele geschiedenis door Joden gevlucht en
ondergedoken voor de achtervolgers.
�,
.
/
- 5 -
We kennen de geschiedenis van het Joodse volk.
Vanuit de Bij~el werd ons verteld van de oorsprong van het
Jodendom.
De geschiedenis van een volk dat zich ondanks vervolging en
vernedering wist te handhaven.
Vanuit de gehele wereld zijn ze in onze dagen terug gekomen
naar het oude land Israël.
Ook nu weer zijn ze omringd door vijanden die ze naar het
lev e n staan.
Chaim Potok zegt in zijn boek omzwervingen: "hoe komt het dat
er na dit alles nog steeds Joden bestaan?
"Ik schrijf dit boek in Jeruzalem en in bepaalde steden in
Amerika en Europa. Ik schrijf het in het bloedigste tijdperk
v an de geschiedenis van mijn volk, misschien zelfs van de
geschiedenis van de mensheid. Wie in dit tijdperk joods is,
beseft enerzijds ten volle dat het einde van de menselijke
soort mogelijk is en gelooft anderzijds hardnekkig dat we
zullen overleven".
�,--~------------~-
-
6 -
Wij hebben een klein stukje van die Joodse geschiedenis met
zijn mysterieuze en verbijsterende aspecten meegemaakt. Aan
den lijve ondervonden.
Wij zijn niet trots op die kleine rol die we mochten spelen in
het grote verhaal van de Joodse geschiedenis. We zijn dankbaar
dat er ondanks de gruwelen van de jaren 1940-1945 10.000 joden
mochten blijven leven. Vooral dankbaar ook dat de bevrijding
mocht worden meebeleefd door de 4000 joodse kinderen die
v anuit de schuilplaatsen tevoorschijn kwamen.
~aar het is onmogelijk om daarbij niet te denken aan de
104.000 Nederlandse Joden die werden vermoord.
Deze gemeente Haarlemmermeer heeft 26 dorpen en dorpjes; er
wonen bijna 100.000 mensen.
We kunnen ook vandaag niet vergeten de joodse onderduikers die
zijn gevonden door de Hitler knechten. We schamen ons voor het
verraad uit ons eigen volk.
We denken aan de gastvrouwen/ gastheren die mee zijn opgepakt
en nooit meer terug kwamen, of voor hun leven lang kapot
gemaakt waren.
Dank u wel voor de onderscheiding die u ons gaf.
Niet trots.
Dankbaar dat we iets mochten doen voor onze medemens.
We zijn bevoorrechte mensen!
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_1990-11-01-Address-Yad-Vashem
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1990-11-01
Title
A name given to the resource
Uitreiking Yad Vashem onderscheiding in het Raadhuis te Hoofddorp
Description
An account of the resource
Address at the presentation of the Yad Vashem award at the Town Hall of Hoofddorp by Pieter N. Termaat, November 1, 1990. In Dutch
Subject
The topic of the resource
Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust
World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
nl
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/190efc7d553280033317721b3f96b52d.pdf
82c62087f0ebcead56213d7f3f02ca5b
PDF Text
Text
I
-•
•
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
HONORARY DOCTORATE OF
Peter and Jean Termaat
December 7, 1988
President Lubbers, Professor Baum, Provost Neimeijer and members
of the Board of Control - honored guest s.
My wife Jean and I are ·highly appreciative of the Honorary
Doctorate bestowed on us.
Foremost in our minds however, is the
deeply held conviction that we may accept this only vicariously,
mindful of all those who fell in the uneven battle against a
ruthless and barbarian regime.
It seems appropriate that our thoughts for a moment go back to
the faculties and students in occupied ~olland, who .were suddenly
faced with serious choices.
�••
Professor Telders of Leiden University comes to mind.
At
the youthful age of 31 he had been appointed as a full
Professor of International Law.
He distinguished himself
Constitutional Law, World History and Philosophy.
With
intensity he followed domestic and foreign policy and was
widely travelled.
.
•
further by many publ i cations, also in the fields of
••
Neutrality of his country, situated as it
is between Germany, France and England, was as he stated,
not only a matter of law, but also of duty.
Violation of
neutral i ty hurt him deeply, and his feeling of justice being
vi olated was translated by him in political militancy.
Already on May 25, 1940 - 11 days after Rotterdam was bombed he advised the Secretary of the Interior not to appoint
new judges or mayors, in order to prevent the appointment of
Nazi elements.
Hostages, usually prominent citizens, were
taken in all major cities already within months of the start
of the foreign occupation, lifted from their beds in the
middle of the night in order to intimidate the population,
...
~
and to instill fear.
The only result was a stiffening of
.
t
the resistance.
In 4 ed i torials in a Rotterdam newspaper, Dr. Telders stated
that the Nazi commissar Seys-Inquart in the first 4 weeks
had stayed within the perimeter of the International Law,
but he made clear the limitations of this law, in order that
~
the people would know when and where these would be violated.
..
.
C
~
�I
He emphatically advised government employees~ to tender
their resignation unless they would be required to violate
their conscience or their honor, and that would occur where
the occup i ers political decisions would be in direct support
of conducting the war.
For Jean and for me that point was
reached on Hay 1, 1942, after two years of occupation, when
in writing I refused to send Dutch factory workers to labor
• which indeed violated my
conscience and my honor • in German war factories ,* The reply gave proof that
I resigned.
Dr. Telders had correctly spelled out the perimeters for
resistance. I have said "us", because fully realizing the
sterling qualities of faith ,
. . .
determination and indomitablePoss1b1hty of arrest, it would have to be "our" decision. fl'
courage.
The reply read: 11 1 notify you that on the basis of a
, I honor in
my wife the
directive from President Boening (A German Nazi) no
discharge may be .provided to those who do request this on
the basis of conscientious objections against the ezecution
of the directive of the Labor Draft."
In Dr. Telders 1 last editorial he warned the occupying
aut horities agains t any form of unfavorable treatment of our
I
•
Jewish citizens, a small minority - 1½% of the total
population.
Step by step the pressure on the Jews had increased by
forcing them to wear the yellow Star of David and to
concentrate them in Amsterdam, i n what was for the first
time in Holland's history "a ghetto", separated from the
general public.
�I
The spiritual principle of tolerance had given birth to the
-
I
...
nation during the eighty-year war (1568-1648) against the
...
0
Spanish Inquisition. An independent Netherlands which would
nor could honor this principle is unthinkable.
The respect
.
for religious diversity has graced that country for
centuries, and equality under the law, irrespective of
descent or religion, has always been its high principle.
••
C
•
In
•
1940 the Netherlands counted 4 public and 2 parochial
a
Universities, all with a full curriculum and another 4
•=--
•
In 1940, in all these schools,
..,••
the spirit of resistance towards the totalitarian form of
r:.,
government began to form.
--It
specialized Universities.
-.0
It
In October 1940, 5 months into
the occupation, a protest was signed by half of the faculty
members and sent to the Nazi governor to warn against the
violation of the principles of our government.
,-
lo(
...•
.
•
The other
half was of the meaning that they had been appointed because
of their achievements, though some of them stated honestly
-~
that they were afraid to sign up.
Professor van Loghem of the Medical faculty of Amsterdam's
l~•
~
University spoke openly against the dangers of totalitarian
•C
influence and ended his speech by quoting from Netherlands'
-r.
::r
greatest philosopher, Spinoza: "Only if mankind is led by
reason will freedom ensue."
And we may add to this: "At the
gate of the University, for always."
.."'"'
,,.
•,,. .
(I '
.
C
it ,
-< i
......
•
I
�/
Leiden's University was hit by the Nazi governor, who closed
10 academic positions with Jewish tutors, among them two
full professors.
One of the latter was Dr. Heijers, in
Europe regarded as an exceptional savant.
That he was
banned from his position was especially hurtful for Rector
Cleveringa, for whom Heijers was a long time friend, but who
had also been Cleveringa's promotor in 1919.
In October 1940 all faculty members received the so-called
Arian declaration, which had to be filled out, stating that
one was of pure Arian descent.
judge its legitimacy, caved in.
The Supreme Court, asked to
In the end in a compromise
all 73 signed but 60 included their signed protest, which
had been conceived and written by Professor Telders.
Dr. Cleveringa decided to address faculty and students on
behalf of Dr. Heijers.
He told his wife Hiltje and her
reaction was: "They are going to arrest you, but if you ar
convinced that it is your duty, do it!"
Leiden's auditorium was filled to overflowing and in a
second auditorium those present could listen in by
loudspeaker. Two-thirds of his speech was dedicated by
Cleveringa to his mentor Heijers; factual, laudatory,
unusually talented, who had touched deeply, not only the
minds, but the hearts of the thousands of his students as
well.
"And now a foreign enemy removes him from his position
�r
.
among us in direct violation of our constitution, which allows
every citizen to be named to every position, independent of his
or her religious conviction or ethnic background.
which all:European nations A~ticle 43 of the "Land-war Regulations 11f binds the occupier to
ere signatories . ~
honor the laws of the land he s~bjugated "sauve empichement
:i
absolu" (Except for absolute hindrance).
There simply is no reason or hindrance to leave Dr. Meijers
where he was.
We can now, without falling in extreme measures,
bow for superior force.
Meanwhile, we will wait, and trust, and
hope to keep in our thoughts and in our hearts the figure and
the personality of him whom we cannot fail to believe, that he
belongs here and if God wi ll, will return."
Tuesday, November 26, 1940 - six months into the occupation the student body struck.
The occupier closed Leiden's
University, the second one after Delft.
arrested on November 28th.
Dr. Cleveringa was
Calmly he defended himself: "You
have violated the "Land-war Regulations" and I have said that
we bow for superior force alone." He was jailed but set free
after eight months.
At the University of Utrecht
Dr. Koningsberger spoke to the student body, which stood during
his speech.
He concluded with these words:
"Whoever wants to report me to the occupation forces or to the
Dutch Nazis, I leave the text of what I have just said here on
the desk."
�A student stepped up to the desk and tore up the notes.
The six Universities had a combined student body of 14,600.
11,000 of these men and women refused to sign the declaration
of loyalty to the occupier when ordered to do so in April,
1943 - three years into enemy occupation.
The cost of principle is high.
The 3,500 students who did
sign finished their studies ahead of the resisting
students.
They grabbed the advantage to move ahead of the
principled ones.
Should at any time an occasion arise where
a high moral choice has to be made, what will it be?
This we know: "A personal decision, based on simple and
honored principle, does count, and will maintain your
integrity.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_1988-12-07-Address-PNT-GVSU-Honorary-Doctorate-v2
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1988-12-07
Title
A name given to the resource
Commencement Address
Description
An account of the resource
Address delivered by Pieter N. Termaat on receipt of his and his wife's honarary doctorates by Grand Valley State University.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Grand Valley State University
Dutch Americans
Degrees, Academic
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
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application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/823b677a5ed3d856f7f1f4489b5632e1.pdf
e53d9c701d0a27e583b149dc4a7ad85b
PDF Text
Text
SERVICE OF COMMEMORATION
KRISTALL NACHT
November 9, 1938-November 9, 1988
Temple Emanuel
Grand Rapids
Rabbi Lewis, honored guests:
It is with great sadness that we commemorate together the infamy
of fifty years ago of what has become known as "Kristall Nacht"
or "Night of Glass".
It happened less than a year before Poland was partitioned
between Germany and Russia.
In March 1938 Hitler's armies had
been invited into Austria, and that country was in its entirety
integrated.
Austria had among its population 185,000 Jews, many
of whom were arrested and sent to the concentration camp of
Dachau. But among these were 20,000 Jews with Polish nationally,
who tried after the German-Austrian unification, to return to
Poland.
The Polish government refused to take them back, and
SS General Heydrich had these 20,000 people loaded on trains and
dropped off at the Polish border where they, exposed to the
elements, wandered about in a no-man's land.
After some six months an accord was struck between Germany and
Poland whereby each country took in half of these helpless
refugees.
�The inhumane conditions in which these 20,000 people lived
for six months aroused widespread sympathy in Europe, but
little practical help for two reasons.
To reach them deep inside Europe in the tense situation already
existing between Germany and Poland was virtually impossible.
In
the second place, all western European governments were hesitant,
even loath to allow Jewish refugees into their countries.
Hitler's mad ravings over the radio had intimidated many of these
so-called statesmen.
During that horrible Fall of 1938 Dutch journalists covered the
news along the border with Germany, and bitter indeed are their
memories.
For example, they saw a 6 months old baby laying on
the luggage counter in the customs building at the border post
of Oldenzaal, without parents.
Not being able to get away
themselves, they had apparently put their baby 1n a train
compartment destined for Holland.
luggage, bleating.
And here it was between the
But the Government's dictum stood; it did not
want any more refugees and the smuggled baby was sent back to
Bentheim across the border.
After the war, the prominent journalist Bakker received a phone
call.
An English speaking lady wanted to come and see him.
young woman he met was unknown to him.
She showed him a picture
of healthy twins and said: "Without your help these children
would never have been born,"
Non-plussed he looked up.
She said: "Kerkerade."
The
�Then Bakker could make the connection - a small Dutch restaurant
close to the border and two young people cowering in a corner.
Across the road a German border guard waiting to take these
refugees back.
They had fled from the gruesome violence of
Kristall Nacht and had fled to the Netherlands, trusting on the
noble tradition of asylum.
An officer of the State Police
arrived to hand them over.
The man cursed from indignation at
this task.
Bakker asked him to delay the matter and called the Department of
Justice in The Hague.
down.
Twice they turned his request for asylum
The restaurant owner advised the young couple to throw a
couple of stones through the window of the Police station.
Dutch jail was always preferable over going back.
A
The young man
shook his head and said: "Ach nein, die Hollandische Behorden
haben uns doch anstandig behandelt." ("Rather not, the Dutch
policemen have treated us decently.")
Bakker managed to negotiate another half hour's delay, and called
the Justice Department again and told them: "This is my third
call, and I want you to know that I will dip my pen in poison and
publish this nationwide.
I have sufficient influence to bring
this matter up in Congress.
So, unless these two people can
stay, only then will I be silenced.
It worked.
They could stay
and after the war Bakker sat there and fumbled with a picture of
their twins.
rule.
It was alas but one exception to the government's
�,
Among the first Jews to be rounded up for the non-man's land
between Germany and Poland were the Grynszpans, whose son
Hershell was a student in Paris.
Unsettled by the fate of his
parents he shot and kil~ed Ernst Von Rath, Third Secretary of the
German Embassy in Paris.
It shocked the always hysterical
a t mosphere in the Nazy Party and inflamed it to such an extent
that Hitler gave the order to attack all Jews in their homes and
businesses on November 9th, 1938.
In one night 200 synagogues
went up in flames; 8,000 storefronts devastated and shattered
plate glass littered German streets.
It was later estimated that
the destroyed plate glass represented a half year's production of
the Belgian plate glass industry, from which it had been
imported.
800 stores were plundered and 35 Jews murdered. 30,000
Jewish men were arrested and put into the concentration camps of
Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Dachau.
After six weeks they were
set free, but only after an additional 400 had been murdered.
A
f i ne was imposed of one million Marks and one fifth of their
investments confiscated.
Poor Jews would no longer be eligible
for social care and were concentrated in work camps.
Off limits were now for Jews, theatr e s, musea, public parks and
swimming pools.
Their children were removed from every level of
schooling, and the total number o f Jews in German, 300,000 (about
1% of the population and unarmed) concentrated in Berlin and
Vienna.
�Protest rallies were held all over Europe, but to no avail.
The
churches in Holland remained totally committed to helping the
Jews, and the number of their martyrs, after they themselves were
subjected to five years of occupation, testifies to that
eloquently.
The only concession before the war was that children would be
admitted in limited numbers, not their parents.
England would
accept 10,000, Belgium 1,000, France 600, Switzerland 300, The
Netherlands 1,500 and Sweden 250.
It proved too little and too late.
It had been night, and now it was day - KRISTALL NACHT - Night of
Glass had made its horrible mark in history.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
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RHC-144
Format
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Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_1988-11-09-Speech-P-Termaat-on-Kristall-Nacht
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1988-11-09
Title
A name given to the resource
Service of Comemoration: Kristall Nacht
Description
An account of the resource
Address delivered by Pieter N. Termaat at Temple Emanuel, Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 9, 1988.
Subject
The topic of the resource
World War, 1939-1945
Kristallnacht, 1938 -- Anniversaries
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c210bd40e660170ded543b1e5d026408.pdf
73279e115204eb2f96ef80c6e4278c81
PDF Text
Text
MBBI LEWIS , RJ\BBI WEINGARTEN , DISTINGUISHED GUESTS /\.ND FRIENDS ,
IT IS A PRIVILEl'.:rE ON THIS DI\Y OF COMMEMOMTION OF THE HOLOCAUST
TO BRING YOU A MESSAGE FROM HIS EXCELLENCY DR . JI\N H. LUBBERS ,
AMBASSADOR OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS TO OUR COUNTRY .
DR . LUBBERS ' MESSAGE READS :
NATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE D/\.Y /\.PRIL 10 , 1983
CONGREBATION AH/\.V/\.S ISR~EL
PEI' ER N. TERM/\./\ T
�Message of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
April 10, 1983, gathering in Grand Rapids on Holocaust.
NATIONAL HOLOCAUsr REMEMBRANCE DAY
CON3-REBATION AHAVAS ISRAEL
As year succeeds to year, and human events once believed glorious fade
to ghosts of uncertain light, yet there are enterprises of mankind which
persist as immutable monuments of shame, despite our efforts to pull them down
forever.
I speak of the Holocaust: the vengeful, pitiless and evil systematic
destruction of our brothers and sisters. A half century ago this scheme
was born in its modern w'ustrial manifestation when the means of production
were perverted into factories of destruction. Forty years ago, the Holocaust
had become an institution of total warfare, not against armies, but against
human beings: clerks, grocers, dock workers, housewives, and children. It
was turned against people whose only crnme under this horrific code was
their religion, ethnic ancestry, frailty of mind or body.
Great evil demands greater labors for good. In The Netherlands as in other
countries of Europe, and in The United States, there were those who found,
sometimes by chance, the opportunity and means to counter evil. Sometimes
singly and without proclaiming their decision and work, sometimes in groups
formed to oppose a system of evil with one of good, men and women, who equally
by accident of birth had been preserved for the moment against persecution,
fought to preserve life and sabotage evil.
Now, decades after the immediate battle was ended, we know these freedom
fighters as members of The Underground, and we have brought them up into
the light as examples of courage for generations to come, and as candles of
remembrance of those who could not be saved. And while those old factories
and camps of death are now mounds of rubble and empty shells, there are still
spores left in the ground, where they wait in suspended animation for the
climate to change.
But these spores of evil, spores of death, cannot tolerate light; they cannot
withstand the forces of courage and good which you also celebrate today.
Let us all bend our will and our efforts that never again will good be so
overwhelmed by evil that it is reduced to a voice crying in the wilderness.
Jan H. Lubbers
�-.L-.
NA.TIONI\.L HOLOCA.Usr REMEMBRI\NCE Dl\.Y
SPEECH A.T l\.Hl\.VI\.S ISRI\.EL ON A.PRIL 10, 1983 •
RI\BBI LEWIS, Rl\.BBI "\A.TEING/\.Rl'EN , DISTINGUISHED GUEsrS /\ND FRIENDS ,
IF EVER THERE IS A. NEED FOR ONE MORE LA.W TO BE PI\.SSED, WHICH TRI\NSCENDS
l\.LL OTHER ISSUES , IT IS fl. LI\.W TO M/\KE ETHNIC INTIMIDATION /\ CRIME •
ITS TIME IS NOW •
TOO MANY INDIVIDUI\.LS /\ND GROUPS EXIsr TO MAKE P1\SSAGE OF SUCH I\. LI\.W
IMPERA.T IVE •
THE MEN WHO EXHORI'ED f\ND PROMOT E:D THE HOLOC/\Usr FOUND TOO LI\ RGE I\
NUMBER OF MEN /\.ND WOMEN , WHO OBEYED THEIR ORDERS WILLINGLY /\ND EAGERLY .
FOR US , MEN A.ND WOMEN OF THE RESISTANCE , THE CLI\.RION CA.LL CI\ME
IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE NI\.ZI OCCUPI\TION Bffil\N , WHEN FROM THE PULPITS
ISI\Il\.H 11 S PROPHETIC VOICE SOUNDED OUT :
11 SHELTER THE HOMELESS, DO NOT BETRI\.Y THE FUGITIVE • "
IT WA.S A. TRUSTED VOICE THAT HI\D CALLED ON OUR PEOPLE NA.NY A. TIME IN
HisrORY BEFORE .
l\.T THE STI\.RT OF THE 17I'H CENTURY , THE FRENCH PHILOSOPHER DESC/\.RI'ES
WHEN VISITING THE NETHERLA.NDS , WROTE :
11 THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN WHICH FREEDOM IS MORE COMPLETE , SECURITY
GREl\.TER , CRIME Rl\.RER , THE SIMPLICITY OF /\NCIENT MANNERS MORE PERFECT
THA.N HERE • II
A.ND IN 1660 ANOTHER VISITING FRENCHMI\N WROTE :
11 THERE IS NOT TODI\Y A. PROVINCE IN THE WORLD THI\.T ENJOYS LIBERTY
SO MUCH A.S HOLLAND • THE MOMENT ll SEIGNEUR BRINGS INTO THIS COUNTRY
A.NY SERFS OR SLI\.VES , THEY ARE FREE • EVERYBODY CA.N LEA.VE THE COUNTRY
WHEN HE PLEA.SES , A.ND CAN TA.KE /\.LL THE MONEY HE PLEA.SES WITH HIM •
THE ROI\.DS ARE SA.FE DAY /\ND NIGHT , EVEN FOR I\ MA.N TRI\.VELLING A.LONE •
THE MA.srER IS NOT /\LLOWED TO RETAIN /\ DOMESTIC AGAINST HIS OR HER
WILL • NOBODY IS T RO UBL ED ON fl.CCOUNT OF ONE I S RELIGION •
ONE IS FREE TO SA.Y WHA.T ONE CHOOSES , EVEN OF THE MI\.GISTRf\TES • 11
IN SHORT : TO BIGOTRY NO SI\NCTION, TO PERSECUTION NO ASSISTANCE • 11
INTO THIS GENIA.L ATMOSPHERE THE REFUGEES FROM EUROPE , BOTH CHRISTIANS
A.ND JEWS , IMPA.RI'ED I\. STIMULA.TING VI\.RIETY OF TI\.LENTS •
THE UNIVERSITIES OF LEIDEN , FRANEKER, HA.RDERWIJK, UTRECHT /\ND
GRONINGEN GA.THERED WORLD FI\MOUS SCHOLA.RS AS EARLY AS THE 16t h AND 17th
CENTURIES • IN 16L10 LEIDEN UNIVERSITY HI\.D BECOME , I\ MERE 'l1 YEARS
AFTER TI'S FOUNDING , THE MOST RENOWNED SEA.T OF LEI\.Rl\JING IN EUROPE.
AMONG THE GENEML POPULI\.TION OF THESE UNITED PROVINCES LITERACY
WAS HIGHER TH/\N l\.NYWHERE ELSE IN EUROPE . THE DUTCH PRESS Wi\.S THE
FIRsr FREE PRESS .
THE LEIDEN WEEKLY NEWS /\.ND THE i\.MSTERDAM GAZETTE WERE READ THROUGHOUT
WESTERN EUROPE , BECI\ USE THEY WERE KNOWN TO SPEA.K FREELY , WHILE EVERYWHERE ELSE THE PRESS WAS fl.T THl\.T TIME GOVERNMENTI\.LLY CONTROLLED •
WHEN 1\ KING OF FRANCE I\SJ<ED TO HA.VE /\. DUTCH PUBLISHER SUPRESSED ,
HE WA.S l\srONISHED TO LEA.RN TH/\.T THIS WAS IMPOSSIBLE •
A.ND IN THIS CENTURY HOLLA.ND , UNDER HITLER ' s HEEL , SHOWED THE WORLD
/\.GA.IN TH/\.T A FREE PRESS WA.S WORI'H SUFFERING FOR •
�NATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY APRIL 10 , 19e3
CONGREGATION AH/I.VAS ISMEL
FOR CENTURIES PEOPLE WHO BECAME FUGITIVES FOUND A SAFE HARBOR
BEHIND DID-JES AND DIKES •
THEY LOVED THE N:EW COUNTRY /\.ND NEARLY ADORED AMSTERDAM •
AND WHEN QUEEN WILHEUIDJA BROUGHT HER ANNU/\.L VISIT TO THE C/\.PITA.L ,
THE DOORS OF THE SYNI\.GOGUE WERE OPENED TOO , /\.ND INSIDE FESTIVE LIGHTS
BIAZED BRIGHTLY .
I\.ND THE ROYAL OPEN COACHES CA.ME TO I\. STANDSTILL IN FRONT, IN REVERENCE
FOR THIS HOUSE OF WORSHIP •
AND ITS PEOPLE WERE MOVED , ROYA.LISTS /\.ND REPUBLIC!\.NS , CONSERVATIVES
/\.ND LIBERALS .
THE HONOR WHICH THE HE/\.D OF STATE SHOWED THE SYN/\GCGUE W/\S THE SYMBOL
OF JUSTICE /\.ND S/\.FETY UNDER THE LI\.W • /\ND WHEN TI\.LES 'i.-J"BRE TOLD OP
CRUEL PERSECUTION ELS&lliERE, THE JEWS LAMENTED /\ND THEY S/\ID :
"TH/\.T C/\.NNOT HAPPEN HERE ."
BUT IN THE YEI\.RS FROM 19li0 - 19L 5 IT DID HA.PP.EN /\ND THE DRE/\.DTI'UL SHA.DOW
OF THE CROOKED CROSS W/\.S /\LSO C/IST OVER THE LOW LA.NDS •
/\.ND WITH THE LOSS OF FREEDOM THAT H/\.D BEEN A.LOTTED THEM HOSPITABLY,
THE JE'WS BECJ\.ME ONCE MORE THE LOSERS • /\.ND HOLLAND LOST MUCH • I\ND
/\.MSTERDAM SUFFERED I\ GRIEVOUS LOSS . /\.ND THAT LOSS C!\.NNOT BE RESTORED.
1,,llil\.T HI\.S BEEN LOST CANNOT BE RffiAINED •
BUT ISRAEL W/\.S ESTABLISHED 1\S /\. NATION ON A N/\.RROW STRIP OF LJ\ND IN
19l.i8 , AND THE VA.LOR OF THE IRGUN AND THE HI\.GI\.N/\.H /\.RE /\. MATTER OF RECORD .
I\.ND IT YJJ\.Y YET BE S/\.ID :
HOW WILD THE STORMS 1\RE BLOWING,
HOW RA.IN AND SNOW HAS L/\.SHED,
THE TALL HIGH HOUSE OF ZION
STILL STANDS UNYIELDING FA.ST •
IN THE END THE NAZI BRUTES WERE V/\NQUISHED •
THEIRS IS NOT THE DESTINY OF CIVILIZ/\.TION .
THE LIE, THE TREASON, THE BRUTE VICJLENCE , THE BREAKING OF THE SPIRIT,
THE DICTATOR ' s SUPPRESSION /\.RE THE TOOLS OP THE EVIL ONE , v-lliICH WILL
/\.LWAYS MEET UP WITH STRONGER RESIST/\.NCE IN MEASURE TO THEIR MONSTROSITY
IN HOLLAND THE FIRST MEN /\.ND WOMEN OP THE RESIST/\NCE FEL'L IN THAT BATTLE
ALREI\.DY IN THE FIRST YEJ\.R OF TH/1.T DA.RK NIGHTSPI\.N OF FIVE YEARS OF
OCCUPATION .
HIDING , CLOTHING /\.ND FEEDING J\.LLIED FLYING PERSONNEL A.ND AIRBORNES
FOR THEIR SHORT PI\.SSING THROUGH ON THE LONDON UNDERGROUND RHLROAD
WAS I\.CCOMPLISHED NEXT TO THE EVEN MORE /\.ND LONGTIME INTENSIVE HELP
OFfERED JEWS A.ND OTHER CITIZENS THREATENED WITH NI\.ZI HATRED •
OUR BJ\.TTLE GROUPS I\.T TOTI\.L RISK FOUGHT AGJ\.INST . WHI\.T THE SPI\.RSE
INFORMI\.TION FROM i\.USCHWITZ , TERBLINK/\, DACHAU A.ND MA.NY OTHER CAMPS
SUGGESTED •
HITLER 's RIGHT HA.ND M/\.N , GOEBBELS , WROTE IN HIS DIA.RY ON SEPTEMBER l0,19LJ3 :
11 THE FUHRER EXPECTS THE ANGL0-1\.MERICJ\.N INVASION ATTEMPT TO COME IN
THE NETHERI.ANDS • WE i\.RE THE WEI\.KEST THERE , /\.ND THE POPULATION
WOULD BE MOST INCLINED TO GIVE THE NECESSARY LOC/\.L SUPPORI' TO SUCH AN
UNDERI'/\.KING • AS EVERYBODY KNOWS , THE DUTCH /\.RE THE MOST INSOLENT fl.ND
OBSTREPEROUS PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE WEST • " QUOTE , UNQUOTE •
WID\.T STILL Hi\UNTS US A.S RESISTANCE PEOPLE IS : COULD WE HA.VE DONE MORE
THAN Si\.VE ONLY ONE IN TEN J&lS •
PEI'ER N. TERMJ\./\T
�_:3_
BUT THE BLOODIED RI\NKS OF THE RESISTANCE PROVED THI\T NO SflCRIFICE
IS TOO GREAT IN THE BI\TTLE FOR FREEDOM i\ND DIGNITY UNDER GOD' s
COJ\I.JMJ.\.NDMENT S •
OVER 40 }'f..INISTERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES OF THE REF'ORMI\TION AND
OVER 40 CI\.THOLIC PRIESTS PERISHED IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS •
I\.ND IN THE NA.TIONA.L CEMEI'A.RY OF THE RESISTJ\NCE, IN THE DUNES BEI'WEEN
Hl\.i\RLEM l\.ND THE SE/\ , 371 MEN (IND WOMEN , COMRI\DES ALL, FOUND THEIR
11\ST RESTDB PLI\.CE ON THE SPOT WHERE THEY WERE EXECUTED •
I\ GRE!\.TER NUMBER WERE SHOT IN OTHER LOCI\.TIONS OR PERISHED I N THE
CONCENTRI\.TION CI\.MPS.
BY THE END OF 19li4 , THE A.CTIVE LIFESPJ\.N OF I\. RESISTJ\.NCE H'IGHTER
WI\.S ESTIMATED i\T LESS THI\.N 4 MONTHS •
LEI' :tvIE END BY RECITING 2 VERSES OF i\ POEM WHICH Ji\.N CAMPERT,
fl. SENIOR i\.T THE UNIVERSITY OF flMSTERDi\M ' s MEDICAL SCHOOL, WROTE
i\. YEl\.R BEFORE HE HIMSELF Wl\.S CAPTURED, TORrURED A.ND EXECUTED BEF'ORE
I\ Nl\.ZIS~Ul\.D :
OH BRIGHT /\.ND LOVELY Li\.ND F /\.REWELL
Fi\.!WtlELL FREE DUNES /\.ND SHORE !
I VOW THAT FROM THE HOUR YOU FELL
I THOUGHT OF EI\.SE NO MORE •
WHI\.T CAN I\ LOYI\.L MAN AND TRUE
l\.T SUCH I\. TIME ESSAY ,
BUT BID HIS WIFE I\.ND CHILD i\.DIEU
/\.ND FIGHT THE USELESS FRflY ?
MY T/\.SK WI\.S Hl\.RD , MY DUTY STERN
IT BROUGHT ME TOIL fl.ND STRIFE
BUT YEI' MY HEI\.Rr WOULD NEVER TURN
BACK TO MY Ei\SY LIFE .
FREEDOM WAS ONCE IN NETHERLAND
BOTH HONORED AND MAINT l\.INED
UNTIL THE SI\Vl\.GE' s SPOILER' s HI\.ND
ITS DWELLING PLi\.CE PROFANED .
VICI\.RIOUSLY WE I\.CCEPI' YOUR HONORABLE MENTION .
MAY THE GRI\.CE AND THE INNER PEACE 017 THE GOD OF ABMHI\.M,
ISI\.A.C A.ND JACOB BE WTTH US /\.LL IN THIS FREE Li\.ND , /\.ND
KEEP US f\.T HIGH /I.LERI' I\.Gi\.INST I\.NOTHER HOLOCAUST EVER
HAPPENING /I.GA.IN •
FOR OUR UNITY CREI\TES STRENGTH .
NATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DI\.Y I\.PRIL 10, 1983
CONGREGATION I\.HI\.VI\.S ISRAEL
PBI'ER N. TERMAAT
�AT THIS MOMENT MY WIFE A.ND I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT TO
THE MEN I S CLUB OF CONGRffil\.TION /1.Hl\.Vl\.S ISM.EL
4 BOOKLEI' S, WHICH REPRESENT THE SEI\.RCH AMONG THE SURVIVORS
OF THE JEWS IN THE NEI'HERLfl.NDS •
LISrED IN THESE MOVING HUMI\.N DOCUMENTS A.RE THEIR LAST AND
FIRST NII.MES , THEIR DA.TE l\.ND PLI\.CE OF BIRTH /IND THEIR I\.DDRESS
BEFORE A.ND I\.FTER THE Wl\.R , IN THE HOPE TH/IT A. RELATIVE OR
FRIEND MIGHT YET BE FOUND •
THESE BOOKLETS WERE GIVEN TO US 2 YEA.RS A.GO BY
MRS . HESTER KLIJNKRl\.MER , WHO WITH HER HUSBl\.ND fl.ND THEIR SON
A.ND THEIR NIECE HA.D FOUND I\. SA.FE HIDING FLA.CE IN THE HOME
OF OUR BROTHER A.ND SISTER
CORNELIS BAREND AND DOROTHEA JOHANNA TERMMT •
MRS.KLIJNKRl\.MER HAS SINCE PASSED AWI\.Y, SURVIVING HER HUSE/IND
BY I\. FEW YEA.RS.
MY WIFE AND I THOUGHT IT MOST APPROPRIATE THI\.T THESE MOVING
REMINDERS OF THE HOLOCI\.UST SHOULD RECEIVE A. WORI'H{ PlACE OF
YOUR CHOOSING .
Nl\.TIONA.L HOLOCI\.UST REMEMBRI\.NCE Dl\.Y APRIL 10, 1983
CONGREGATION l\.HA.Vf\.S ISRAEL
PETER N. TERN!f1.1\.T
�0
AT THIS MOMENT MY WIFE AND I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT TO
THE -MEN'S CLUB OF CONGREGATION A.HAVAS ISRAEL
4 BOOKLETS, WHICH REPRESENT THE SEARCH AMOl'K} THE SURVIVORS
OF THE JE,WS IN THE NETHERLANDS •
LIS!ED IN THESE MOVIl'K} HUMAN DOCUMENTS ARE THEIR usr AND
FIRS! NAMES, THEIR DATE AND PLACE OF BIRl'H AND THEIR ADDRESS
BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR, IN THE . HOPE THAT A RELATIVE OR
FRIEND MIGHT YET BE FOUND •
THESE BOOKLEr S WERE GIVEN TO US 2 YEARS AGO BY
MRS.HES!ER KLIJNKRAMER, WHO WITH HER HUSBAND AND THEIR SON
AND THEIR NIECE HAD FOUND A SAFE HIDING PIACE IN THE HOME
OF OUR BROTHER AND SIS!ER
CORNELIS BA.REND AND DOROTHEA. JOHANNA TERMMT •
MRS.KLIJNKRAMER HAS SINCE PASSED AWAY, SURVIVIN'.z HER HUSBAND
BY A FE.W YEARS •
MY WIFE AND I THOtnHT IT MOS! APPROPRIATE THAT THESE MOVING
REMINDERS OF THE HOI.OCAUsr SHOULD RECEIVE A WORl'H{ PIACE OF
YOUR CHOOSING.
NATIONAL HOLOCAUsr REMEMBRANCE DAY APRIL 10, 1983
CONGR&rATION A.HAVAS ISRAEL
PETER N. TERMAAT
G
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_WRI_1983-04-10-Speech-Lubbers-and-Termaat-Ahavas-Isreal-346
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983-04-10
Title
A name given to the resource
National Holocaust Remembrance Day address
Description
An account of the resource
Address by Pieter N. Termaat, to the Congregation Ahavas Israel on National Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 10, 1983. Termaat's address is preceeded by a message from Dr. Jan H. Lubbers, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, also delivered by Termaat .
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lubbers, Jan H.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Holocaust Remembrance Day
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8df2d464eee2ffd6a8d42155e685aea9.pdf
fd4700807cf0379b6a29feb159b0515d
PDF Text
Text
GSEENHEDEN
EN UTRECHT
: 400.000
ebled dat zljn tl'lertol//fe w•rer
zee of op het ljuelmffr loost.
deze bart door •erschlllende
,ebled rot twee ,fwater/nfseen•
rcerlnf weerrere•en (Waterland
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renomen zljn sl«/ou de remalen
nrseenhedelt ... betelen/, zljn.
een poarso pijl nof eon gemaal
ndlfheden
•rlJ• of kunstmatJ,e
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EN UTRECHT
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gebied dat zijn OW'ertolllre water
fe zee of op het IJsselmeer loost.
p deze ka.art door "e,schlllende
, gebied tot twee afwaterlnfteen•
arcering weergege"en (Waterland
,ateringseenheden zijn, voor zover
tors ingetekend. (bijv. RIJNU.NO.
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nderliJk afwaceringseenlteid rormr.
>fenomen zijn slechts de femalen
fngseenheden van betekenis zijn.
pune pijl nog een gemaal
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st een
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�A graat amou.nt of work has been performed by Y,rs,G.Beets-Zwa-4n
( whose mother was a Termaat) and Cornelis Barend Termaat (1918) .
Preface.
The research took place mostly in the city of lllkmaar' · tirchives ,
where the records of the city of fi.lkmaar and ether West-Frisian cities
are kept re baptism, marriage, burial and also the population
registers •
Mrs.Beets states that she has reached a nearly complete line of ancestors
fromts~ mother's fa.l'Jlily Termaat.
Her part begins when Barent Jansz. coming from Schagen settles in
the polder (diked-in lake) the "Schermer".
The part which deals with the prior Termaats in Vollenhove and
Blokzijl has been given to Yirs.Beets by Cormelis Barend Termaat
(1918) whose information has been incorporated in Mrs.Beets booklet.
Even though it proved to be nearly impossible to be complete,
every effort has been made to reach that goal.
Despite that, she is aware that errors may exist innames and/or
dates.
Work record.s have in many instances been copied frlbm the marriage
certificate. Often changes took place which have not yet been recorded.
Mrs. Beets entertains corrections and/or additional information.
She has expressed her thanks for assistance in gathering family
dataand for making pictures available.
A special thanks has been expressed by her to Mr.Bert C.Mantel
for his help in typing the manuscript and for his kind advice.
Mrs Beets wishes the readers of the Termaat geneology well.
December 1990.
THEME.
Time passes we say, but we are in error
Time stays and it is we who pass.
Introduction:
This book consists of 3 parts. The first has some
thoughts about our name and a short history of the city of Blokzijl
the place of origin. The second part contains the geneology which
.dates back to about 1550 and is brought up to date to December 1989.
Family members are written up in the family to which they belang •
The head of the family has been assigned a number consisting of 2 parts.
The Roman numeral indicates the generations counting from
. the
first forefather , who carries number I . The other figures indicate
the number of the family cou.nting from the first forefather.
Multiple ma.rriages are indicated as a orb or c.
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�The prioe of liberty is eternal vigilance.
" The elation of victory has become a memory of the elderly.
It should not be so"
'1hile the world is rid
of Hitler's physical presenoe,
still contend with his monstrous legacy.
Senator Biroh Bayh is aware that itlives in our country and that
f>ap thy ani ignorance together will allow this cucer to be
eborn , to f ester and to grow •
e statect that this evil should be excised now
~ WAITED TOO LONG THE LAST TIME.
w
On January 29, 1989, the Republikaner Partei, which calls itself
11 a cleaner extension of the Nazi's
gained 11 seats in the City of Berlin's Senate.
Some party members have called themselves the "Zyklon B" group
after the chemical used with deadly effect in the gaschambers.
erner Zellien, a Berliner concludes :
" The on~ thing German;y learnt from the Holocaust was how to make
poison gas"
He was referring to the U.S.A. having to tell· the German Government
about the Libyan chemiohal plant scandal.
nd Newsweek juat report.ecl th&t 2. German firms have d-eli~ed all
the becessary components to Pakistan to start produving atomie
bobs .
l ter Cronkite was scheduled as speaker for the award of the Spirit
o:f Liberty , of which he himselt had been the recipient •
nd gripping the arms of bis chair, he said in bis sonorous barito e-/i
I was just mad. I have been mad. Still am.
~nd he spoke these words:
�CONTINUED FROM Cl
ed enough to understand that a
newsman could wear several bats
and that we had the ability to turn
off - nearly, you can't say perf~1y but nearly - all of our preJudi~es and biases."
.
.
lt bas been a long tim~ sm<:e
Cronkite sat in the anchor,f ch_atr
at the "CBS Evening News, whi~
he turned over to Dan Rather m
March 1981
With an a~nual salary reputed to
be $ 1 million Cronkite was given a
'
f direct
seat on the CBS board o
ors
and the title of special correspondent, under an exclusive agreement that ran through last Nov. 4,
the day he turned 72.
For the decade to follow, he was
to become a consultant to the network, at a sharply reduced salacy.
Unhappiness
crops up
,As
Nov. 4 drew closer, how_ever,
ess
d h. nh
Cronkite voice
1s u ap~m
~tb his status at CBS, as bis apr..earances on the "Evening News"
an
" -d other CBS pro~ms grew fewd af
er and ~e networ turned a e
ear to _h1s proposals.
tb
h d
be~~~: ~i h."~g';,
1
even leave the network - something CBS clearly didn't wish to see
happen.
Cronkite would not discuss the
financial terms of bis new agre~ment with CBS, other than to say 1t
is substantial.
It obligates neither hlm nor the
network to any specific projects,
which Cronkite said is just fine.
public on complicated t rues.
It allows him to work for the Pub- Cronkite said, "and that's one
lic Broadcasting Service, for cable the problems of putting issues o
television and, with some excep- that 23 minutes."
tions, other outlets.
lnsisting that people ought t
f
ti
ti
n
have
used newspapers and mag
And the process O renego a O
zines, as well as television and r
did get him back on camera; he was dio to get a full sense of the IS
there with Rather at the convend d .. },/
tions last summer, commenting on in the campaign, he ad e ,
the race for the presidency.
should have done an hour at
"lt's always hard, after you've once a week, minimumly, m y
been in command, to take a lesser more than that, in prime time, ru
role," he conceded.
marizing the campaign."
"But quite honestly, 1 wouldn:t
on the other hand, he could doi
have wanted to work that hard this bis director's bat and admit that h
year. 1 had my turn at that. I'm !lot understood whrthe networks r
·
reluctant
yield likely
primetotime
to
the slightest bit bitter
about h avt ng shows
thattoweren't
t ract.
a lesser role. 1 wouldn't have exdi
pected anything else."
large au ence.
Nevertheless, he regrette_d holdWH
gn C V
Confllctlng a ers
ing bis tongue about campat
~lndeed that conflict betweén
erage by the news media at e Walter cro' nkite the straight-atTOW
time of the debates between the
presidential candidates.
newsman and Walter Cronkite the
"Television is not an adequate corporat functionacy is one he bas
medium to
qua.1.if.::.orm=-=-:th_,,.._,n--=o'-t..:!.ye_t_fu_ll..;;,y_re_so_l_ve_d...._ _ _ __
ad
,, e '-S~Ue ofpubbc U.IM.t /zas been intensil:nd,
nk
by t,.LU::_ r'-Se ofsensationafism
'J«:
•.:0 lle sqys,
• • - part~Utar,ry
• J l thOSe progranzs
• teleV'-SW'!
oueradmg
a.s new1'-".
1
u
During his eight years on the
CBS board, the network and its
news division have been torn apart
by internal conflict, a takeover attemp~ by Ted Turner, a libel suit
brought by Gen. William C. Westmoreland and countless executive
changes.
"lt was very difficult for me, during strike situations, during the
takeover situations with Turner,"
he said, "I did find myself in conflict between the openness I would
like, the right of the public to know
and the board's responsibility and
the necessity to do some business
in the dark, if you please.
"1 fight against that all my life,
against anybody doing the public's
business in the dark, and yet, 1 find,
now that I'm in it, that there is a
necessity to do that to a degree."
Something else carne up during
the campaign, a/'ié hàs fn almost
ry election ear since Cronkite
commenced bis very public career:
the moves to draft him into polities.
He would not deny that he had
been tempted, hut he feit it would
have been wrong: "1 do sincerely
believe that anybody who's been
an anchorperson - even eig_ht
years after he's been an anchorperson - should not get involved in
polities. I've said this all along and the biels to run for office began
years ago. And they carne from
both parties, incidentally."
There was another issue for him,
· as well. Was Cronkite ever resentful of all the trust that had been
vested in him all those years?
"Resentful wouldn't be the
word," he said, rolling it around in
his mouth. "Appalled, maybe.
Somewhat frightened by it. 1 always have been concerned about
. the idolatry connected with anchorpeople on television. lt bothers
me a -great deal that people would
say, 'I believe every word you say.'
Heavens, that's terrible for them to
think."
The issue of public trust bas been
intensified, he said, by the rise of
·sensationalism on television - particularly those programs masquerading as news.
· He broached that subject in the
second of bis recent surprising
ubhc .statements, h1s one on Dec.
5, at a dinner in his honor given b
the Museum of Broadcasting.
Cronkite used the occasion 11
come out strongly against sensationalist television programs particularly those fflat parade 85
news.
Referring to that after-dinner
speech, he recalled the time when
"The CBS Evening News" trailed
NBC's "Huntley-Brinkley Report"
slightly in the ratings when Cronkite became the CBS anchor in
1962.
•
Even then, ratings were ve1y
much on the minds of the neiworks, and he told the netwoiit
bosses that greater numbers were
within easy reaeh, simply by "going tabloid." With someone else iri
the anchor's chair, of course.
"So, this is nothing new," Cronkite said. "What is new is that the
outlets are available."
His primary concern, he added,
was that the popular new tabloid
programs could ultimately influence network news broadcasts - a
vulnerability drawn in starker relief in this age of corporate ownership of ABC and NBC and a corporate sensibility at CBS.
"This will be the test, perhaps, of
this generation of owners of. the
networks as to their sense of rens1bih •"
�The
sheds neuirality,
speaks out Inore
By Jeremy Gerard
N,Y. Times News Service
N
~
'
.
EW YORK - Walter Cronkite had always
been more comfortable delivering the
news than making it. But sometbing was
gnawing at him, and when the opportunity arose
one evening not long after George Bush was elected president, Cronkite made a speech in defense of
liberal values.
It surprised people more than he cou.Id have
imagined.
Although it'Was nearly nine years since the most
welcome house guest in the country, Uncle Walter.
Old Iron Pants, the Most Trusted Man in America,
had relinquished bis anchor's chair at the ''CBS
Evening News," many still seemed to think; as
Cronkite put it, that he ought to go on being an
"ideological eunuch."
Those day~ are over.
Not so objective
,1
In recent weeks, a~r years of being the conduit
and never the conscie'hce of the news, Cronkite
bas begun speaking ou(.on issues that concern him
- issues mostly having t.o do with joumalism and
polities.
At the same time, he has carved out for himself
more personal time in a more private life. A renegotiated contract with CBS that pays hun a great
deal to do little more than stay away from the other
commen:ial networks will allow him time to develop projects and to begin work on a long-overdue
autobiography.
But don't expect him to drift too far trom the
camera's eye or the reporters notebook.
Un_packed dlrtons sit outside the door and
around the corner from Cronkite's new-Office on
the 24th floor of the CBS headquarters at 52nd
Street.
Inside, in bis shirt sleeves, he sat talking about
that speech, about the rise of so-called tabloid television and about his role as a director of CijS. the
company he joined in 1950 after 11 years as a re.
porter for the United Press.
On Nov. 17, he was scheduled to introduce Barbara Jordan toa gathering of People for the American Way, the nonpartisan group founded by the
producer Norman Lear in 1980 to focus on constitutional issues. Jordan, a former Texas Congresswoman and one of the Democratie Party's most
articu!ate advocates, was the recipient of the organization's annual "Spirit of Liberty" award.
Cronkit~, tl!e previous.Y-ea_rs winn~. ~there
to pass thé torch. In the fn'St araft of bis .introductory speech, he wrote that he was going to rèSist a
temptation. to digress , fn that much•abused subject, liberalism.
_
But then he Iooketf'Sf hVApeech. and at those
words, and he chan ed his mind.
emocratic . ss
t e e ection he said.._
..,....was the fäult Qf tQQ.nmi ~ T u ~ e i r iciK:es
stilled by not-SQ•8Y.btle.k 1)1.Qii.cal intimid~on.
_ ~ox instance. we know.. that u n i l a t ~
action in Grenada and Ttipoli was wrong. We
know that Stru'. Wars means unçontrollable escalatioiiofitïe_~nn race. We know that the real threat
JQ.iiemocracy is in half the 11ati9n in po-verty.
"We know that Thomas Jefferson was rii)lt
\rli.e.n..be said. 'A demöcracy, cannot be both ignorant and free.' We know, we know, that no one
.s.twuld teil
sb~ tQ..bear an qnwanted
.child. We lg}ow th
ligj.QUS belie.fs cannQtdefine.
patriotism.
"We know that it is not how one's ~ are
fo nned hut what they say. And we know thêre is
f~m.JQ..~_a™-.witn ·all or part of what I_'v_e_ _
just said.
"But God almightyJ. we've got to shout these
.truthsln which we believe from tlîerooftgps."
1
Gripping conviction
That is what C,ronkite said, and sitting in his
office as he recalled the speech bis body language
was as eloquent as his recollections were awncular. Without noticing it, he gripped the arms ofhis
chair as he remembered that night and the events
that had inspired him.
By the time he finished, bis grip on those arms
looked strong enough to crush coat into diamonds.
"l was just mad." he said in the famous baritone.
..1 have been mad. Still am."
Cronkite sai<i that he bas spoken bis mind
throughout bis career, especlally during the years
on radio prior to becotning the anchor of the "CBS
Evening News."
.
_
, " .. ~
"Fot my whole life, long bëfore CBS, whèn l was
at United Press - and goodness knows, press.service reporters are supposed to be ideological
eunuchs if there ever were any. and I made public
speeches under the auspices of United Press. All
through my llfe, I have never disguised my sentiments about polities in genera!."
l
Well, maybe he had always registered as an independent so as not to appear partisan. Still, "lib•
eralism carne out in almost every -speech in one
way or another, on radio.''
.
As he continued to talk, however, Cronkite
seemed to arrive at bis own understanding of just
how significant the Roseland speech had been.
" On television, I tried to absolutely hew to the
middle of the road and not show any prejudice or
bias in any way," he said.
r
"I did not believe that the public was sophisticat•
se/! CRONKITE, C2
�CONTINUED FROM Cl
ed enough to understand that a
newsman could wear several bats
and that we had the ability to turn
off - nearly, you can't say perf~1y but nearly - all of our preJudi~es and biases."
.
.
lt bas been a long tim~ sm<:e
Cronkite sat in the anchor,f ch_atr
at the "CBS Evening News, whi~
he turned over to Dan Rather m
March 1981
With an a~nual salary reputed to
be $ 1 million Cronkite was given a
'
f direct
seat on the CBS board o
ors
and the title of special correspondent, under an exclusive agreement that ran through last Nov. 4,
the day he turned 72.
For the decade to follow, he was
to become a consultant to the network, at a sharply reduced salacy.
Unhappiness
crops up
,As
Nov. 4 drew closer, how_ever,
ess
d h. nh
Cronkite voice
1s u ap~m
~tb his status at CBS, as bis apr..earances on the "Evening News"
an
" -d other CBS pro~ms grew fewd af
er and ~e networ turned a e
ear to _h1s proposals.
tb
h d
be~~~: ~i h."~g';,
1
even leave the network - something CBS clearly didn't wish to see
happen.
Cronkite would not discuss the
financial terms of bis new agre~ment with CBS, other than to say 1t
is substantial.
It obligates neither hlm nor the
network to any specific projects,
which Cronkite said is just fine.
public on complicated t rues.
It allows him to work for the Pub- Cronkite said, "and that's one
lic Broadcasting Service, for cable the problems of putting issues o
television and, with some excep- that 23 minutes."
tions, other outlets.
lnsisting that people ought t
f
ti
ti
n
have
used newspapers and mag
And the process O renego a O
zines, as well as television and r
did get him back on camera; he was dio to get a full sense of the IS
there with Rather at the convend d .. },/
tions last summer, commenting on in the campaign, he ad e ,
the race for the presidency.
should have done an hour at
"lt's always hard, after you've once a week, minimumly, m y
been in command, to take a lesser more than that, in prime time, ru
role," he conceded.
marizing the campaign."
"But quite honestly, 1 wouldn:t
on the other hand, he could doi
have wanted to work that hard this bis director's bat and admit that h
year. 1 had my turn at that. I'm !lot understood whrthe networks r
·
reluctant
yield likely
primetotime
to
the slightest bit bitter
about h avt ng shows
thattoweren't
t ract.
a lesser role. 1 wouldn't have exdi
pected anything else."
large au ence.
Nevertheless, he regrette_d holdWH
gn C V
Confllctlng a ers
ing bis tongue about campat
~lndeed that conflict betweén
erage by the news media at e Walter cro' nkite the straight-atTOW
time of the debates between the
presidential candidates.
newsman and Walter Cronkite the
"Television is not an adequate corporat functionacy is one he bas
medium to
qua.1.if.::.orm=-=-:th_,,.._,n--=o'-t..:!.ye_t_fu_ll..;;,y_re_so_l_ve_d...._ _ _ __
ad
,, e '-S~Ue ofpubbc U.IM.t /zas been intensil:nd,
nk
by t,.LU::_ r'-Se ofsensationafism
'J«:
•.:0 lle sqys,
• • - part~Utar,ry
• J l thOSe progranzs
• teleV'-SW'!
oueradmg
a.s new1'-".
1
u
During his eight years on the
CBS board, the network and its
news division have been torn apart
by internal conflict, a takeover attemp~ by Ted Turner, a libel suit
brought by Gen. William C. Westmoreland and countless executive
changes.
"lt was very difficult for me, during strike situations, during the
takeover situations with Turner,"
he said, "I did find myself in conflict between the openness I would
like, the right of the public to know
and the board's responsibility and
the necessity to do some business
in the dark, if you please.
"1 fight against that all my life,
against anybody doing the public's
business in the dark, and yet, 1 find,
now that I'm in it, that there is a
necessity to do that to a degree."
Something else carne up during
the campaign, a/'ié hàs fn almost
ry election ear since Cronkite
commenced bis very public career:
the moves to draft him into polities.
He would not deny that he had
been tempted, hut he feit it would
have been wrong: "1 do sincerely
believe that anybody who's been
an anchorperson - even eig_ht
years after he's been an anchorperson - should not get involved in
polities. I've said this all along and the biels to run for office began
years ago. And they carne from
both parties, incidentally."
There was another issue for him,
· as well. Was Cronkite ever resentful of all the trust that had been
vested in him all those years?
"Resentful wouldn't be the
word," he said, rolling it around in
his mouth. "Appalled, maybe.
Somewhat frightened by it. 1 always have been concerned about
. the idolatry connected with anchorpeople on television. lt bothers
me a -great deal that people would
say, 'I believe every word you say.'
Heavens, that's terrible for them to
think."
The issue of public trust bas been
intensified, he said, by the rise of
·sensationalism on television - particularly those programs masquerading as news.
· He broached that subject in the
second of bis recent surprising
ubhc .statements, h1s one on Dec.
5, at a dinner in his honor given b
the Museum of Broadcasting.
Cronkite used the occasion 11
come out strongly against sensationalist television programs particularly those fflat parade 85
news.
Referring to that after-dinner
speech, he recalled the time when
"The CBS Evening News" trailed
NBC's "Huntley-Brinkley Report"
slightly in the ratings when Cronkite became the CBS anchor in
1962.
•
Even then, ratings were ve1y
much on the minds of the neiworks, and he told the netwoiit
bosses that greater numbers were
within easy reaeh, simply by "going tabloid." With someone else iri
the anchor's chair, of course.
"So, this is nothing new," Cronkite said. "What is new is that the
outlets are available."
His primary concern, he added,
was that the popular new tabloid
programs could ultimately influence network news broadcasts - a
vulnerability drawn in starker relief in this age of corporate ownership of ABC and NBC and a corporate sensibility at CBS.
"This will be the test, perhaps, of
this generation of owners of. the
networks as to their sense of rens1bih •"
�The
sheds neuirality,
speaks out Inore
By Jeremy Gerard
N,Y. Times News Service
N
~
'
.
EW YORK - Walter Cronkite had always
been more comfortable delivering the
news than making it. But sometbing was
gnawing at him, and when the opportunity arose
one evening not long after George Bush was elected president, Cronkite made a speech in defense of
liberal values.
It surprised people more than he cou.Id have
imagined.
Although it'Was nearly nine years since the most
welcome house guest in the country, Uncle Walter.
Old Iron Pants, the Most Trusted Man in America,
had relinquished bis anchor's chair at the ''CBS
Evening News," many still seemed to think; as
Cronkite put it, that he ought to go on being an
"ideological eunuch."
Those day~ are over.
Not so objective
,1
In recent weeks, a~r years of being the conduit
and never the conscie'hce of the news, Cronkite
bas begun speaking ou(.on issues that concern him
- issues mostly having t.o do with joumalism and
polities.
At the same time, he has carved out for himself
more personal time in a more private life. A renegotiated contract with CBS that pays hun a great
deal to do little more than stay away from the other
commen:ial networks will allow him time to develop projects and to begin work on a long-overdue
autobiography.
But don't expect him to drift too far trom the
camera's eye or the reporters notebook.
Un_packed dlrtons sit outside the door and
around the corner from Cronkite's new-Office on
the 24th floor of the CBS headquarters at 52nd
Street.
Inside, in bis shirt sleeves, he sat talking about
that speech, about the rise of so-called tabloid television and about his role as a director of CijS. the
company he joined in 1950 after 11 years as a re.
porter for the United Press.
On Nov. 17, he was scheduled to introduce Barbara Jordan toa gathering of People for the American Way, the nonpartisan group founded by the
producer Norman Lear in 1980 to focus on constitutional issues. Jordan, a former Texas Congresswoman and one of the Democratie Party's most
articu!ate advocates, was the recipient of the organization's annual "Spirit of Liberty" award.
Cronkit~, tl!e previous.Y-ea_rs winn~. ~there
to pass thé torch. In the fn'St araft of bis .introductory speech, he wrote that he was going to rèSist a
temptation. to digress , fn that much•abused subject, liberalism.
_
But then he Iooketf'Sf hVApeech. and at those
words, and he chan ed his mind.
emocratic . ss
t e e ection he said.._
..,....was the fäult Qf tQQ.nmi ~ T u ~ e i r iciK:es
stilled by not-SQ•8Y.btle.k 1)1.Qii.cal intimid~on.
_ ~ox instance. we know.. that u n i l a t ~
action in Grenada and Ttipoli was wrong. We
know that Stru'. Wars means unçontrollable escalatioiiofitïe_~nn race. We know that the real threat
JQ.iiemocracy is in half the 11ati9n in po-verty.
"We know that Thomas Jefferson was rii)lt
\rli.e.n..be said. 'A demöcracy, cannot be both ignorant and free.' We know, we know, that no one
.s.twuld teil
sb~ tQ..bear an qnwanted
.child. We lg}ow th
ligj.QUS belie.fs cannQtdefine.
patriotism.
"We know that it is not how one's ~ are
fo nned hut what they say. And we know thêre is
f~m.JQ..~_a™-.witn ·all or part of what I_'v_e_ _
just said.
"But God almightyJ. we've got to shout these
.truthsln which we believe from tlîerooftgps."
1
Gripping conviction
That is what C,ronkite said, and sitting in his
office as he recalled the speech bis body language
was as eloquent as his recollections were awncular. Without noticing it, he gripped the arms ofhis
chair as he remembered that night and the events
that had inspired him.
By the time he finished, bis grip on those arms
looked strong enough to crush coat into diamonds.
"l was just mad." he said in the famous baritone.
..1 have been mad. Still am."
Cronkite sai<i that he bas spoken bis mind
throughout bis career, especlally during the years
on radio prior to becotning the anchor of the "CBS
Evening News."
.
_
, " .. ~
"Fot my whole life, long bëfore CBS, whèn l was
at United Press - and goodness knows, press.service reporters are supposed to be ideological
eunuchs if there ever were any. and I made public
speeches under the auspices of United Press. All
through my llfe, I have never disguised my sentiments about polities in genera!."
l
Well, maybe he had always registered as an independent so as not to appear partisan. Still, "lib•
eralism carne out in almost every -speech in one
way or another, on radio.''
.
As he continued to talk, however, Cronkite
seemed to arrive at bis own understanding of just
how significant the Roseland speech had been.
" On television, I tried to absolutely hew to the
middle of the road and not show any prejudice or
bias in any way," he said.
r
"I did not believe that the public was sophisticat•
se/! CRONKITE, C2
�NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHE MILITÄR- UNO ZIVILVERWALTUNG
IN DEN EROBERTEN GEBIETEN IM WESTEN
ff17·PS
1.
Be r 1 c b t
(-eet,ehn] 'k
über dl• Lage u~d Entwlckluag 1n den beaetzteD
u1ederliànd1acben Gebietec
Berlcbtazelt 29.llai bie 1,.Jull 1140
,
..t!
.'fi
..
J48•1i•inu Rridisiadirtj
Auftra« und Autgabe
lllt
der Bestellung
1ua
ltelch1kouhaar ht du lui'\rac
gegebe11.
ln labrung der l11terea1e11 dN lelcbea die Bffectllche
Ordn1112g UDd du Dffentltcbe tebe11 etcbern1telle11,
u.nd
die Au!gabe Terbunden 0
dle au, Cröaden der Erbaltwig der 11ederl1Dd11cb.-llldtscbe11 Geblete UDA'bblllgic su balt•Dll•n llederlande abpsehen TOD den a111tlrtachen S1cherunge w1111ohaftl1ch
• ögl tc!lat an du let eb n bladtlll.
l)leae Aufgabe lat n u,..... HDD u pltngt, dne po11thcb•
11lleub1ldimg suataadeaubrlJIPD, die 41e w1rtaohaftl1che BlndUIII
der llederlande aa du lelch ale Aua!ld dN Willena des D1e4erläncl 1cdlen Volk•• erachetnen 11st.
El Uepn konkrete
Anhalt.spunkte datllr ~or, daB ISO-teute lil der tJDifor• Diederlïncllseber Soldaten zugunsic der e1Dur1chlerendcn Relchstruppea eiqegrtfteu 'haben.
J• ntederläDdlschen polltlachea tebeD sind Persönltchkettea kaua ,orbanden. Au• da GlelcaaB ragt der eimandalebiigjä'hrtge Coltjn benor. Obirohl ln seinen Grundetgenschaften
herrtecb IIDd etnsataberett, lat er Tollkoaaen den w1tlerl1cbllberalea AmcbaaUDgeD nrbmaden IIDll ale htonttr Cah1nht
tllr Dat10D&l.1oztall1ttaobe Cedankea,lage lTpodwelcher Art ntobt
n haNa.
Der 1. Bericht aus den Nicdcrlandcn vom Juli 1940, mit dcm Bild von Dr. ScyA-lnquart, dcm Rcidukommissar
fûr die bcactztcn Wcstrcbictc.
Juli 19~
1 320
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
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RHC-144
Format
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Text
Image
Type
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application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
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eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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RHC-144_Termaat_DOC_Starvation-documentation
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Starvation documentation
Description
An account of the resource
Map of the Netherlands annotated by Pieter Termaat, and notes from Termaat documenting the starvation conditions during the Nazi occupation, and locations of farms visited to acquire food.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch
World War, 1939-1945 -- Netherlands
World War, 1939-1945--Occupied territories
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
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Text
Format
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application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b14d7d1b6787db8f255616959c995eb.pdf
48cac07746bed65ee835ddc65e978df7
PDF Text
Text
?ieter Nicolu.s Termaat :ind Adrian~ 3,irbar~ Termut
Background information
PNT
·verzatsherdenkin1cs kruis .Rasistanci, Cross
H.M. Beatrix
I\BT
X
Service medal Netherl~nds Interior ?orces
X
X
Netionaal Joni;eren Verbond (:,J.J.V.) 1932.19co
x
Honorary Chair Wom~n: E.K.H. Crown Princess Juliana
Erasmus Medal 1985
x
C-47, Inc. 82nd f\.irborne Division
X
Yad Vashem Citation M;irtyrs ~nd Heroes
Remembrance Authority Jerusalem Israel
X
Doctor (h.c.) of Humane Letters
Grand Calley State University
Citation U.S.A. President Ronald Reaean
X
X
X
X
Senate and House of Representative State of Michigan
Concurrent Resolutions #107 and il08
For Service to the ti llied Cause 19t.1_19L1 5
x
Citation Congre~~tion Ahav~s Israel
X
Interfaith Avenue of the Ri~ht9ous Citation and tree Winetka Illinois
Honorable Citation and Commemorative window
with the Star of David by the Solomon Schechter
Day Schools Evanston Illinois
X
X
Citation /Inti Defamation Leae:ue B'nai B•rith
Life member Graater Consistory of
Central Reformed Church Grand Rapids, Michie!ln
X
X
X
X
Past member Board of Directors of the West Michig~n
Chapter of the N. A. C.M.
x
X
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_DOC_ABT-PNT-List-of-honors
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Pieter and Adriana Termaat list of honors
Description
An account of the resource
Typescript list of honors and awards bestowed on Pieter and Adriana Termaat
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Netherlands -- Awards
Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3caf9c7202e5b0a64e3dbe8933371192.pdf
34d956a764d64a294450633d98153bac
PDF Text
Text
R ·
D
~
., F
ed, th:reo ch .ld.ran 17 9 11 and 8 ye ,.s
al
f ot'lll3d Church
J
Ci izen ince Septemoo1-, 1957
W:l
Hember Cen
M , ag
November 1957 untill now
Accountant with L.G.Cook Distributor, Inc.
Empl
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19
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h NOif m
9~7
c
Niven., &i.il y & Smart 5 Cart· f ad Pub 1.c Accoun
Rapids, Mich g
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Uey r
I
y, :1952 - October, 1952, 8 month
Supenna-rklrts
anuary 1952, oan P\Jbl ic A.cc
; 5
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st.a f
m
19h2, Neth
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n
,
in aceoun
nting P
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0
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Edu.cat on:
High echo 1
Te chs 8 De
e 19
on 19.38; Gav rn
Corpora Stru. :u
a
nd Tax
S<X:ie y, Chicago• C.PoA.
C.,P 0 A.- Examination ... El gibl
EJ..-perien
f cco\rnta.nt wit T.'!. B & s., I hav; h d con iderable
ith i.t1dustr·
companie , l rg
nd ., U in the fi
of u CJ'llobil • , app iances, elect onic and other a c:rai't ccrnponent ,
.ls.stic and plywood structures
Also experience jth a large drug
.manufactuxer., a foundry-, local stores of a nationa mall ordet and re ...
il department store chain, and a brokerage firmo I pa ticipated in
xpel" enc
audits leading to certification of financial. st.a ments nd in various
projects in the field of man g nt s rvices including cos work on
ge production contrao •
nd ge I'ally co isted of
Refe nces:
Duties d lng these S ye rs
varied
n or and semi...senior re ponsibi. 1.tie o
A'/ailable on re
over
�salary data :
with Touche, Niven, Bailey
November 1952
April 1953
October 1953
October 1954
October 19 55
October 1956
October 1957
&
Smart
with L. G.Cook Distributor, I nc.
December 1957
J anuary 1958
J anuary 1959
$300 per month
$350"
"
II
$400"
11
$ 450 II
+ bonus
11
II
$500
+ bonus
It
$ 550 II
+ bonus
II
$600 II
+ bonus
$450
$600
$ 750
$750
$ 90 per week
$100 per week+ bonus $100
$130 per week+ bonus $350
Note
In December 19 56 I wa s injured while on an audit engagement
and after that wa s not able to - carry on extensive traveling
requirements.
Opera ted on in May 1958 by Dr. Andre considera ble improvement
was experienced so that I am a ble to work a 40 hour we ek
without diff iculty.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman)
Termaat, Peter N.
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar.
Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1869 - 2012
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands
Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text
Image
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
application/pdf
image/jpeg
Language
A language of the resource
eng
nl
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-144_Termaat_DOC_1958-Pieters-resume-359
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1958
Title
A name given to the resource
Pieter Termaat resume
Description
An account of the resource
Mimeograph and typescript resume of Pieter N. Termaat, 1958.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Résumés (Employment)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng