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Text
I.
......
AN ORAL lil~'1'0RY
OF
ADRIAHA BARBARA TERh1AAT-i;:: ~CHUUR!\;AN
~nd Its SimilariLies to the American Experienc~
by
Barbara S. Termaat
Women in the United State s , History 371
Robin M. Jacoby
Laura McCall, Friday 9 a.m.
December 9, 1981
..
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li:TRODUC.. lOh
My Oma (rrandma) was born and raised in the Netherlands.
By tracing her childhood in the 1920's and 19JO's, the
similarities be~ween a European and an American upbringing
become apparent,
These similarities are found in education,
relations to parents, siblings and friends, and attitudes toward sex, work, and marriage.
There is also a personal historical interest.
By
researching my heritage, I learned about a part of myself.
~y life has been influenced by my Oma directly and my father
indirectly by her upbringing.
Learning about my Oma's early life also helps me to
understand several aspects of her present attitudes and
beliefs, which in turn has strengthened our relationship.
�I..
-1-
·"
born in ~iiernen, -the j;ec.:-,erl2.:--1ds, in 1916.
Both of iier parents'
fa'Tlilies were farmers, Ler father from wheat farmers and her
mother from dairy farmers.
l-ier father did not become a farmer
because he only wished to own and operate a farm on a large
scale, which was not done in such a tiny, overpopulated country.
He started a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, but his plans fell
through when World war I broke out.
He had to return and serve
in the army or not return to the Netherlands for fifteen years.
..
His fiance, who was to follow him to Canada, insisted that he
return because she would probably never see her-family ~gain_
if she moved to Canada.
For this reason Adriana "was born a
Dutch citizen and not a Canadian",
While her father was serving in the war, Adriana's mother
lived with her parents on the dairy farm.
It was here and
because of these circumstances that Adriana was born in the
same room in the same bed as her own mother.
;:3oon after the \var, the family moved to Hillego.m.
This
was a small town whose main occupation was growing bulbs for
the flower industry.
Adriana remembered "the delicious fra-
grance of these bulbs in the spring.".
They moved again in
1919 to Warlem where her father became a manager in a transportation firm.
Harlem was a much larger old town and the
setting for most of her childhood memories.
In 1927, when
Adriana was eleven, her family moved to Amsterdam because
of her father's promotion to man~ger of the main office.
Her
fathGr purchased a partnership in an Alkmaar transportation
firm in 1928.
Alkrnaar was the cheese producing center of
--•
�,
~olland
~~
farms.
.'"l·: lriana
the neighboring
well a~ :~e
r.,o·:eci ·.·:i ::.h ·r,er f2..-.il;: :c, ,,:,.lkmaar in J 929, her
home town until her marriage.
I've mentioned the movements of the .3chuurman family
during Adriana's years at home because they illustrate several
aspects of her family life.
The family was fairly well off,
comparable to the American upper middle class, because of her
father's rapid raise in the business world,
These promotions
led the family to move often, but they never lived further than
twenty miles from the coast,
Adriana has .many
memories asso~__ _
--:: - . -·- -=--~·- -:-=.··
• •_
-
· :,;,
•
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•
.....c:.
ciated with the ocean, ranging from hours ~pent on the beach
and sand dunes to storm winds and rain rattling on their red
clay roof.
Also, the family always lived in cities, although
the children were exposed to farm life through farming relatives,
Several technological advances came into the home during
Adriana's years at home,
The first one she recalled
was
the
- .
-
telephone conversation, around 1919, between her father and
his brother-in-law.
VJhen it was her mother's turn to speak
she thought that her brother was drinking beer because she·
could smell it over the phone,
one with the beer,
Actually, her husband was the
It was something so new that her mother
had confused what senses could receive messages over the phone.
Technologic advances such as the telephone eased life at home
and work,
Educational trends were very similar on either side of the
'
Atlantic Ocean.
According to Goodfriend and Christie", .. class-
rooms were organized in a highly structured fashion and the
�- ;-
.
curr i cul u.i--:-, •,•;a~
",
... .,
1n1~ex1D~e
,.1
1n rl~er1ca.
6
•
•
A.driar1a
found the same structured env ironrr,ent in the Netherlands.
started her education at age five in a private school.
She
Her
parents did not have to pay ex"tra for the private school since
each family had a certain amount of tax money for the education
of each child which they could spend in either private, parochial, ar public schools,
Classes went from eight o'clock in
the morning until four-thirty in the afternoon.
there was plenty of homework.
After school
Grammar school was a six-year
program with only six weeks of vacation per ye~r ~ four i~ the
summer and one each for Christmas and Easter.
Because school
was such a compact, intense program children rarely worked
during their school years.
On Saturday afternoons Adriana ·had
piano lessons to fill out her busy schedule.
Every morning the students had a religious lesson for
half an hour which progressed into a Bible reading as they
got older.
They also had a church history course twice a week.
French began in fifth grade. The other grade school courses
consisted of basic academics such as mathematics, Dutch,
reading, etc.
There was an atmosphere of discipline and respect among
students for their teachers.
Students stood up when the prin-
ciple entered the classroom.
They responded to questions with
two words1
"yes, sir'' or "no, sir".
Approximately half of
the teachers were women, and they were primarily in the lower
grades.
Adriana's favorite teacher was the woman who taught
her french and geometry for three years.
by her,
She felt stimulated
there was much encouragement to work bard and learn more.
..!
�,...
-
Adriana has very fond ~omo~i e s o~ f.er childhood t . ~ause
each child was treated as an indi~i du~l.
~he ~as never asked
to help around the house (except supper dishes) or help take
care of her brother and sisters while she was enrolled fulltime in school.
lot too.
Her parents demanded a lot, but they gave a
Her father would help her with her homework, but more
often he would encourage her with "Oh, you can do it.".
She
always had a very safe feeling at home.
Only one room was heated during the winter, but the kithen
was warm when the stove was on.
Adriana's mother wore woolen
:.
-
mittens when vacuuming because the metal handle was so cold
in the unheated rooms.
full day of ironing.
coal stove.
fv:onday was wash day, followed by a
The meals were cooked on a kerosene or
Adriana's mother always had a maid to help her
with these household - chores because she had to raise _ four
children born very close together and aiso entertain her
husband's business associates.
She was expected to look nice
and neat during their visits, not the haggled housewife.
Mrs. Schuurman had at least ten pregnancies.
resulLed in healthy children:
Only fi v e
four within the first six years
of marriage and the last when she was
~
45.
During the twelve-
year gap between children she had~ baby die and at least
four miscarriages.
Adriana, who was 18 at the time of the last
pregnancy, knew how physically and emotionally difficult this
was for her mother.
Upon hearing the news, her _response was:
"Oh Mom, you are so old.
I wishv I could do that for you! ".
The births and deaths of the babies all took place within the
home.
~hen Adriana's sister died two days after her birth,
the little casket was surrounded by flowers and placed in the
�-5-
1 . '
livin£ roorr,.·
.s2ch chilc.
·,•;2..:c:
~2.J-:.en by their mother one by one
to see their baby sister whc did not live.
Because her mother
was gentle. and understanding with her young children at the
time of death in the family, death was not a scary experience
for Adriana and her brother and sisters.
Adriana was the eldest child in a family of one boy and
three girls.
Another sister was born 18 years after Adriana
and raised as an only child,
who was only one year younger,
Adriana was closest to her brother,
He was her best friend until
she was about twelve because "theri he develo.pe·d fnto a ·boy and_
things were different.",
Her two sisters were- also very close,
--
-- -·-::;; ,
-
·•,7
Adriana never felt forced to play feminine games, in
contrast to Goodfriend and Christie's statement that " ... female
children have been expected to conform to more restrictive
definitions of suitable behavior than those imposed on the
,
males,""':
I believe that Adriana's parP.nts were unusually un-
derstanding in the case of their daughters.
Adriana was not
too fascinated with dolls because they weren't alive, so her
brother and she would often try to dres·s the cat.
..
--=-
Other games
included jlli~p rope, cards, marbles, bingo, row dancing (with
other girls), and hockey,
Adriana was also an avid reader,
especially books about far-away places such as Africa and the
North Pole,
Adriana's family had strong ties with her father's brothers
and sisters.
Family gatherings were ¼iuen-t-, considering the
travel time, and remembered as big, happy events,
to play with her J6 cousins, mostly boys.
Adriana loved
~he reunions were
held on a cousins farm where the children could swing in the
.....f
�hay, JUXp small ca~ a l s , and ha~e w~ :e ~ fich : s.
were also spent on he~ aun~•s fan~.
Sure~er vaca~ions
~he usually helped her
aunt prepare meals for the hungry men in the field, but
when she brough~ out their lunches she would ask all sorts of
questions and so she learned how to recognize the various crops
and care for the farm animals,
Thus through her large family
Adriana became acquainted with farm life,
The family attended the Reformed Church every Sunday, even
du~ing the summer on the farm when they had to take horse and
buggy to town and back--sometimes twice a day,
long and cold in ·the unheated church.
Services were
f1:embers could rent
foot wanners (a piece of coal in a box) for ten cents.
The
foot warmers were piled high as you came in, emanating a peculiar odor.
cologne,
Inside, the church smelled of pepp8rmint candy and
The chairs were placed on planks that covered the
old gravestones.
Adriana tried to decifer the names and dates
to pass the time as a child,
All children sat with their parents durine the service
and attended Sunday School afterwards ·when they were older.
Th e wo~en s a t in ~he middle of the church on chairs and the
men surrounded them in pews, a custom remaining from the Middle
Ages,
Women held no offices within the church.
one female minister during her entire childhood,
Adriaria saw
4
rare sight.
There was a strong women's organization in the church whose·
primary function was visiting sick members of the congregation.
Similar trends were found during ~his period in America-~
wom e n's ~roups functioninc in extensions of their tradi+ional
roles and an obvious lack of women professionals--according
to Robin Jacoby (11/16).
....,I
�.
.·~---
.. . . . ...
-(
~
,
\
/
As students got olde~, rr.ore studen •
£
•
dropped out of school.
The mandatory ace was fourteen In the r~e t~erlands and six teen
in America.
But the trend was for incre.1.sing amounts o"f
adolescents to finish high school and attend college, especi~lly
in the middle class.
Even if they did attend college though,
both European and American.girls found the socia~ly acceptable
•.
I
• •'
. •.
••
•
professional possibilities very limited--teaching, nursing,
social work, and clerical work,
And these were ~obs were just
to fill in the gap between high school and marriage.
Dutch students started high school at age 12, continuing
their highly structured curriculum.
Four·langua,ges 1n addi- ·
tion to six, seven, or eight other classes were required, -~he
language requirement was a necessity in order for the students
to be able to communicate with their neighboring countries.
Many more people spoke English, French, and German than Dutch,
Adriana took extra courses that weren't required to graduate
in bookkeeping and commercial law.
She completed the entire
ten year education program with her parents' support, help,
and encouragement.
Adriana had a better education than her brother and sisters,
Her brother had a business waiting for him, so he only learned_
what he needed to know for the business.
One sister was not
interested in school and another wanted more, along-with
Adriana.
Her youngest sister attended finishing school after
grammar school.
For the next five or six years she learned
languages and art and music appr~ciation.
The girls who went
to finishinc; school came from families who did not expect them
to earn their own living, but still receive a good education.
Other options for schooling, aside from high school, were
... - ... '
�-b.J
Latin school, trade schools, and household schools (cooking,
sewing, household management, art, etc.).
Latin school was
required of students planning to attend Law School, Medical
School, or the Seminary.
Few women were enrolled in such a
professionally-geared program.
The options for women after high school were limited,
especially for those who were interested in higher education.
The prevailing opinion in Holland was that girls did not
need more education for her task as wife and mother.
But if
she did not marry, she should have a means of suppor1..
Adrian'a
wanted to go on and continue her education, either at Law School
or the Gymnasium, but this was considered unnecessary for a
girl--especially considering the economic climate in 19J2.
She was expected to carry her own load after g~aduation from
high school at 16.
She went to work in her father's business
and attended business school four nights a week for two years.
Adriana had a mutual understandine with her father that she
would go to work for him, even though it was not her greatest
desire.
She wanted to work, as did most girls her age.
What
was unusual was her wish to enter male-dominated occupations.
Adriana was her father's ~ight hand at work.
Her respon-
sibilities included answering phones, typing, handling the cash
flow, and eventually bookkeeping.
She learned a lot about
conducting a business through handling so many transactions.
Her father would sometimes ask her opinion, but then not follow
up on them,
This frustrated Adriana because she thought she
had given good advice.
On other occasions he would order her
to do a task and if Adriana hesitated he would say "this busi-
�-9-
ness is run like the army; do as your ,:;old, then ask questions.".
Adriana would refuse because she "was responsible for her own
actions" and would act accordingly,
Then her father would
smile, he was just testing her and he was proud of her response,
All of ~he employees worked long hours to keep the business
going during the Depression and Adriana learned how difficult
it was to keep afloat during hard times.
She also spent
Saturday afternoons cleaning the office without pay,
Adriana
worked for her father for seven years, but she was nev€r
considered for a management position,
The business was bought
for her brother to succeed her father, Adriana was only
spending the interim period between high school and marriage
at the company,
Although Adriana was now expected to help pay for her food,
clothing, etc., she was never allowed to actually handle these
transactions.
Her earnings went automatically to her mother.
-when Adriana protested, her father said, "Your mother knows
how to handle money, if you are not happy you can leave the
house,",
This was not an unusual practice, most girls turned
their paychecks over to their families,
It was a point of
contention between Adreana and her parents,
money, but was only given an allowance,
She made good
Her parents saved
money for her also, and presented it as a handsome wedding
present, all their linens.
Adriana never handled her own
money until the day she married,
At home, Adriana's father always kept a certain distance
from his daughters.
He wasn't cold, he just didn't get
emotionally involved in their lives.
This was noticeable, in
�-10-
one respect, by the great modesty the girls had around their
father and his total absense from their bedroom,
looked after her physical appearance.
Her mother
Adriana was encouraged
to be clean and neat, not too fussy about her appearance,
Mrs.
Schuurman didn't want her children to grow up before their time.
Two exceptions for Adriana were wetting her hair with sugar
water to set curls and wearing bows on Sunday.
had her first permanent.
At 18, she
It was never an issue whether or
not she had long hair because her hair would never grow past
her shoulders.
Her undergarments was not as confining as her
mother's, but she had a full figure and wanted support.
always wore sturdy, practical clothes, no variety.
Adriana
This was
partially due to the Depression.
Mary Ryan expressed that, in America, the center of teenagers' social lives were relationships with their peers,
. ~specially heterosexual ties. 3
Adrian emphasized this subcul-
ture in her life when she joined the National Youth Organization at 17 or 18.
The Organization was patriotically oriented~
often inviting guest speakers or their own members to present
stimulation lectures on politics and government.
"We solved
a lot of the world's problems in our meetings,"
The group was also socially active for its members.
There were approximately fifty members, half women.
They
biked to Belgium, went by bus to Germany, and to the
1937
World's Fair in Paris.
It was ~ere that Adriana first realized
the great differences between herself (a "good" Dutch middle
class young woman) and the people from foreign countries.
�-11-
People were sleepin~ in the s~reets.
She saw drunks and more
poor people than she'd ever seen in Holland,
She also went
underground for the first time when she rode the subway.
It
was an eye-opening experience, and an unusual one for a single
young woman,
Most of her peers did not go on unchaperoned
trips to neighboring countries.
Adriana was allowed to go be-
caouse they stayed in Youth Hostels which had segregated dorms
and curfews.
And, more importantly, her parents trusted her.
Adriana had several boyfriends that she met through the
Organization, but they rarely paired off because dating under
the age of 18 was done as a group.
Their activities include~
bicycling, beach walking, skating, movies, political debating
groups, singing, and church projects.
The activities were kept
in line by enforcing a strict curfew on the girls.
The guys
didn't think the activities were any fun without the girls,
sothey complied with the rules.
After 18, when dating was done on a more one-to-one basis,
young unmarried women faced a double-standard concerning sexuality in America (Jacoby, 11/16) and in Europe.
As a female,
Adriana had to set the .standards to maintain her respectibility
without seeming prudish,
She never went out with more than
one fellow at a time, or else she would be considered "fast".
It was up to Adriana to learn everything she knew about her
body and birth control.
She learned from books because no
doctors or her mother would explain the facts to her.
Her
sisters were too young to under~tand and Adriana was secretive
toward her friends about such matters.
On her 18th birthday
Adriana received the only advice her mother ever gave her
�- l ,~ -
concerning sexu2.li ty.
.r,er mother had been pregnant on her
wedding day and felt it was a biG mistake, even though she was
26 years old,
Adriana never forgot this.
She often had sexual
desires, but the fear of pregnancy always overcame her desire.
She didn't trust the crude birth control methods of the time
enough to let down her guard.
Adriana met her future husband in the Youth Organization,
They started dating when she was 19 and Pieter Termaat was 21.
They were engaged a year later.
Most women married men they
met in organizations, church, or college, ie. close to home.
Because Adriana was responsible and independent, she didn't
want to burden her parents with her own financial problems by
marrying right away without enough money saved up to live
comfortably with her new husband.
So their engagement lasted
for three years, until Adriana was 23 (1939),
During this
prolinged engagement Adriana stood by her belief in no
:~remarital sex.
This caused some pressure within their rela-
tionship, both within herself and Pieter.
But she felt it
was worth the wait in comparison to ·the possibility of a
premature pregnancy when they couldn't afford it.
Pieter
respected her decision, which made matters slightly easier.
Getting married was a fact of life to Adriana, although
at one point she said she would not--perhaps in rebellion to
her parents' saving her work earnings for her future marriage.
But she was the first to marry in her family.
didn't marry, including one of her sisters.
Some women
Lyda couldn't
see herself alsays caring for others, she wanted something for
herself.
In large families there was often one girl who never
�•. L _3-
rrarriec, either by choice or for lac:: of prospects.
But in
'iJestern culture, both iunerican and E:J.ropean, as the Depression
ceased to be so harsh "more young pecple were marrying and
4
more were having children sooner",
~driana and Pieter
were defini ·tely a part of this ~renc.
_.,
COHCLUSI 01:
~iddle class women growing up ciuri~g the 1920's and 19JO's
in Europe and America shared many aspects of their lives.
Their
education was socially influenced toward traditional professions
such as nursing and teaching, and the relatively new clerical
field,
And when they did start to work, their families had
control of their earnings.
The family had a strong hold on
the girls' activities, expecially before they turned 18,
He~erosexual ties were very important, although many activities
were done as a group,
Once the young women started to date
they were faced with pressures on two fronts,
to retain their
respectibility and still be accepted by their friends,
~arriage was considered a natural ending to their young
adulthood in most cases,
··mothers.
They were raised to be wives and
With all these similarities and more, it is easy
to conclude that the female experience did not vary much on
either side of the Atlantic Ocean.
�
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_Adriana-Oral-History-as-told-to-Barb
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Barbara S.
Title
A name given to the resource
An Oral History of Adriana Barbara Termaat-ne-Schuurman
Description
An account of the resource
Biographical history of Adriana B. Termaat by her granddaughter, Barbara, for her Women in the United States History class.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Termaat, Adriana B.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch
Dutch Americans
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/74b22de26d54cb9cac43994d4fb68577.pdf
59cd38cf3073ee7ebf0499cbb09016ca
PDF Text
Text
SPEECH WASHINGTON 8 OCTOBER .1982
----------------------------------------------------------OM TE BEGINNEN ZOU IK DE NEDERLANDSE AMBASSADEUR WILLEN
BEDANKEN VOOR DE GASTVRIJHEID, DIE HIJ ONS AANBIEDT EN
WAARDOOR HET MOGELIJK IS DEZE PLECHTIGHEID IN WASHINGTON
D.C. OP NEDERLANDSE BODEM TE DOEN PLAATSVINDEN.
DAT ZIJNE KONINKLIJKE HOOGHEID NAAR WASHINGTON GEKOMEN
IS OM DEZE PLECHTIGE UITREIKING TE VERRICHTEN, GEEFT
DEZE DAG EEN BIJZONDERE LUISTER.
DOOR DE OORLOG EN BIJ DE BEVRIJDING VAN NEDERLAND ZIJN
NAUWE CONTACTEN ONTSTAAN TUSSEN DE DEELNEMERS AAN HET
VERZET EN Z.K.H. PRINS BERNH.A.RD. ·
IN DIE MOEILIJKE TIJDEN HEBBEN ZIJ DE PRINS LEREN KENNEN
EN WAARDEREN EN ZIJN DEZE CONTACTEN UITGEGROEID TOT GEVOELENS VAN RESPECT, HOOGACHTING EN VRIENDSCHAP.
DAMES EN HEREN, VANDAAG IS EEN HISTORISCHE DAG OMDAT
8 OCTOBER 200 JAAR GELEDEN HET VERDRAG VAN ".Af.UTY AND COM~
MERCE" GETEKEND WERD TUSSEN AMERIKA EN. NEDERLAND.
DIT JAAR VIEREN WIJ HET 200-JARIG BESTAAN VAN ONAFGEBROKEN DIPLOMATIEKE BETREKKINGEN EN VRIENDSCHAP
TUSSEN DE VERENIGDE
STATEN
EN NEDERLAND.
BIJ DE VELE MANIFESTATIES E;-.J BIJEENKOMSTEN DIE GEHOUDEN
~
HtfN IS TOT UITDRUKKING GEKmIEN HOEVEEL WAARDE WORDT
GEHECHT AAN DEZE RELATIES UIT HET VERLEDEN EN EVENZEER
IS HET VERLANGEN EN DE HOOP UITGESPROKEN DAT DEZE
�-2-
WASHINGTON 8 Oct. 1982
-- ------ - - ------- --- --------- -- ------ - ----------- -- ---------ZULLEN WORDEN VOORTGEZET IN DE TOEKOMST.
DAMES EN HEREN, STAAT U MIJ TOE DAT IK U OP DEZE FEESTELIJKE
DAG EEN OGENBLIK TERUGVOER NAAR HET VERLEDEN.
OOK UW VERLEDEN.
NAAR DE-l)()NKERE JAREN VAN OORLOG EN BEZETTING, VAN VERZET EN
STRIJD TEGEN EEN SCHIER OVERMACHTIGE VIJAND.
ZEKER , HET IS VERLEDEN TIJD MAAR HET HEEFT OOK EEN BIJZONDERE BETEKENIS VOOR HET HEDEN EN DE TOEKOMST.
VRIJHEID EN ONAFHANKELIJKHEID ZIJN EEN KOSTBAAR GOED, DAT
ALLEEN BEHOUDEN KAN WORDEN ALS MEN BEREID IS ZICH DAARVOOR
IN TE ZETTEN.
HET VERZET IS GEPLEEGD DOOR MANNEN EN VROUWEN DIE VRIJWILLIG , VEELAL ANONIEM, TOETRADEN TOT HET VERZET EN DAARMEE
HUN LEVEN OP HET SPEL ZETTEN.
HET WAREN VROUWEN EN MANNEN UIT IEDERE SECTOR VAN ONS
MAATSCHAPPELIJK BESTEL, JONG EN OUD, VAN IEDERE LEVENSBESCHOUWING.
IEDER VAN HEN PLEEGDE VERZET OP ZIJN EIGEN WIJZE; WAT ZE
GEMEENSCHAPPELIJK HADDEN WAS DAT ZE HET NIET MEER NAMEN.
ZIJ VERZETTEN ZICH TEGEN BEZETTING EN ONRECHT EN KWAMEN
OP VOOR DE MENSELIJKE WAARDIGHEID.
DE EEN HEEFt MISSCHIEN DOOR OMSTANDIGHEDEN MEER KUNNEN
DOEN DAN DE ANDER, MAAR DAT IS NIET HET BELANGRIJKSTE.
WAAR HET OP AAN KWAM, WAS DAT DE BEZETTER ZICH IN ONS
LAND NIET THUIS MOCHT VOELEN EN DAG EN NACHT BELAAGD
WERD.
'-
'
�WASHINGTON 8 Oct. 1982
-3-
VELEN HEBBEN EEN ZWARE TOL BETAALD IN GEVANGENISSEN EN
co~-
CENTRATIEKAMPEN.
VELEN GAVEN HET HOOGSTE GOED: HUN LEVEN.
NIEMAND HEEFT HET GEDAAN MET HET OOGMERK OM NA DE BEVRIJDING
EEN ONDERSCHEIDING TE KRIJGEN.
NA DE BEVRIJDING ZIJN ZIJ WEER GEWOON AAN HET WERK GEGAA.'J
EN ZIJ MOESTEN DOEN ALSOF ER NIETS MET HEN WAS GEBEURD.
MEESTAL ZWEGEN ZE OVER HUN ERVARINGEN: NIEMAND WILDE IMMERS
NAAR HEN LUISTEREN.
HET MOEST WORDEN WEGGESTOPT ALSOF HUN OORLOGSINZET GEEN ZL
HAD GEHAD.
ERKENNING VOOR HUN MOED EN VOOR HUN LIJDEN ONTBRAK.
DOOR DE INSTELLING VAN HET VERZETSHERDENKINGSKRUIS HEBBEN
DUIZENDEN ANONIEME DEELNEMERS AAN HET VERZET EINDELIJK
ERKENNING GEKREGEN, ZOALS DAT NA DE OORLOG IS GEBEURD IN
ALLE LANDEN DIE BEZET ZIJN GEWEEST.
TER GELEGENHEID VAN DE 35-JARIGE HERDENKING VAN DE BEVRIJDING IN 1980 IS BIJ KONINKLIJK BESLUIT NO. 104 HET
VERZETSHERDENKINGSKRUIS INGESTELD.
HET VERZETSHERDENKINGSKRUIS, W:AER~AN frE
PQ-STHlJUM
~
EKENNING OOK
AN GESCHIEDEN, WORDT TOEGEKEND AAN EENIEDER
DIE DAADWERKELIJK VERZET HEEFT GEPLEEGD TEGEN DE VIJA:"DEN
VAN NEDERLAND IN DE TWEEDE WERELDOORLOG .
~hrh,,1.-~.
,..
,l
Ji.,
i
?_
r,11.
.t.-u.d.vt-,,_
1-1
,f
HET NE ERLANDSE VERZETSHERDENKINGSKRUIS IS ONTWORPE~
IN DE VORM VAN EEN VIERARMIG KRUI·S MET OP DE HORI ZONTALE BALK DE TEKST: "DE TYRANNY VERDRYVEN".
�-4-
WASHINGTON 8 Oct.1982
DE VERTICALE ARM VAN HET KRUIS TOONT EEN GEHEVEN Z\•;_:\..\RD.
UIT HET GEVEST KOMEN VLAM.i>lEN. HET ZWAARD IS HET SY:-IBOOL
VAN HET GEl~PEND VERZET EN HET VUUR HET SYMBOOL VAX HET
GF.ESTELIJK VERZET.
ONDER HET GEVEST STAAN DE J,1\ARTALLEN 1940 - 1945.
HET GEHEEL WORDT GEDEKT DOOR EEN KONINKLIJKE KROOX,
WEER.GEVEND DAT HET VERZET GEINSPIREERD WERD DOOR KONINGIN WILHELMINA.
DE KEERZIJDE VAN HET KRUIS TOONT DE NEDERLANDSE LEEUW.
DAARBOVEN HET JAAR VAN INSTELLING:1980.
DE KLEUREN VAN HET AAN HET KRUIS VERBONDEN LINT SYMBOLISEREN DE EENHEID VAN NEDERLAND EN HET HUIS VAN ORANJ E,
TEMIDDEN VAN DE DUISTERNIS EN DE ROUW, DIE DE BEZETTERS
OVER DE BEVOLKING VAN HET KONINKRIJK DEDEN NEERDALEN.
AANGEZIEN WIJ IN HET VERZET, IN DE GEVANGENISSEN EN CONCENTRATIEKAMPEN ALLEN GELIJK WAREN, ZULLEN DE NAMEN VAN
DE ONTVANGERS IN ALFABETISCHE VOLGORDE, MET WEGLATI NG
VAN IEDERE TITULATUUR WORDEN AFGEROEPEN . .
HET VERZETSHERDENKINGSKRUIS IS TOEGEKEND AAN:
�-5-
WASHINGTON 8 Oct. '8 -_
MAG IK NAMENS HET NATIONAAL COMITE AL DEGENEN DIE HET
KRUIS ONTVANGEN HEBBEN VAN HARTE GELUKWENSEN.
DANK AAN ZIJNE KONINKLIJKE HOOGHEID PRINS BERNHARD
DAT HIJ DEZE PLECHTIGE UITREIKING HEEFT WILLEN VERRICHTEN EN HERHAALDE DANK AAN DE AMBASSADEUR VOOR ZIJN
GASTVRIJHEID.
�
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_AWD_1982-10-08-P-Termaat-Resistance-Remembrance-Cross-Speech-Washington-D-C-481
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
1982-10-08
Title
A name given to the resource
Address on the receipt of the Resistance Memorial Cross
Description
An account of the resource
Prepared text of a speech delivered by Pieter Termaat on his receipt of the Resistance Memorial Cross in Washington, D.C. on October 8, 1992. In Dutch.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Netherlands -- Awards
Dutch Americans
Speeches
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/6793c5c2f901c771073779bfa30163fe.pdf
16a2538f6fe014442be78bc49f8029e7
PDF Text
Text
PETER N. TERMAAT
i\ug 18, 87
Dear Bill
Thanks a lot for sending us the notes
a couple of students made after our visit last year.
One can only try to make up for the lack of direct
involvement of the present generation in the horrible
circumstances then.
Thinking back from the time we were young , how
real were then facts to us which occurred in the latter
part of the 19th centmry?
We are looking forward to be with you and the students
again •
Please find enclosed a resume which I prepared on
your advice o We hope to follow the lead you gave me.
Cordially ,
�Dr. William Baum
237 Mack
�1730 WESTLAND DRIVE N.E .
GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49505
/
/
/
�PETER N. TERMMT
1730 WEST LANE DRIVE N.E.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 4950$
October 25 , 1987
Dr. v1illiam Baum
Grand Valley State University.
Dear Bill:
Please find enclosed the following documents:
1. A resume from Jean ( l\driana Barbara ) Termaat
2. ft resume from Peter ( Pieter Nicolaas) Termaat ,
we thought it good to note that the schoolyear in
"our" time consisted of 225 schooldays, beginning
with the first form ( ?th grade) • University
education started after the sixth form.
Though the two of us did not need i t , we do want
to note that lateral changes to schoolforms with
a less demanding schedule were provided for.
J. I\ copy of the diploma of PNT as fully qualified
-:teacher •
4. A copy of the diploma of PNT as qualified in
the social sciences.
5. I\ copy of the psychological testing of PNT by
Dr.Ramon G.Douse, taken in 1952 , siE months after
arriving in the U.S. The findings were consistent
with those of the Free University of 1\msterdam in
194l~the latter's opinion resulting in a substantial
promotion, wile the former reshl.ted in my bei~
hired as an auditor by Touche Ross Co.,
6. ~ list of the study books and reference materials
of /I lmere College • For the German language it did
include mastery of the 11 1\.ltschrtft" the Latin
script.
?. The content listing of the study materiil in world
and national history of l\.lmere College (forms 7,
8 and 9) •
8Q The Almere College content of the study material
on Geography for the first and second form.
9. I\ copy of the diploma of ABT qualifying her for
business adminmstaation.
10. 8xamples of the 6th form final exams:
aw 1\.1, ~ 3 and A 5 Business administration.
b. AB 2, I\ LB 6 Netherlandic language.
c. A 7 and AB 8 German language.
d. 1\.9 and AB 10 French language.
e. l\.ll and RB 12 English lan~uage.
fQ B 1 Physi:Jocs
g . 4 mathematical exams.
We will gladly assist in further explanation of the
Dutch language material.
Cordially,
Ct)~11SI~
�PETER N. TERMAAT
1730 WEST LANE DRIVE, N.E.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 49505
Resume ~driana Barbara Termaat
Date of birth
Married
First son born
Start of German occupation
Three more sons born
2-21-1916 Diemen Netherlands
Li_1s_1939
4_27_19Lio
5_1l/_19Lio
ended 5-8-19u5
19L2 , 19LJ6 and 1 9u9
Experience
Performed business administration in father's trucking business
for 7 years •
Raised 4 sons •
Worked parttime after 1960, about 20 hours per weAk.
1967 to 1979 worked full time as travel consultant.
Education:
High school diploma full course. Math, science and 4 languages.
Business school diploma: business administration and correspondence
and 3 languages.
Correspondents coJ;e Leidsch Insti.tuut for handelswetenschappen.
A.vocations:
studing the life of II special" women.
Studying mores, customs and religious values of many countries.
Stfiled forms of government and the inter-action of their systems
and the inter dependency of all countries.
�PETER N. TERMAAT
1730 WEST LANE DRIVE N.E.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 49505
Resume Pieter Nicolaas Termaat
Date of birth
Married
4 sons , born
Excellent health.
3-7-1911.J Kampen Netherlands
4_18_1939
19ho, 1942 , 19h6 and 191.J9.
Personal
USA
USTI
USA
Neth
1958
1952
1952
191.J2
- 1979 Credit Manager and internal auditor wholesale house.
- 1958 A.uditor Touche Ross Co.,
first 6 months Accounts payable Meijer, Inc.,
- 1952 operated own paactice as public accountant and
Neth
Neth
1941 - 1942 mediator National Department of Social ~ffairs.
1934 - 1941 mediator and accountant City of f.lkmaar
tax consultant.
My experience in the Netherlands and in the USA. brought me broad
experience in labor relations and laws.
During my 45 working years I kept current with my profession
and cultural level.
Education
1926
1931
1933
1934
1938
-
1930
1933
1934
1937
1941
1941 - 1942
Almere College Kampen Netherlands
Pedagogic Academy fllkmaar Netherlands: BA
studied 1 year towards ~A
Leidsch Instituut voor Onderwijsinstellingen: Economics and finance.
Leidsch Instituut: Social sciences
degree 1941.
Private lessons in Latin.
Military
1934 - 1936
191.Jo - 19Li5
National Guard
vM II lieutenant Interior Forces
in occupied The Netherlands.
May 1942: refused in writing to select
and send men to work in German war
factories •
•fay 9, 1941.J home raided by the Gestapo ,
but escaped arrest.
�Novl'!"llber
9, 1987
Fr,fHssor .'illi.=i.m B8Ut:
Grand Valley -t. t'? 1• r,h ,~,-.,;i.t 1
DeBr Bill:
In t:oi. ,~ ovPr my
"r~ , : noti ced that
I overlooked to l"'l!J.h~ ava51a.blo to the students
the pv )Vi LOY\S of thP. ':e!"eV" Com? _ntioris t
·which : 11r,v n"· cne;l()5'?'~ •
i:l1 a!',:, h.ir,½ly ., ~ p~eci':!.ti re for :rc,1:r- ef'Pnrts on
o:.u· btthalf •
1
"
�GRAND
VALLEY
STATE
COLLEGE
Allendale, Michigan 49401 • 616/895-6611
November 11, 1987
Mr. & Mrs. Peter Termaat
1730 West Lane Dr. N.E.
Grand Rapids, MI
49505
Dear Jean and Peter:
Once again we all agree that you did a splendid job here
recently.
Your presentations were interesting and well
suited to our needs.
It sure was a treat for us to be able to dine together with
your sons, your daughter-in-law, Mandy and Lorraine.
Now I must focus on my project to have you receive honorary
degrees in the spring.
I shall be in touch soon as I inevitably am to call on you
for something or another.
In the meantime, we hope that the coming holiday season is
enjoyable for both of you and your family.
Cordially,
William C. Baum
�Jee 10,
7 9t'·7
r 1,ofessor ;,.:U lia 1 ~. ~aU'Tl
262 . to.ckin:rn .,'111
, I 9L 01
: 11Pi1<.1 -"l
....... ~ I'
Jill
; ·1ec1s9 ;::ind ,1nolos•d d11·::.'l Rbout LhA new book ••Lvi11- u::: tr. A Jett~
,ml diar::..a3 o,.~ i2ns 1.:id .:;on(1i.e Scnoll , tr10uc-h vou tM.V "l1re~ 4y
'1 ..... 'T/,""" gr.,cn"'I i -- ,.
·0r,i c:Arrlc9.:; of 'liV brother .i.n f1,,.st,,1r !~t , 1 ~opy oj
·,\"•11)'- s:-,r}:1" :us fl 1 s b• P,!1 w nde•i to t\o ' i..-ie
r.::.:11-· 0 r 1 '-t :_r I i ~
t.•1;1t -~:l.t,v • ·10..ilci "{OU have t1 f'-,.- ·:io:n~ COf"l·'S Le- St- 1r: , _ P,:,ulc
bo 11 !1t.rr~,..,j_ 1 T, i v ..1 i. t t..ro-a -'!n,1J 1 'l F3t ,,o t1.1 v..... t.:! 1t •
i\,~r,•1,,.·1 +.:1-:0
!'s~J ,,-:ain jn ,,einr1c.1 .f~:i_,,,...•:; '"'''1:, 'ln! 11a1 1 a~t
t,;H~ Q-i--.1.r1al. v•:H'":'iar. ::ir, :)t,"- ~ -:·" ,:,n,j -;.r: exc.-111•in~. t;-;i,nl:-.tion
in to 0~· lB~•uij?~ o~ t~l ooposite pR~a
t:, ~t •••y.;:.; ri,.. r:1:Jt 1i.. ~ br-·inrr a jAw was suc 11 :i.n 'L'."'1. .nt •1-i•'li:.•"'r
t,1at ot,18! ~UI'O!,l'-'lr. r.y-rlint : •• .;i rol"3on •
•:o · •or,..4 '!' w,.,1:3tr1er , ~:1 cu td W"' on~ i .. ~l·P. b1=3 in7 i :•'l~ . i. t •,•,:,•,1~
b?. of V4llll; to ',-i,.'€ a .t-ass1.n:,. 1:'t;.ill' · '.1C ~ to !l t ;_ <3,a.:_ ': :)r. ':l :if ;-. ~ S
1-• !"oms : 11 dH~ 1.:ren.:iatcrs i, • 1:lis 101:1s shm,1 i:.\· ,·· •pn~--:.;~011 sr, 0 1]
i 1 h.i('11 totp).::.tArian rb.ctat.or~ ~re ~bl~ cc ~-.st Ymr a"-nf,lP. •
q_.,,,~AntlJ
J
..1avo
cl ss . . YOU r rtv~ us~ t;_!fiG"''\~.. t.t.. t ru
of o .iY' s,·•,AC!l ( vou 1ust bap'i"!r. to C<tll now a11·1 ~ t: s nbl ,,
.i:l!i to eo!ill@l'ic 11t~ xr::,~r r~qm~~t for an dd.:.tior1;1.l 3 copi~5 ) •
ny tl.1.e• wl-i·v t~~·; ;i,bovr- m~ntJont,,d boo,< ruol.!t 1•:<n,, wa.s r,.rirt.P.d by
thH u•1iv·,rf;Lty ...,f , it t.sourc }- l ress •
,..
C\J.l•
1~~t, d .. y- nt
"-1("'Ui~
��Speed Letter.
T0
Professor William C.Baum
Grand Valley State Univesity
262 Mackinaw Hall
Allendale• Mich. 49401
_ _....;;..;;.___...;...;._.;...__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
From
- - - - - - - - - = -P"""e"""
t=
• ar.......;N
a...."""T'""'er
=--m'-"-a a"""t_ _ _ __
1?30 Westlane Drive N.E ••
GrL'!'ld Rapids , Mich!gan
Subject _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
tJ,
<-', h
JC
)lf"
MESSAGE
Dear Bil 1
On the 11th of March I introduced a Newsweek article about Paul de Man
---iii
.-o_t,....a_ug
__,..h....t - f'or
- ...1....j.--y_e _a_r s_ a....t--=t.a..,..le • and who proved to haYe a sordid Nasi past •
The surround sin 1ihioh he worked and blished in Be ium dur
WW Il
were vi
demonstrated 1n an article about Leon Degrelle the Belgian Nasi "lead
who is still being coddled ~~
even though _!Jle fasci~t Franco who did d ~
our Allied goals so much during the war , 1s long gone •
We know ourselves, 4J years after the war how wide and far Nazisme's ipfluence reaches. _
Please give our regards to 1".rs. Baum • We are coming along quite well ("~ordially.
2 enclosures ,
---
Date
5/25/88 _
Signed -- _ - - -
,
liJ.h. .
REPLY
---------------- - --- - - - - -- -
-
- - -----'Jate
-- -
---- - - --------
S qned
WilsonJones
Gr /l.Y _ 1NE ~ 1Prvt ;;i,.;. )0.
9/ • fi-; f-..T
I\
r
SE"NDER-DtTACH AND RETAIN YELLOW COPY SEND WHITE. AND PINK COPIES Wl,H CARBON INTACT
�
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_COR_1987-1988-PNT-Baum-letters
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
1987/1988
Title
A name given to the resource
Letters about GVSU lectures
Description
An account of the resource
Letters between Pieter Termaat and Professor William Baum of Grand Valley State University about guest lecturing on the Holocaust.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Baum, William
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
History teachers
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
ntt
0
19
l
l I th o
h NOif m
9~7
c
Niven., &i.il y & Smart 5 Cart· f ad Pub 1.c Accoun
Rapids, Mich g
lieb
Uey r
I
y, :1952 - October, 1952, 8 month
Supenna-rklrts
anuary 1952, oan P\Jbl ic A.cc
; 5
.fu.11-t
st.a f
m
19h2, Neth
oo
n
,
in aceoun
nting P
l nrls I Ci 11 S
Th
ce-- =Ill!!JU'i.~eroor1t
0
•
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
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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
-
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/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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
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
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/45638bd1432bcb4a87f877b3a1ad1717.pdf
e8e4984ff6029ade7b852ee3fc1df795
PDF Text
Text
Pieter Terma.a. t
r:a.rch 7, 19ll.J
:3o:r:n
Pass In Revue :
1914-1935
The Formative Years
�To Honor My Father /\.nd Mother
�-1-
I was born in the kingdom of The Netherlands in the small
town of Kampen near the delta of the IJssel River, northern most branch
of the river Rhine. About 1920 this city had approximately 20,000 inhabL
tants. It is an ancient town, in the early Middle Ages already a member
of the Hanseatic League, and its ships traded as far as the Baltic Sea.
Centuries later the river sanded up and the town's merchants' ships were
idled, leaving regional freighters of shallow draft and fishing vessels
which plied their trade on the Zuiderzee. After the middle of the nineteenth century a military garrison was established and barracks built and
expanded to a sizeable complex later named the Van Heutsz Kazerne after
a well-known general.
The Termaat family was well established in the seventeenth
century in the province of Noord-Holland in the northern most area known
as West Friesland ~n the village of Schermerhorn where they were dairy
farmers. The oldest record so far is that of the church grave of Jan
Barendsz in 1640. In the year 1664 J. Termaat is recorded. as Dike
Reeve, a term denoting president of the regional council charged with the
upkeep of the dikes against the onslaught of the sea.
Schermerhorn is situated on bogland, a narrow strip of land
between what were the Schermer and Beemster Lakes, drained in 1635 and
1611, respectively, and turned into luscious meadowland. At that time,
except for dairy farming, fishing was important as the two lakes had
access to the sea. These intrepid fishermen fished as far north as Spitsbergen and the Barents Sea (Dutch names both) and at some present day
farms there are still whale bones to be seen, standing upright in the
meadows for the cattle · to chafe their hides on. The province of NoordHolland contained 43 lakes in the Middle Ages, many interconnected and
with access to the sea.
In the year 1801, Cornelis Termaat moved from Schermerhorn to
the outskirts of the city of i\.lkmaar where he built a brick dairy farm
with stables and haylofts and bought four parcels of grazing land in the
Overdie polder. The family continued its farming until late in the
nineteenth century when they sold their farm and land because of the
expanding city. They then continued selling dairy products until rrry
Grandfather Pieter Termaat's death in 1901. Part of the barn was still
standing in 1980 (see pictures).
In 1876, Alkmaar had 12,000 inhabitants. It was then the seat
of a federal district court and a provincial court. There was a raiL
road passenger depot, a federal telegraph office and a mint mark office
for gold and silver. The city was a center for the cheese and cattle
trade. In one year, five million pounds of cheese were sold and 100,000
head of cattle traded. Grain and seed trade amounted to nine million
pounds per annum. The city was a key district for the election of members to the Second House of representatives and for members of the
�-3-
In Kampen there ~also two officers' candidate schools,
one named the Cursus on the corner of the Vloeddijk and the ~lverhekkenweg, and the Hoofdcursus situated on the Korenmarkt next to the
Bovenkerk. After graduating from the Cursus one could enter the Hoofdcursus for further studies for field officer. Da.d was named intendant
of the buildings of the Cursus and the fami}y moved in 1916 into the
apartment of the main building. Both my brothers_ Jan in 1916, and
Cornelis Barend in 1918 _ were born there.
We grew up in military surroundings and atmos:phere and the
many pictures of that time show me included with many groups of officer-
candidates. Da.d was master on foil, sabre, and sword and in bayonet
fighting and taught these skills. He was about five feet, nine inches
tall, broad-chested, strong armed and liked a good time.
The year 1918 delivered hard blows to our fami}y. My little
brother Jan died at the age of two of appendicitis within weeks of the
death of Jan Harms, my maternal Grandfather, on}y to be followed by the
death of Rinske Harms, my maternal Grandmother, within a year. Our
Mother never could quite adjust to the death of a child and her parents
in such a short timespan and her nervous makeup received another jolt
at the onset of menopause. All Mother's symptoms point to Hypoglycemia.
Letters from the physician who attended my brother Jan, and upon his
death, from my Uncle Pieter, will be added at the end of this history.
My memories of these events are weak and fleeting. I do,
however, remember vividly the birth of my brother, Cornelis Ba.rend, on
January 2, 1918. Dad brought me into the bedroom to see my new brother
and my mother. The window was part}y open and I was told that the stork
had brought him. /\.pparent}y I figured that if the stork brought, he
could also take away so I kept as far as I could from that window. The
death of my brother Jan two months later I do not remember nor do I
remember anything about him even though my parents told me later that
for weeks and months I kept searching the house for him and calling his
name.
I remember that my maternal Grandfather had a long beard and
walked somewhat stooped over with a cane. Once he took me to the park
(the plantsoen at the end of the Kalverhekkenweg along the Third Ebbingestraat). ~ duck bit me in the finger while being fed and Grandfather
chased him off with his cane. This must ha~ occurred in 1917. My Mother
told me later that he had been bad}y injured in 1911 while installing a
vault door in Zwolle. He was never able to work again and his family went
through hard times. Besides their own house they also owned two more
houses that were rented. These had to be sold to supplement the meager
income the sons and dau~hters earned as apprentice carpenters and seamstresses, This entire family was very dextrous and hard-working. When
my Hother told me about these very difficult years she sometimes had
tears in her eyes and would say, "But we never accepted help from any_
body • 11
�/\bout my maternal Grandmother I remember a few more incidents.
Cne is that she let us play in a wooden bathtub with a toy boat in her
house; another that she brought me up from the cellar when I apparently
had climbed down and could not get up a.gain, The most vivid memory I
have of her is that of walking next to her while her long skirts gently
swayed as she walked. She carried a f: reen (enameled?) pail filled with
buttermilk in which a. ?olden lump of butter bobbed up and dovm. I remember this as somethin~ beautiful. i\t her confession of faith at a~e
18 in 1878 her parents gave her the beautiful shawl which I inherited.
From friends she acquired the wooden tub with brass bands for the family
use of butter churned on the fa.rm. This I also inherited as well as the
daffodil decorated milk pitcher.
I remember Christmas Day in the Noorderkerk with my pa.rents and
Grandmother present where I was one of the children to recite a. Biblical verse. The- one I had to recite I still remember: Isaiah 9:6, "For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall
be upon his shoulder. i\.nd his name shall be called ·wonderful, Counsellor,
The I•!ighty God, the Everlasting ~a.th.er, 'I'he Prince of Peace." Was it
Christmas, 1917, or 1918? Most likely the latter.
my
After I attained the age of five I had only one grandparent
left - my paternal Grandmother, who, after beil"..g widowed in 1901, had
remarried. Her second husband I s name was Willem /\arts and he fully deserved the name of Grandfather which I a.ddressoo him by. He was very
gentle and industrious and often took me with him to the land behind
his green grocer's store where he raised a variety of ve~etables. He
taught me their names and showed me how to remove weeds and of the
danger of coming too close to his four wells. They were deep and used
for a dry spell to bring up water by means of pail and chain. On his
land and where the store was now stands a. great school, the Linden..
school on the Lindenla.an.
11y Grandmother was as tall as m.Y father and wore the West
Frisian costumes which differed on weekdays from those worn on Sundays.
Then she would wear a 1.:;olden skullcap with white lace over it with embroidery spreading out and a jeweled pin on each side of her forehead,
She was a very strong woman who walked with us tirelessly. Her inheri_
ta.nee from her first husband Pieter Termaat, was substantial, Grandfather Pieter Terma.a.t used our copperpot, tinned on the inside, to
cream milk which floated on top after standing overnight, On advice
of her banker, "de Lange & de Horaa.z, 11 she, like so many others, invested in stock (she for 60,000 guilders) whose issue was to build the
Transsiberian Railroad to Wladiwostok on the Pacific. In 1917, Lenin
took over from the Czar and all of this stock became worthless, The
Russians had the railroad but invalidated all foreign debts. Even
after that loss, which can be measured by the price of an average
middle-class home which was 2,000 guilders at the time, she and Grandfather /\ arts were well off as he continued his workinrr life until the
mid-nineteen-twenties. When our family were f!Uests during our StL"!J.mer va...
cation she used to rent an open landau with a coachman and we would ride
from ~lkmaar to 3ergen and then south to ~gmond alon~ the foot of the
dunes and from there back to 1\lkmaar. We stopped for lunch at a. place
�-5-
where there were playgrounds with swings and teeter-totters, etc.
In the nineteen-twenties trains still ran as public transportation between i'\.lkmaar and Schoorl, i'\.lkmaar and Bergen, and Alkrnaar and
Egmond. My parents took us in the summertime bJ train to Schoorl where
there was a. restaurant at the foot of the dunes and behind it a high
dune where we, w.i.th effort, climbed up and slid or rolled down. Grandma,
who then was in her mid-seventies, went up with us and came down the way
we did.
She had something indomitable a.bout her, a character trait
which runs strongly in West Friesland and of which our family has its
share. Once, in her old age Yrhen her eyesight was failing, she missed
her footing while walking and fell into a. small canal. She managed to
get out by herself and walk back home on her own. As the traffic pattern
changed from the horse and buggy days to motorcars she could not or would
not adjust and kept on crossing the road anywhere she pleased to the
great discomfort of my parents and my u.11.cle. "They will not kill an old
woman," she used to say. Some logic! Both she and Grandpa A.arts passed
a.wa..y in 1932 1-Jhen I was 18.
During vacations we alternated between them and my uncle and
aunt's house at Kerkplein 8 next to the Groote Kerk, the Reformed Cathedral. It is now the second house from Police Headquarters. Uncle Pieter
was my Dad's only brother. Two other brothers had died within a month
after their births. My aunt was the former Trien van Herwerden from the
village of Nieuwe Niedorp. They were a cordial couple and had one son
also named Pieter, born in 1909. My Aunt contracted tuberculosis which
paralyzed her legs. In the morning my Uncle would. carry her down from
the upstairs bedroom to the daybed in the living room where she stayed
all day until bedti::ne when he carried her upstairs a.gain. I do not remember having ever seen her walk. She died in 1926 a.nd my cousin Pieter,
their only son, could not have children and died at the age of Lt2 in
June, 1950. Hy Uncle Pieter died at the a.~e of 57 in 1942.
Up to the mid-nineteen-twenties, there was a quiet quality of
life in all the smaller cities. Radio and television were unknown.
Horse drawn tilburies and la.ndaus were Renerally the local means of transportation second only to walkinp; and cycling . The doctor, for example,
made his house calls in a small horse dra1-m coach. :1ercha.ndise was moved.
by boat and small canal freieshters between 50 and 100 tons did a thriving
business. Locally the merchandise was moved by horse dra1-m wae-ons, be_
tween shipboard or mill and destination. I saw my first airplane about
the mid-twenties when a small sea plane landed in the IJssel River. And
so the skies were quiet as well. Autos were far from coIT!!Tlon.
The streets were paved with bricks and most houses were also
built from brick. The brick was baked from clay dug from the numerous
rivers and so provided cheap building material. :•:any side streets, how_
�ever, were made from cobble stones of granite, centuries old, and the
ironclad wheels of the wagons would i:; enera.te a loud noise in passim; .
In those narrow streets you learned to jump out of the wa,y fast if a
horse did the inevitable.
I n tha.t quiet small town atmosphere my brother and I grew up.
When it was dark early , kerosene lamps still lif hted many a home and for
street lighting ~as was in general use. Towards dusk, city workmen
with long sticks to which a copper hook was attached, pulled a cha.in
on the lamp at day break and sunset. We did have gaslight when I was
7 or 8 years old and in our hall burnoo a small copper oil lamp made by
my maternal gra_rid.father, which I was so fortunate to inherit. Cooking
was still often done on kerosene heaters of different sizes.
~mong the games we played were several different ones at
marbles, the season for which started when it became colder but before
the snow came. Cold fingers impaired accuracy often. Boys had hoops,
sometimes made of wood and kept going by hitting it with a stick; and
sometimes ma.de of iron which had a stick attached to it with a wide
ring so that it could be maneuvered. :5'1ying kites was the springtime
entertainment and if you had a good one you could send up messaGes
written on pa.per which was then folded around the rope; if all went well
the wind would blow the message right up to the kite. Walking stilts
and jumping narrow, water-filled ditches were always fun. 1:<'rom strips
of willow bark we braided a. doughnut sha.pe called 11 toessebolte 11 with
a string also made of willow bark attached to it. Twirling it fa.st,
you let go and whoever threw farthest won. If you cut your hand there
-was always a member of the plantain famiJ.y. We chewed a leaf of it and
applied that to the cut arrl the bleed.in~ would stop.
Playing as a group, we would have access to many !llaterials
and mutual help. Every boy worth his salt had a ? Ood pocketknife. T,,Je
cut a fork from a tree branch and shaped it to form a V with a handle.
From an old innertube we cut strips which we attached to the fork. ~
thin piece of leather at the end served as a good hold and we got pro_
jectiles from a metal factory where they punched holes into iron sheets.
I cannot say that these primitive slin~shots were always put to legal
use.
When we had snow and ice - not alway s an assured happening
every winter - we skated and our family had a large bo:x-type sled that
seated my brother arrl I. At home we often played with a steam machine
which in turn powered smaller toy implements. He played a lot with a
good-sized wooden drawbridge, a source of fancy fantasies when we com,_
bined it with the many building blocks we had. In the wintertime our
house was coey and warm. r-:other would sit in her cha.ir sewing- or darning by the light of an oil la.mp with a warm yellow shade. This lamp I
also inherited, as well as the five antique oriental blue porcelain
pieces and a multicolored, oriental design bowl made in ~'faastricht.
�-7-
In Harch, the lapwing returned from its winter quarters in
Egypt and the search for their eggs was permitted but were they ever
hard to find! The lapwing is a master of deceit in leading you away
from the nest in the grass even going so far as to act crippled.
In that time, Mother would often sing for my brother and I to
teach us songs and the scene is still joyfully vivid in my mind. Mom
had fine manual dexterity and sewed, knitted, and darned a great deal
of our clothes. She was an excellent money manager and often surprised
my Dad with money she had saved up for a trip or a special outing.
Dad was very much the outdoors and sports type. f.rom J\pril
to September the three of us would get up at six a.m., jump on our
bikes and ride to the swimming pool, a fifteen minute ride. Then women
and girls had separate hours for the use of the pool.
This pool was situatoo in the river just outside the Boven..
haven. The city had two harbors, both rather small. In the southern
pa.rt the Boven (unstrea.m) harbor and in the northwest downstream the
Bui ten (outer) harbor. The former was also used to store the swim.Tiling
pool in the winter and as a sailboat anchorage. The latter was used
by commercial fishermen. The swimming pool was large, made from cement
caissons with individual cabins built all a.round and contained three
pools. One was for small children, ver'J shallow and maybe two feet
deep. The second was larger and about three feet deep, outfitted with
the swimming instruction gear. This consisted of a wooden pole with a
sturdy rope at the end of which a broad adjustable belt was attached to
fit the pupil around the waist. Instruction was given by the bathmasters.
The third pool took up almost two-thirds of the complex, had no bottom
but the riverboo and had a one meter divim~ board. In the middle a small
platform was built over four barrels which floated and were kept in place
by steel cables. Additional cables were strung at two more places about
two feet above the water so that one could hang to take a rest. The river
then was still unpolluted and a mouthful did not hurt you. Your certifL
cate was issued after a test which included swimming three times around
the large pool at breaststroke, once at backstroke and one jump from the
diving boa.rd. Carpeted steps were at every corner of the three pools.
As soon as we arrived and had changed into our bathing suits,
we jumped in - descending the stairs was considered kid-stuff according
to Dad. We swam for half an hour, jumped, dove, and played ball as an
exercise for waterpolo. The swimming was in the full current of the
river as it ca.me a.round the bend just above the pool. Swimming against
that current in July and i\ugust was ha.rd because the stream had swollen
from melting snow and ice in the mountains. Then we bicycled back home
where Hom had prepared the usual breakfast: thick oatmeal with brown
sugar and a glass of milk. J\.fter that we walked to school a.lorn~ the
Vlooodijk (literally the flood-dike which in old times protected the
city against high water before the walls were built two blocks farther
out) to the Luttekes school so named after the headmaster. This parti_
�cular great school was a 9reparatory school for further study.
Both my parents were voracious readers and visits to the local
library were a regular occurence. The library was located on the Oudestra.a.t near the Town Hall and called the "Gothic House." It dated back
to the t-1iddle Ages and is a magnificant example of the craftmanship of the
guild.masters. This may be said equally of the To1-m Hall and its interior.
In this librarJ I became acquainted for the first time with the fascinating
National Geographic, and I remember very well that it was my wish that as
a grownup I would be able to subscribe to it.
A family by the name of Hond.ius retired after raising their
children and moved avray and my Dad bought their family library and so my
brother and I received a great mnnber of children I s books, travel adventures from Jules Verne, Worishoffer, Karl May, Johan Kievit, etc., as well
as many history books about the 80 years war of Liberation against S~ain,
the Boer War iin South Africa, etc.
The high point of Kampen's life was the Queen's Birthday on
August 31st. The streets were adorned with spruce and fir boughs. Flags
were everywhere, many with the oranfse pennant. Bands marched, f!a..l'!les were
played, parades held and. the day ended with a fireworks display across the
river with cro'Wcl.s watching on the city's quays.
In the year 1923, both officers' candidate schools were trans_
ferred to the city of Breda in the southern part of the count~J called
Noord-Braba.nt and. were established as the Koninklijke f,~li tairy Academie
(Royal "Military A.cademy). Dad was transferred to the Arnhem garrison in
Janua~J, 1924. After the first world war, in which The Netherlands remained neutral, there was for several years a shorta~e of housing and our
house on the Dr. Kuiperstraat was not quite ready when we arrived. We
stayed for several weeks in the Hotel r.feeberg near the Willemsplein. In
the morning a cavalry regiment would pass_ on occasion in bright dress
uniform. From the hotel to the river Rhine was only a short brisk walk.
When we moved into our house, the moving company from Kampen had diffi_
culty reaching us as the street was still in the process of being paved.
Little could anyone imagine that twenty years later one of the
bloodiest blunders of the second world war would take :.=,lace right here.
Hy brother entered the first grade and I continued in the fourth
grade in a school on the same street where we lived. Later I was transferred to a prep school do1-mtown to which I commuted by tramway. As soon
as the weather improved we took to our bikes and made trips all around
Arnhem a..Yid to surrounding villages. The Open /\.ir ?•Iuseu.l'!l had been opened
to the public a few years before. On Sunday evenin~s there were concerts at
Sonsbeek in a park setting , vrhi.ch had a restaurant, playgrounds and a small
waterfall under which there was a. :!)assaf!' eway.
�-9-
SWimming in the Rhine River was even more of a challen~e than
in the IJssel River in Kampen. The PJrl.ne is broader and flows faster.
~fter entering The Netherlands at Lobith, the river splits into river_
beds - the Waal River which flows past Nijmegen and takes half of the flow
and the rest continues as the Rhine River. Just before Arnhem, the IJssel
River splits off and flows north while the PJrl.ne turns west. We visited
Oosterbeek and Velp and the castle am. grounds of Roosendaa.1. The latter
had two main attractions for us: a chain brid~e over a small brook (chains
were hanf ing over the brook and narrow slats had been fastened to them
providing a safe but wobbly passage) and the other was "de bedrie1?ert_
jes" (the feelers), a flat, dr'IJ basin in a nice setting. When walking over
it, at stagg ered times, water faucets were turned on and all aroun:i you
from small openin~s a fine spray would shoot up which y ou could not escape
from.
11ie
often passed Bronbeek, a veteran's home for the men retired
from the Roy al Netherlands East Indies Army, in their black uniforms. Dad
always spoke with great respect about them. Going north we visited the
Tafelberg , a hill overlooking the city, where a stone table showed the
na..~es and directions of other cities and villages and landmarks. On the
Veluwe I remember the mighty trees of the Westerbouwing which were com..
plete}y destroyed twenty years later.
A.this request, Dad was transferred in August of 1924 and attached
as instructor to the garrison at t,mersfoort. 1:Je lived there in an apartment opposite the cavalry barracks - a li_fely neighborhood. He could watch
the training of the horses and could swim in the small :r-iver Eem behind the
barracks. Amersfoort is one of few cities that has a water bastion left,
a bulwark through which a waterway flows into the city, the Koppelpoort. In
medieval ti.~es a heavy iron grate could be lowered from within the bastion
to below water level in order to prohibit entry in wartime.
In the fall of 1924, our fifth ~rade teacher led his class out
into the schoolyard to see the first test fli ght to the Netherlands Ea.st
Indies, piloted by van der Hoop, f}y over.
Amersfoort became for us the third base point in the trian~le
Kampen-Arnhem-Amersfoort which providoo us as a family the rich and varied
joys of the Veluwe, that jewel in The Netherlands he11rtland which provides
so :na.ny varieties of plants, trees, and birds, and which, with its many- bikepath~was bordered in the south by the Rhine River, in the east by the
I Jssel River and in the north by what was then the Zuiderzee. Covered by
fir, spruce and beech, tracked since times immemorial from east to west by
Hessenwegen (trade roads) which carried trade from Central Europe and the
Middle East to the sea and vice versa. From !(ampen to the Veluwe the road
led, at one stretch, over a long strai~ht brick paved road, common}y called
"The Endless Prayer" by the soldiers who marched on it. 1\11 were happy to
see the tall pigeon house in Hezep where the landscape was of pleasant
variation. Within easy reach were Baarn with the royal palace, Soest with
its military airfield, Spakenbure with the typical fishermen's housing
and state}y, colorful dress.
�I want to mention that close to our house in l\.mersfoort lived
a colorful amazon, walking to the stables in ridin~ breeches, black
jacket and a black hat, a ridin2' crop in her hand, someti~es smoking a
cigar and always accompanied by a hu~e, pitcl1-black shepherd do~ named
"Satan." Women's liberation never saw the likes of her.
In June, 1925, Dad was transferred back to the Instruction
Battalion in Kampen and we moved into an apartment on the second floor
of the Van Heutsz barracks with all the rooms on the side of the Oudestraat and a beautiful view on the IJssel River from the sittin2' room
next to the entrance gate. Just there, right in front of us, the river
branched out again into the Ganza',4d.iep (i:;eeseflow) and we could see the
small ferry going back and forth from Grafhorst to the Karnpereiland.
It was a pleasure to be back in Kampen because during the
seven months in f,rnhem and the eleven months in i\.mersf oort we had not
ha.cl time to establish roots there. In Kampen we were again in well
known surrounding s and amongst the closeness and ord.erli~ess of military
life.
At that time this life was slow]y but steadily cha_-r1gin2' . ·world
War I, with its horrible carnaq;e lasting for four years alone; a front
line which changed hardly at all, had produced over all of Europe a sense
of 11 never again. 11 The United States' participation in this war to end
all wars strengthened that feeling and d efense bud~ets were cut every_
where. Troop strens th was reduced, officers and subalterns dismissed,
training and maneuvers cut down in size, service tL~e for recruits reduced
until it reached 5½ months at the time Hitler ca.~e into power in 1933.
lforale, so high in 191 Li-, with a well led and well trained army at the bor_
der - such that the German High Command under General Von Eoltke decided
to limit their attack to Prance and 3elgium _ began to erode.
The social fabric of Europe broke up. Speeding up this process,
the Bolshevik Revolution spread to Poland and Germany. Comm1.L"11ist and
socialist parties in western Europe, stren~thened and spurred on by
spreading economic discontent and poverty, added to their strength in parliament, agitated in their newspapers. They often took to the streets to
demonstate. Labor Day on Nay 1st saw large crow:ls ma.rchin!! under a sea.
of red :lags. 1\. s a boy I remember walking next to my Dad and often heari:ng
catcalls of "murderer." Proud of his uniform, he simpl y took my hand and
did not hasten his stride. Poverty, though, was a terrible pla~ue and re_
lief of the unemployed, the injured a."l"ld sick and the elderly were in their
infancy and inadequate. /\. s the gap between the welL to-d o and the very
poor increased, class antagonism increased also and sou2:ht vent in the
building of a more concerned party system with its own newspapers, propa.~anda and rallies and a. strident journalism which had access to the new
mass communication of the radio.
2trernism never took root in The Netherlands.
�-11-
Before we moved to Arnhem I had a few experiences which eXpressed the social tensions of the times. A boy named Jan, a few years
older than I and poorly dressed, daily came out to the barracks' ld.tchen
and the chef-cook Gerritsen invited him into the ld.tchen and gave him
a warm meal. Jan always seemed to cough a lot but was !)leasant and
cheerful and often participated in the ga..mes other children played. One
day he did not come do~m as usual and my mother told me that he had
thrown up a lot of blood crossing the bridge in front of the barracks
anc1. was very ill. I venturoo to the brid~e arrl saw the spot with the
dark, drying blood. A few days later I was told that Jan had died.
The chef-cook had some male assistants and some women helpers
who peeled potatoes by the bucket. They, too, had their meal there and
one day a dispute arose because one of the women ate meat on Friday to
the ire of another woman. Red in the face, she retorted in a loud voice
that she did not have the money to buy meat or for that matter fish and
that she was convinced that she did not sin in accepting a meal with
meat as long as her priest could afford choice cuts of fish. I thought
a lot about that at the time but do not remember talking about it.
Otherwise our daily life was pleasant. Between classes the cadets would
have coffee in the garden. One of them - Le Clerq by name - painted.
flowers in his spare time anc1. I often sat quietly watching him; how
beautifully he copied the colors and the shapes.
In the winter of 1918-19, I later learned, a flu epidemic
struck. Through the wirrlow which provided a look into the broad hallway
on the second floor, I saw many of the carrlidate officers carried away
on stretchers. I knew them. Some did come back. Others didn't.
After school, Dad often allowed me to go with him to fencing
classes, as long as I sat quietly along the side. He would don the
steel mesh mask with the leather shield protecting his throat and wore
a heavily padded jacket. The cadets were instructed to repeatedly attack
and to aim at the heart and the head. Dad would stand there, sabre
drawn, deflecting their strikes until they managed to hit him; meanwhile,
he would call out instructions. Sometimes there was competitive fencing
with Dad often acting as referee. Foil fencing was the most ele~ant.
Sabre, sword, and especially bayonet fightinR were tough battles for participants arrl for onlookers alike. They were not real bayonets, of
course, but spring-actuated steel shafts with a heavy leather knob. Once,
during a sabre contest, Dad was wourrled when struck over the head, the
sabre bending, cutting the back of his head. His adversary, a good friend
of ours, came to our home afterwards to see if he was all riEsht and the
two men jokoo about it. Mom did not think it funny.
The regiment's doctor, by the name of Jacob~ and his pharmacist assistant, Lorist, were a nice team and the few times I had to see
them they always had a good word for me. Lorist's standard joke was
that if there was something wrong inside the body you used aspirin anc1.
if it was on the outside, iodine was the cure-all.
�-12-
While living in i\mersfoort, at age eleven, I got my first pair
of glasses, one of my eyes being near-sighted and the other far-sighted.
It seems to have been unusual a.nd wa.s blamed (why not?) on the measles.
On my eighth birthday I was r;iven a bike. It was slightly
too large for me so Dad fixed the pedals to be double in size. Two
soldiers, ea~er to earn some extra money on a Saturday afternoon, spent
what seemed to me a long time in demonstrating the fine art of bicyclin~.
J\.fter several misses on my part, one of them proposed that if on the
next try I did not manage to stay on for ten meters, they'd throw me in
the canal. I managed a.nd the three of us came back sweaty but in high
spirits. Eve~Jthin!?:' was all right when Mom had chocolate milk and
cookies waitin~ for us.
After three different great schools within 1½ yea.rs in Arnhem and
Amersfoort, I had some difficulty fitting into the hi~her pace at my old
Kampen prep school. My pa.rents arra.ri.ged for private lessons for a while
and, after going smoothly through the sixth grade, I passed the entrance
examination for Al.mere College.
i\.t that time in The Netherla.n:ls there were five types of high
school all with a directed curriculum and no electives. Lateral changes
between these schools were possible in the lower grades.
The Gymnasium stressed Latin, Greek, and Hebrew with the lesser
emphasis on modern languages - French, German, and ~nglish _ and little
emphasis on ma.th. In 1926, with a total population of 9 million, this
type of school attracted 6,670 pupils. A.1.mere Coller-; e did not carry
La.tin, Greek, or Hebrew. Its ma.in thrust was on modern languages, math,
history and geography. In 1926, this type of school attracted 20,2~9
pupils of which 4,836 were girls. The Handelsschool had the emphasis on
modern lanf_'.;uages and accounting . The E.U.L. O. and U.L.O. types of schools
expanded on the great school curriculum and followed a less strin~ent
set of courses at a slower pace, were more ~enera.lized a.nd usually lasted
three years as compared with five yea.rs for the first two types mentioned.
~inally there were the Skills centers which trained mechanics, carpenters,
smiths, painters, and electricians and also taught Dutch and mechanical
drawing. In all the schools, great emphasis was placed on your native
language.
After a few years of livin~ with our 11 Honcl.ius 11 and the other
libraries, Al.mere Colle~e proved to be a pleasant challenge. 1926 saw a
jump nationwide in this type of school a.nd the first form opened with 34
pupils. We were split into two groups of 17 to allow for individuallty
and quality of teaching. Upon entering the third form the pupil total
had shrunk so that we all were in one class room a.f ain.
We had a demanding schedule with a heavy load of homework.
Va.cations were scheduled for only one week between Christmas and New Year's,
a few days at Easter and Pentecost and a sj_~ weeks' vacation in the summer.
�-13-
In the first form Dutch, 7rench, and GeMnan ~rammer an:i idiom
were taught. In the secorrl form the latter two ha.cl f!radual~y taken over
spoken Dutch in those classes. English was added in the secon:i form a.nd
had to be spoken in class in the third form.
The emphasis on modern languages must be seen in European con..
text. Hastery of your oi-m language opened study opportunities which
broadened and trained the mind. The closeness of the European countries
made it imperative to know a. few other languages thoroughly for study,
trade and tra~1el. ?or The Netherlands these were German, "5' rench, and
English. As the years passed the capacity to read foreign books, papers
and magazines ma.de for golden hours. A characteristic custom was for one
to become a member of an exchange portfolio, in which magazines in four
languages were included. These portfolios passed to the next member in
line after a week. Everyone paid a fee and a secretary bo~ht the Ma?a...
zines, filled the portfolios and pre-determined the routing .
Four of our teachers had Doctor's Degrees (ea.med) a._11d the
others had Masters Degrees so a lot of indivirlua.l attentioJ1 was given
to pupils to further achievement.
Intra..--nura.l sports consisted of Swedish gym_na.stics with full
class participation. There were rings, wa.llracks, tra.mpoline, high and
low bars, parallel bars a.nd vaulting horse. Summer athletics included
relay running , javelin throw, shotput and discus, hand and basketball.
Swi.'1'!l'lri.ng was not provided for by the school but the city swi...TT1...ining pools
were open to the entire population between m.d- 11.pril and mid-September.
Water temperature of 55 degrees ? a.hrenheit was the usual cut..off for
opening and closing. Indoor swimming pools were unknown.
Kampen was ideally situated on a river, at the beginning of a
delta and only ten kilometers a.way from the Veluwe where the ground was,
since time immemorial, well above the waterline. In the 1920 1 s the city
walls no longer existed except for three city gates an:i a small remnant
in the northwestern pa.rt of the city. Prom the riverside the city was
protected by a broad 1~1arf alonv, its entire len~th over which, next to the
sidewalk, a street provided for traffic. At low tide the wharf was five
to six feet above water level and, a.s a whole, gently sloped up to the
houses another couple of feet. ~11 a.round the city, where earlier the
walls had their begin.ning , an earthen d~~ provided protection against
high water. This wa.11 sloped down to a canal called the Singel and was
la.ndsca.:::,ed with a variety of trees, shrubbery, a.nd flowerbeds. ti. few miles
a.way, over the whole width of the delta, the meadows ended at the Zuiderzee where a low dike_ purposely built that way_ provided for the Zuiderzee to overflow the meadows once a year for fertilization.
Every fall, when heavy rains an:i northwestern storms were annual
occurences, the city would be warned to be on the alert for high water by
the hoisting of a large black canvas ball on a ta.11 stake placed on the
�farms closest to the sea.. The three city gates were then closed front
and back by strong pla~<s which fitted into built..in slots until these
barriers were a.bout three feet high. Between the front and back planking, sandbags a.nd manure were piled up and after the brackish Zuiderzee
waters had reached the city there was only one road open out of the
city - the bridge a.cross the river to the hi gher ground on t.~e other
side. For us youths it was a. great time, playing on the water's edge,
watching a lost pig swim toward shore, seeing rowboats land in unusual
places to and from farms on their elevations, called a terp. The "terps"
were man-made hills and were high enough to protect the farmhouses and
their dwellings. Ships at 'Wilarfside were tightly moored against the increased flow of the river and had long planks runnirus from t.'1-ieir d eeks
to the highest point of the wharf.
The annual floodings benefited the farmers two ways: the mea...
dows would again be lush in the spring for cattle, artificial fertilizers
being only in their beginning, and a.t the end of the su.m..rner an excellent
quality hay could be harvested. The waters usually receded before the
frost set in. The shallow canals would then freeze over and provide for
skating and sledding and a. sport called "buur-;loopen." t,,_ row of boys,
arms around ea.ch other's shoulders, would run from one canalba.nk to the
other a.'Yld then back until the ice started to give. Inevitably some would g et
wet feet or even wet pants. One of us was the son of a baker and when wet
we could always sneak in the back door while the baker rested from his
early morning chores and put our shoes and/or pants in the still warm oven.
Only once, in the winter of 1928-29, have I seen the river and
Zuiderzee frozen solidly over so that horse and wagons could use them and
the islands of Urk and Schokland could be reached on skates while their
harbors served Darked cars. That winter the temperature fell to minus 25
degrees Celsius- (15 degrees below zero Fahrenheit). This lasted for a
couple of months and our biology teacher, Dr. Ten Kate, later rector of
Almere College, orga.nize::l. volunteer squads to a.id hungry and injured waterfowl. We housed them in unused chicken coops. That winter I saw for the
first time the European bittern - five of them frozen to death. A.mon~ all
the rich bird life in the delta. and the meadows, one could hear their un..
mistakable call in spring and summer but their ca.pa.city to hide was superb.
That winter the demand on charitable organizations and churches
for food and coal was heavy. My brother and a few of his friends collected
some and brought it to needy families.
In March, the ice began to melt_ on my birthday a.s a matter of
fact - and in the riverbends above the town ice would pile up, threatening
the dikes behind which the farms lay on a lower 1evel than the river waters.
The military ,-rould dynamite the ice dams and the IJ ssel Bridge was manned
with men shoulder to shoulder with lonis, iron-tipped poles, who would do
their utmost to keen the iceflows from <lama.gin~ the brid ~e nillars or from
forming new jams - ~ gi ~antic struizgle, Th~ first brid ~e w~s built in 1liii.J 8,
�-15-
? rom heresa.y I know that in 1915 the water level was so hi~h that
waves drenched the brid <:_: e I s d eek, the railroad south of the city was
destroyed, and the city barely escaped being _flooded.
The people in that time still lived close to the benefits
and adversities of nature. A quiet civility a..vid an unobtrusive nei,;:h..
borliness permeated all of life. Births and d eaths and lin~erinr; ilL
ness brought out the best in hu.man relations. Children we:re bo:rn at
home with a midwife and neighbor's wives assistin12: . Peo:!)le died at
home with the body washed and dressed for burial ae;ain by f amly and
neighbors. Food and household help were freely off ered when illness
occurred. In the city a burial coach was used, inscribed in Latin for
eve~Jone to see. 11 Eodie Eihi, eras tibi" - "To1ay I, tomorrow you."
In the surrounding countryside neirrhbors l)rovided the best wa.,ron available for relatives and neirshbors to sit all a.round the coffin.
h e boys regularly play ed soccer on a larp; e exercise field
close to the cemetary. Hhen a burial party uassed on the ros,c't next to
the exercise field, play was stopped matter of fa.ct1~,r until the last
coach had passed. I do not remember our beinf told to co this, ~lay was
not resumed. until the burial party had passed.
Across the bridge was de "Bui ten Societei t," a clubhouse -c,rl. th
a restaurant, a.n outdoor terrace, a read.int? roon 1-,,-:ith magazines and newspapers in Dutch, French, German, and ~nglish, meetinF" roo!'ls and lare.- e
gardens with a music hall. During the su!ll!l1er, Sund ay evenin'! concerts
were given by the Kam:::,er Band Corps under the direction of Christia.an
Hengeveld. The majority of the me~bers had come from the military band
of the officers I candidate school's regiment whose band had been discon..
tinued. In the su."!lYrler months, this corns also ~ave concerts on the Nieuwe
Markt bandstand at night between 8 and
on Thurs:lay , ~ lar~e public
attended these attentively. Loo~~in,~ back over the d ecades, there was
a.mong the people of Kampen a quiet simplicity and dii:nity which in turn
nutured spiritual and mental development.
io
It was in the rea.dinr- room of the 3uiten Societeit that I read
the fascinating sto~J of the discovery of the tomb of '{' ut_1\nkh.. A.JT1on in
the magazine "De Prins." When one would look up in the rea.dime: room
there was a panorama. of the city a.cross the river and of the water's flow
towards the sea., guided by the basalt jetties in the outer curves to nrotect the a.d joining meadows a.g-a.inst erosion, ~:here the jetties ended
there were lanterns to guide shin:,')in~ at ni~ht.
The river is a.hra,y s a.live, now flowin2: calmly ,,r.i th the sun
irradiating the s::na.llest waves, then wild and roilin::: on dark day s,
threa.tenin€ its borders. The changing of the sea.sons reflected itself in
the river. 1;.Jhen, in the months of July a.nd ,'\ uzust, far a.way in the ~.lps,
snow and ice melted, the speed a.nd the depth of the river increased. In
:November, when the rains came and the vr.ild cloud- shot sk'y spewed north..
western storms against the river and its d elta. the water rose a.2'a.in because
�nature's powers slowed the run-off and every year it overflowed its
natural and artificial bou.ndaries. Could it ever be harnessed_ the
wind, water and clouds?
Just to the south of the Buiten Societeit was the train depot from which the local connection with Zwolle departed. From Zwolle
one could then transfer to the north to Groningen, to the south in the
direction of 1\rnhem and to the west to !\.mersfoort and t\msterdam.
We visited our paternal gra.n:lparents a.nd uncle and aunt twice
a year - once in the surmner and once in the winter. I n the winter it
was a comfortable train ride with transfers in Zwolle and 1\msterdam.
The trainstops we passed were as many confirmations of what we had learned
in our geography lessons. In the summer, we went bJ passenger steamer
which left at midnight and arrived in Amsterdam at 6 a.m. Passing through
the Oranjesluizen (locks) before arriving at quayside in ~msterdam was an
exciting event for us boys. He had our bikes with us and after breakfast
we bicycled for about three hours to Alkmaar at leisure,
That was always a. trip filled with the joy of discovery. The
first leg guided us through the western part of i\.msterdam to the ferry
a.cross the North Sea canal. Amsterdam Harbor, called the IJ, stretches
from the Oranjelocks to the bee;inning of the Forth Sea Canal. The ferry
connnutes to Zaandam and runs parallel to a very his h railroad brid~e.
Its height was calculated so that only the middle part would need to be
opened for the largest ships. It was an extra event when we would see
the mighty middle span slowly turn to let the oceanliners !)ulled by tu.e:boa.ts through. It was explained to us that these giants were not allowed
to proceed under their own power as this could seriously dama~e the high
canal dikes. The water level in the canal is high above the surrounding
countryside and like the canals of i\.msterda.m are a.bout 13' above Schiphol
!\irport.
The first enterprise we saw in Zaandam were the larp-e timber
harbors where forei gn ships unloaded the tree trunks which were then
guided into secure basins to a.wait their turn for the saw mills. We
learned to identify the flags flown on the ships. Come to think of it,
how many of these flags would still be in use today? -S tate boundaries
on earth have never been the most stable commodity. Through the old main
street, through Za.a.ndam, Koog a.an de Zaa.n, Zaandijk and Krom..menie, we saw,
left and right, factory after factory_ ea.ch with its own distinct odor_
vegetable oil, mustard, paint and saw mill. Cf f main street we visited
different points of interest.
In Za.andam there is the Czar Peter house built from wood but
protected by a larger brick buildin£" bui1t around it. It dates back to
a.bout 1700 when the reformist czar lived here to work in and study the
shipbuildin~ trade. :<rom Zaa.ndijk to Krommenie excavations have shown
proof of hu..-rna.n habitation as far back as the berrin.~ing of the Christian
era. The "Zaansche Schans" was f-ra.dua.11,y built into an open air museU.."Tl
�-17-
where old, typical houses, "ma and pa" stores an:i windmills could be
ad.i"'Tlired, all painted in the characteristic Zaan colors of green and
white and with typical wood carvings adorning !Tlany a house. In Zaandijk one can see the garden with the statues.
Only after we passed Wormerveer and Krommenie did we leave the
heavily industrialized Zaan area behind us and then we could see the lush
meadows on the former lake bottoms again. At that time, I seem to remember, in Krommenie, there was still a tollgate where a shingle told how
much one had to pay. Horse and buggies, cattle, pedestrians and cyclists
all paid a different tariff. The countryside remained wide open until we
reached Alkmaarder Meer (lake) and on its northern end the village of
Akersloot where we crossed the i'Joord Hollandsch kanaal by rowboat. Sometimes we would cross over to Heiloo and then follow the old brick road
to 1\1..1<:maar.
The view from Akersloot to the east shows the Schermerpolder
where the Termaats already lived in the 17th centurJ. Looking northward,
one saw the city of J\.lkmaar, its mighty Reformed cathedral and the Waagtoren dominatine; the city. West towarcl.s Heiloo, tall trees_ beech, oak
and linden - stood as a protective shield around the homes and a large
park named Ter Coulster invited one for a quiet walk. Followinp: the road
to Alkmaar we entered the "Hout, 11 a wooded park. Thro~h it we boys
would race ahead towards our grandparents' house on the Lindenlaan.
Grandmother and Aunt Earie (the unmarried only daughter of Hillem A.arts
by his first marriage) took turns in coming over to Kampen for a visit
but Uncle Pieter and Aunt Trien never came due to our Aunt's crippling
disease. Cousin Pieter came often during the summer.
Kampen, surrounded by large prosperous dairy farms, had many
close ties with the farming commu."1ity. For example, Monday was market
day. In the 1920's, farmers and their wives, still in traditional costume, came to town in their tilburies which they parl<ed, thills turned
up, in the middle of the main street - the Oudestraat. The horses were
tethered with stablekeepers. Retail stores were busy. On Mondays, our
grocer O?ened up the room behind the grocery store so that his wife could
serve lunch to the farmer-customers. The farmers' wives brought large
baskets •-'-r:i..th e~gs to the Plantage, a roofed over area next to the main
street, and the housewives would bargain for size and price. By ancient
law, some farms were allowed within the former city walls. Eanure for
fertilizing the meadows was carried off in shallow draft vessels.
Encouraged by our J\.lmere Colle:?,e biology teacher we would re..
connoiter the delta for bird and plant life. It was and still is a major
nesting and resting area. Geese, ducks, storks, herons, swans, gulls, and
terns and many songbirds would pause here on their twice annual trek between Scandinavia a.nd Horth /\ frica. Some nestin~ birds were the lapwing,
coot, god.wit (snipe fa.lllily), reed warblers, swan, .1r nose, P-a"n.ecock, kite,
stork, heron, garden warbler, blackbird and bittern. f or the identifica-
�tion of plants we used the "Heukels," a dictionary-sized p:uide through
several steps to the correct name and description. The ~eneral characteristic of a delta is its many-fold fresh water channels and the fact
that the closer you come to the sea, the wetter the grasslands get until, in many ?laces, they become marshy. On our treks the a.dvanta.qe was
that the average annual rainfall in this area was the lowest for The
Netherlands.
/\.s pronunciation and scanning were being absorbed, the study
of languages introduced us to world literature _ often by recommended
booklists and aided b-'J books with a collection of excerpts. Poet!"IJ was
taught in the same ma..1'1Yler but declamation was only gradually mastered.
In Dutch literature, writers and poets throu~h the early 20th cent1.1r1J
were a..-rialyzed. Classics like Professor Huizene:a. 1 s Waning of the 1-:iddle
i\.ges, ReYf'!ard the ~ ox, Valerius Gedenckklank, works by the poets Joost
van den Vondel and Jacob Ca.ts, ElckerJ.yc (Eve!"l.,nna.n). Jan van Ruusbroeck,
Thomas a Kempis (The Imitation of Christ) were stmied. In r rench literature we read Montesquieu's L'es-orit des Lois, Holiere, Voltaire, and
Rousseau's Emile and his Contrat Social. In German literature there were
Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Grimm, and f ritz Reuter and in English Litera..
ture: Byron, Shakespeare, Chaucer, F.' ieJ.ding, 1,falter Scott and Jerome K.
Jerome.
History, sequentially national, European, and world, was
taught in a thoroughly interrelaterl. way showin1 cause and effect. In
later years we were encouraged to select a period of our choice to study
what the affected countries themselves had recorded a.bout it, Hhat a
revelation and an insight into the mind of rulers and their historians!
Geo~raphy was all encompa.ssin~. I n ~reat school, your o--wn
country was explored and taught not only by map knowledge, but in depth.
AL-mere College took it from there beginnin~ with Europe from its continental divide and origin and flow of its rivers to the sites of its main
cities, its geological structure and its inter:ra.tion as a distinct continent, despite the manifold and often unnatural borders.
In math, algebra., with its positive and ne~a.tive nu..mbers and
systematized symbols, was taught i-rnaginatively. Euclidian ir eometry,
from point to line to plane to solids as conceived and expressed in his
Slements, received like attention. Graphic images and their analyses,
coordinates, logarithm, goniometric and trigonometric function - it was
all there.
In su..mmary, A.lmere College provided able and successful
teachers with inspirational qualities and abilities to maintain discipline
merely through the strength and dignity of their ~ersonalities, Here was
the real foundation of scholarship_ that in the past rests the present,
in what is now_ that which is to come. The support and encouragement of
our parents was invaluable though not fully appreciated at that time.
�-19-
In 1929, Da.d wa.s a.warded the silver medal for exemplary performance and service.
Though we could not foresee it, that fall would brini:,; a. pro_
found shake-up of the entire world. The stockma.rkets crashed. 1930
came. Prognoses failed. Unemployment increased. Businesses failed.
Large corporations shrunk to small ones. Homes built on speculation
dragged contractors down into bankruptcy. Prices shrunk, but not fast
enough to keep pace with the diminished purchasing power. How and if
to spend money became a matter of a carefully weighed choice. The
stock exchange index in ~msterdam fell from 10~ in 1929 to ~6 in 1931
and to 23 in 1933. The wholesale price index stated at 100 in 1929 fell
to 52 in 1932. Textile exports to The l'Ietherlands' East Indies fell
from 58 million guilders in 1929 to 6 million guilders in 1933. In the
Indies, the wholesale price for sugar fell from 30 cents per ldlogram in
1922 to 17½ cents in 1927 and to 6 cents in 1933. Rubber took a dive
from 105 cents per pound in 1929 to 14 cents in 1933. The League of
Nations compiled the depression statistics a.nd Indonesia seemed to be
where it started first, struck hardest and stayed longest.
Dad's rank and position were secure and our family was fortunate. Our parents were hardly affected by the depression. Towards the
end of 1930, Dad, at his request, was transferred to the military cl.istrict in the town of his birth - J\.lkmaar - to be effective in June, 1931.
?or several years already, Dad had been the literary contributor on military affairs for the weekly "Ons Belang" for subaltern
officers and for the daily "De Nederlander," the party paper for the
Christian Historian Union, one of the two mainline Protestant parties.
His writings were contributed over the period 1927-38.
In Ifarch, 1931, I was sent ahead of the fa...'Tlil,y to attend the
Peda<sogic 1\ cade:my- in i\lkmaar and until June, stayed with my- grand!)arents.
This school had a fine staff with the exce!)tion of the Psycholo~y Department where the teacher was unqualified. Within a year, however, this
changed for the better thro~h the appointment of Dr. I Jzer, a. student
of Adler and Jung. Our class numbered about 30 and the academic atmosphere and student life were hig-hly rated. The saJne discipline and lonp:
study hours applied as for i\.lmere Collef!e. The outstanding sports team
for the school wa.s its soccer team in which I played center half. final
examinations ca.me in June, 1933, and I finished in the top seven out of
twenty-eight graduates.
In 1932, a drama.tic improvement in The 1'-!etherland's fi Fht
against the sea. took place. On the 28th da.y of May the 1\fsluitdijk
(closing dam) wa.s completed from Noord Holland to f riesland, closing;
the Zuiderzee.
In 1932, I ha.d joined the "] a.tional Jonp-eren Verbond" (lfa.tion_
al Youth Organization) with membership lir:ri.ts of between the as es of 18
�and 35. :fa.tiona.l historic idea.ls, as embodied over the centuries in
the Royal House of The Netherlands: taking a sta.rr.i a.e;a.inst one sided
disa.rma..."llent a..nd for a. democratic form of government with uni versa.l
suffrage, were its idea.ls. Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Juliana.
consented to become our honorary chairwoman. I was to meet my future
wife there and little could we anticipate that only eight years later
our principles would be sorely tested as would our spiritual a:nd :physical
stamina.
In Germany, in 1928, a novel was published. by a. soldier who
fought for his country in Horld 1/•fa.r I. This soldier was Erich :·1aria.
Remarque. This novel, in its first person description, authenticated
the writer's agony over his destruction a.s a human ·being by the barbarism
that perpetuated a futile struggle for four years and in which the terrL
tory gained by either side was measured in mere yards at a cost in htunan
life which was only surpassed. by the events of 1forld War J_J.. The na..me of
the novel is L"ll Westen Nichts 'f\Teues - All Quiet Cn The Western Front. I
did not read it until 1929 and no matter how immature our minds still
·were it made a lasting scar on the conscience of all who read it. Voices
grew soft, eyes moistened as the terrible truth of the destruction of that
lost 3: eneration continued. to sink deeper into one's conscience. 1\fter
this, it r11ust have been 1930, another book drew -::rry attention. It had been
published before ~emarque wrote his first novel and was written by Oswald
Spene1;ler - Der Unter~ang des 1\.bendlandes with Gestalt und ".'!irklichkeit
a.."1.d Welthistorische Persnektiven (The :!Jecline of the ';·~est, ~ 0!'!11 and "Tetu...
ality, and Persnectives of the vfo rld 1s7Hstory.) Tho~h, at that time, few
scholars ·were capable of foreseeinz the accuracy or inaccuracy of his predictions and conclusions, the work its elf h~.d a tremenc: ous impact on the
mind as co:rnmunism, socialism, fascism, nazis:n, anc. corporatism vied for
the souls and rtlnds of man. Cnly the passa.,rn of time has a;iven us the
benefits of reflection an:i hindsight needed. for pro1Jer evaluation. To this
day the importance of his lifework is still being reco c::nized but on our
youJ1g minds these contemporary works had a :Jrofound influence.
In 1920, there were still Belgian refugees housed in school
buildine;s. During the moneta~J collapse of Germany, German children were
taken in everywhere to be clothed. and ±'ed. and housed while their cou...ntry
tottered. on the abyss of anarchy. One dollar was then the equivalent of
11 bil 7-i on German marks. The large and stable Gem.an niiddle class was
ruined. and the social uoheaval wreaked ha.voe on all the -=3stablished values.
This, in turn, along with the danger of a Com'ln.mist (in C, errr..any called.
Spartacists) takeover on the other side, made la.rfrn seis:n ents of the :nopulation call for and turn to a stronf"., leader. When the lar<:e corporations,
the large lando1,.iners and the mli ta.ry sup'!_'.)orted. the Mazi p.grty their sue_
cess at the ::_;alls in 1932 brou1Zht Hitler to :::,ower and Kru-pp '!_'.)ressured
General Hinclenbdrs:, then President of Germany, to appoint Eitler as 1:/.eichs
Chancellor in March, 1933! Any hope these diverse interests had of being
able to control Hitler soon proved to be false,
�-21After ~raduation, ::: started my study for a master's c euree.
~lso in 1933, under the pressure of depression ~enerated bud s et cuts,
the nU!llber of pu~ils per class in creat and seconda~J schools, which by
law had alway s been fi.,-v;:ed at 25, was in one stroke increased to 45.
The results for our ,c raduating class were disastrous. Not one of our 28
graduates could find a position .and ma..11.y existimr positions were eliminated. One studied without much more incentive than a check on an uz1certain future. Later it became apparent how uncertain. Only after 19Li 6
did the demand for teachers increase.
!\ s I have said before, my Dad's position was safe. ~om a.F;ain
had saved up enough money to take the fami]y on a week's trip to Belgium
in 1933 and again _in 1931.j.. But here I was - a dee:ree financ ro by ,,ry
parents and no earning prospects. \ fter seven :-:1onths, a. tip from 111;17
Uncle Fieter mad e me file an application for a job with the local govern..
ment 1~rith a job description of trcomputing unemployment benefits and paying
t hem. tr This job bro-w.:;ht me the princely su2n of 25 cuilders per ,1onth and
the obligation to work unlimited hours. Forrnal workino; hours were 4 L1 per
week but because the federal government partially reimbursed the cities
for the unemployment compensation paid, we had to work evening s and
Sa.turd.ay afternoons on the required paperwork with all its rar.ri.fications.
In 1934, a 60 hour week represented normal working hours.
1
/\.lso in 193L1, the Royal House of Cranje suffered two deaths that of Queen 2mma (Queen Fi1helmina. 1 s mother) and Prince Hendrik, the
Prince Consort. The latter was buried in a pure white corte~e. That year
also brought the start of regular flights between /1.msterdam and Ba.ta.via,
the capitol of the Indies. The first plane was called the trUiver. 11
On the other hand, 25 quilders still bought a lot. I lived at
home and my gocxi pa.rents never accepted more than two p-uilders per week as
contribution to the household. I a...rn still sure that the advantage was
mine. 1\ good woolen suit cost 20 1:,uilders, a pair of shoes; 1.1 to 6 guilders;
a pack of ci~arettes, 10 to 15 cents; a movie ticket was 25 cents.
I remember heated discussions with my fellow graduates about not
waiting for a teaching position; but, as the months passed by , one after the
other had to follow my example. One took a job as assistant mail.~an,
another as clerk with an agricultural co-op, etc. I received an offer at
the same office to become accounting assistant with the promise of a salary
increase. I switched my studies to accountini:s and economics at the Instituut
voor Handelswetenschatmen
(Institute for /\. ccountine- and 3:conomic Studies) in
Leiden, taught by Univers~ty of Leiden professors. My salary was increased
to 67 guilders per month in 1936 and to 120 guilders in 1938.
~
.
For a moment I must reminisce about our contacts with the unem...
ployed. The overwhel.rning number of them were hard hit financially and eager
to ta.1-(e on any work but there was not any . On rfondays and Tuesday s we com..
puted the payrolls which covered 350 to ~00 persons, all non-union members.
The unions were paymasters for their members. On Wednesday at 12 o'clock
�-22-
we received a check drawn on the Nederland.sche Bank N.V. for the exact
a.mount of the payroll. The two of us took this check to the bank, cashed
it, and received it all in silver: 2t, 1, and½ guilder pieces_ quarters,
dimes, nickles, and pennies. We emptied the bags into two metal chests
and carried each one on the luggage carrier of our bikes, strapped to it
by rubber bands. We bicycled through the city to the outskirts where a.ti
old wooden construction barn stood - a one room affair held together with
hook and eye latches. By the time we gotthere, there were us~ll,y li-0 or
50 men waiting impatiently. We got off our bikes, pushed them to the
door, entered and locked the door. Why, I don I t know; it sure]y did not
increase our safety any. We opened the hatch cover and proceeded with the
payout upon signature for receipt. When I think back to the poverty of
these people and ·the two of us carr'l.,rin~ 4,000 to 5,000 guilders under
these circumstances, I cannot but wonder that we never encountered violence
or attempts of theft. How would that be today?
From my first earned money I bought a plus-four suit, a fervent
desire of mine. :-1y working life in this place gave me a different education from the academic one prior. The reports that had to be made out for
specific supplemental help; i.e., a blanket, children's shoes, underwear,
etc., were experiences that affected me deeply. Many people who still had
their pride often were frustrated and sometimes an~ry - not at us but at the
"system." I remember one incident of violence where an unemployed man
tried to force his way into the director's office. One of my colleagues
grabbed the man by arm and shoulder and pushed him toward the door. !\nother,
older colleague, the on]y one empowered to carry a nightstick, took coura~e
at this sight and delivered a blow on the man's shoulder with the result
that he hit my colleague on his thumb which swelled to unnatural proportions. Our director was somethirus else.
He had been secretary of the neighborin~ villa~e of Ef'Jllond, was
married and had five children. One of his bad habits was to play around ·with
a female clerk in his office in off hours. Two police officers were tipped
off and watched this v-rith great interest through peepholes in the ceilin~
and the man was fired. Throu~h political connections he got the position of
director of Social Services in ~lkmaar. I presu.me that he checked the ceiling carefully before sitting down. He ended his life in a wierd way, 1\fter
the Gerr.ian occupation started in May, 19li0, he cozied up to the Nazis and
the Germans. They used him to provide workmen for the military airfield in
Bergen. The German authorities provided him with a car and gasoline ration
books. One day, in June, 1941, when Hitler ordered his troops into Russia,
there was a Nazi demonstration in front of our townhall. Someone spoke
from the high steps in front of the build.inf! and the Nazis below were wild
with enthusiasm, lifting their right hands continuously (maybe to indicate
how high the snowfall had been the past winter) and sang their bloody songs.
1\t that moment a car approached in the direction of the townhall and drove
right into the Nazi demonstration. They dra~ged the driver out and it
appeared to be the 15 year old son of the Director who was out for a. pleasure
ride with some friends. Now the fat was in the fire. The verdict: stealing
gasoline from the German i\.rmy and obstructing a legal party gatherino-. The
Director was transported to a concentration camp where he died.
The years from 1932 on were good years for the National Youth
Organization. We grew in numbers, had f ood speakers for. our meetin~s,
�-23-
marched with our flags on Queen ·wilhelrrina' s birthday and on the 8th of
October when the whole city co!!h~emorated the day in 1572 when ~lkmaar
became the first city to successfully repel the Spanish I nquisition under
Don F rederik at the F' risian Gate. It was just dand y to be hated by com..
munists, socialists, a.11d Nazis alike. lfany of the men in our orp- a.nization
would fall i n the Resistance from 19LJ0 to 19u5 and, as a matter of fact,
we had the singular honor of becomini:i; the first orvanization to be disbanded after the German Occupation bee-an in ],fay , 19Lt0. The first ~esistance
F i ghters to be executed before a firin ~ squad were our members.
On F ebruary 23, 193 5, I asked 1\driana Barbara Schuurman , my
future wife, out for a first d ate. r,re were enf! aP- ed. to be marrieo in June,
1936 and were married on Aoril 18 , 1939 . We thoul! ht this lonP: interim
necessary for saving enou~h money to install our house a.s we wished,
v-i hen the war started one y ear after we married , we were r- rateful that we
had acted the way we d id,
F rom 1935 on we will tell our story tog ether.
�Thro~~hout my formative years runs a supportive thread which
seems to strengthen as the years pass and which I like to call the goL
den rein. Both the Termaat and Harms families belonged, as far back as
we were able to trace, to the Reformed Church.
Just what the Reformation means is well described in Will anrl
Ariel Durant's book, The Reformation. What it accomplished is that the
distractions of art, music, a..~d le? end were removed from the Church and
the Bible as the ~-.;ord of God was placed. where it belonP-" ed: in the hands
of any person eager to read that book in his or her own language. In
Europe the church situation is simpler than it is in the United States.
Over there, in every country, one sees only a few church or~anizations.
Over here, every group of immigrants bro1.J.2."ht over the basic tenets of
their own church organizations and, especially in their new and difficult
beginning, tended to adhere to that orf. anization as a basis of their small
community. Naturally , just as in Surope, some ossification took place and
often form took precedence over substance. l\ lso over here few mer~ers
into one larger body occurred. I will not argue the merits or d emerits of
the merger. What unites all Christians is the 1\postolic Creed. :-To one
but Christ has impacted deeper and farther into human exists.nee.
The Reformation was not a tranquil movement. It developed under
persecution in character not unlike the extermination camps in ~ustria,
Poland, and Germany during the second world war. But its followers, ra.
gardless of which external form they congregate under, are unspoken, simply
known by the fruit of their labors, to see for everyone who wants to see.
Hen, like Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Zwingli and so many others, were called
·upon in the fullness of time to be the new apostles (witnesses).
The empty dispute between creationists and scientists falls far
short of the prominent fact: that all mankind descends from one set of
parents and so are fully related one to the other. The oldest Gospel is
that of :-1ark and as an introduction it has no peer. l\od to that the Ten
Commandments, the Lord I s Frayer and the thorough tea.chint?: s of the Heidelber.2'
Catechism and in whom awakes a desire to seek, answers will be forthcoming
and the calm of an a,.~azing grace will transfi~ure and illuminate one's life.
This ~olden rein is of the highest moral code and as we cannot
possibly fulfill it to the utmost, we can alway s, in the privacy of one's
ovm a.bode, simply confe ss and surely be for ~iven.
When we leave this natural life, it will for certain be as small
a step as it was when we entered it.
�EFTICGU~ • • •
? ram whence, where to? The period between the two world wars
for Europe where we grew up showed us the old beloved continent as it
lived., laughed, wrestled with its problems. V e have seen it just in time,
From F ebruary, 1935, until our marriav.e in 1\.pril, 1939, we had the cost},y
gift of g rowing to g ether towards unity which is not achieved without its
own cost.
For Su.rope, it ended up as a lost world where poverty and
riches, unbridg eable and inseparable, lived to '2; ether, The world of 3arth
and :-Iann and Kafka, of fa.st changing social consciousness, of Proust and
Galsworthy anc. F reud, of ":tosa Luxember!!, and Colijn, of ~bert, Stresema.nn
and Firandello - names that have faded a.way.
!\. ~urope that talked in coffee houses in Faris and Vienna, in
3e rlin and i\msterda.rn and Buda.pest and Rome.
It would collapse in the abyss of 1939.
2:vening: s on the 1\ tla.ntic coast. Loni? d ay s in 3 elC!iu.,'11 and -:;· ranee
and ~ermany. Sunny afternoons a.lon~ the ~reat rivers. White ni '!hts hi crh
in the Alps. RottinP: slums. I ndescribable social arrears.
There were planners and jokesters, idealists and profiteers,
thinkers and fools, leaders and followers, artisans and statesmen, people
of g oodwill and evildoers, democracy and totalitarianism. It was a Su.rope
where we were you..ng and carefree and which is now dead, I t vas never a
superb place, but it was already dyin~ when we thoU!!,ht it was still youn'!
and alive.
It was for many of us a home where we thaw.ht ourselves safe,
and where we lived a youth, short enour,-h _ but seemin,,.ly lone- a.nd unend incr,
filled with ideas, contrasts _ a laue:h, a tel3.r, I t was very old and ver-J
younR; at the same tirne, It lived with R'Usto and was filled with g reat aicd
g ooc. plans. It was at the same time a lovi:ng mother, our b eloved, and comrade.
·.-Jhat will happen in the future? Cne can only have patience.
Steinbeck wrote in his Grapes of 1.··rath: "You got to have patience, 1:-,i'hy,
Tom, us people will [! O Mlivin', ali-them people is g one
, rich
fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out.
But we keep a' coTl'.in' • "
�Ter Maat
variants
ter Mate, ter Mathe , Termaat, Termate(n) ,
ter Maath.
Heirs ter Maet , 14o5 near Doetichem.
ter Maeth, 1438 near Steenwijkerwold.
Near Lemselo, 1381/83 ter Maet, 147? ther Maet.
The last one is now called Maatman, which heir we also
find near Noorddeurningen from the estate which was called
Maethues in 1475 and for the estate near Breklenkamp, which
was called Mathus in 1328.
·
The estate Maathuis near Albergen was in 1450 called De Maet,
in 1475 Maed and in 1495 Maethues.
A "maat" is a hayfield ; the word is related to the word
maaien, a verb meaning : to mow.
~ One used the word "dagmaat
for the size of a field
which could be mowed by oneman in one da.y.
A variant is" made" of "mede" for pasture.
( Note : etymology traces these roots to the ancient Anlgosaxon area west and east of The Netherlands-German border,
betwe en the North Sea and the Rhine river)
( These words "made n and "mede" are still in use today . )
Composit family names are Maathuis , Maa~man and an estate
Maetman, also named Mathemanshuijs, is men~ioned in 1385
near Oldenzaal.
Another composite is Mateboer, and also Rouwmaat from the
estate "die Rouwermate" in 1656 in Hengelo and especially
in Groenlo . Rouwermate means a rough "rnaat" , covered with
rough vegetation or thickett.
Compare also "Overmaat".
(note : here is another Anglo-Saxon root in "rough" coming
from "rouw")
11
�
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_Memoir-P-Termaat-The-Formative-Years-1914-1935
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter
Title
A name given to the resource
Pass In Revue: 1914-1935, The Formative Years
Description
An account of the resource
Memoir by Pieter N. Termaat on his youth and adolescence in the Netherlands.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch
Dutch Americans
Netherlands
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/55e6de01548dbb522fccde84f92e8b63.jpg
361cdfb523ddb7de541537e50ea949fb
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/72904ac6e71a277019db6299487aad07.jpg
25211456abc26d7a1d0d3d7594f9d2e9
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
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
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_PHOT_1952-Queen-Juliana-Prince-Bernhard-recto-img620
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter N.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1952-05
Title
A name given to the resource
Termaat boys greeting Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of Netherlands, 1952
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of Netherlands, Governor Williams of Michigan, Nicolaas P. J. Termaat, and Cornelis B. Termaat. The Termaat boys greet the Queen and Prince on their visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Scouting (youth activity)
Royal visitors
Juliana, -- Queen of the Netherlands, -- 1909-2004
Netherlands--Kings and rulers
Bernhard Leopold
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
Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
image/jpeg
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2c6b71753439cbe782613f7ab0e3e80d.jpg
b25f0a0990988116d2fc5792e6113d81
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c0f86a367226f351df9a730a362838a7.jpg
61fc785d5b62e0194bb3d4cd35018a59
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
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
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_PHOT_1952-Termaats-arrival-Dutch-Royals-recto-img378
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Termaat, Pieter N.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1952-05
Title
A name given to the resource
Termaat family awaits Dutch Royals, 1952
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph of Adriana P. Termaat and sons, Michiel P., Nicolaas P. J., and Cornelis B. (Keith), waiting for the arrival of Queen Juliana and Prince Berhard of Netherlands to Grand Rapids, Michigan. The family stands in front of Air Service Building decorated with many American flags. The two older boys are wearing Netherlands Scout and Cub Scout uniforms.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Scouting (youth activity)
Royal visitors
Juliana, -- Queen of the Netherlands, -- 1909-2004
Netherlands--Kings and rulers
Bernhard Leopold
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
Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
image/jpeg
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5b1d9c213c0332d160266e5a8a69547f.pdf
7efe8186fd6b805d7f647e229b3b1bf2
PDF Text
Text
/{ cl0 0-~'-' l '1/ /~ IS'o
Holocaust nightmare remains for three honored heroes
By TODD TREMLIN
There is no oompcnsat ion monetary or
otherwise - that could
make up for the fear and
horror experienced by
those condemned to German death camps during
World War 11, or those
who risked their lives
hiding themselves ind
others from the wrath of
the Third Reich and its
SSmcn.
But last Wednesday,
Grand VaUey State University recognized the
courage of Grand Rapids
residents David Mandel,
and Pieter and Adriana
Tennaat with Doctor of
Humane Letters degrees
at a highly emotional
public ceremony in the
Kirk:hof Center.
But while the awards
are sweet, the three insist
that their stories and the
truths about the
Holocaust and German
atrocities is the most
effective revenge.
THE TERMAATS
Pieter and Adriana
Tennaat were leaders of
the Dutch underground
resistance movement
during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
They printed underground
~ewslellers, forged ration
and identificlnion cards,
and found hiding places
for hundreds of Jews,
allied forces pilots who
had been shot down
behind enemy lines, and
Dutch men who fled the
Nazi's forced labor
camps.
The Termaats had been
married only a year and
had an infant son in 1940
when the Nazis invadl!d
the Netherlands. Their
memories are vivid. The
sight of refugees streaming off the trains in their
small village north of
Amsterdam to escape the
advance of German
troops is clear in
Adriana's mind.
..This was a very difficult time in our lives,
when everything seemed
, without a future," Pieter
said.
The refugees were
Pieter TermHt (lelt), his wile Adriane; and David
M1nd1l, received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters
d1grNs trom Grand Valley Stile University 11 an
emotional ceremony lasl Wednesday. The recipienls are
survivors - or helped other survive - the Holocaust.
taken in by Dutch fami- were part of . the Dutch
1i es, and soon the resistance.
In the spring of 1944,
Termaats had a family of
an informant told the
eight living with them.
That was their in- Gestapo, the Secret Nazi
troduction to the war that police, that Pict.er was
would envelop the entire part of the resistance.
world, and leave it reeling Luckily, resistance leadcrs
five years later. For the karned of thc betrayal in
Termaats, it was five time 10 gel Pi.:tc:r mto
years of constant fear of hide.ling.
being caught, along with
Nothing in their liv.:s
thousands of others who pu:parl!J the Termaah for
the hmrihk: expcricm:e of
the Na1.1 oa:upa11on nothing prepared them for
the circumstances i1110
which they had been
thrw,1. They lived day 10
day, and will never forget
the horror of that time.
..The Jews had been
concentrated in a11
Amsterdam ghello, and
forced to wear the Star of
David,"said Pieter.
He said that at the
beginning of the occupation there were J 50,000
Jews in the Neth.:rlands.
At the end in 1945, only
IO percelll remamcd. Tiu:
rest had been killed by the
Nazis.
In I986, Yad V,,shem,
the Holocaust Martyrs
and Heroes Remembranc.:
Authority of lsrad,
awarded lhc Terrnm11s the
Mal.ii of the R1ghu:ous
Gentile - thal coulllry's
high.:st a"'ard - for 1h.:1r
Pliilse
ill
HEROES, P191 16
�60
?."3. 19?
r. todd .r:- 1.:.n
c/o -ivanco .
Jear
r. _ro'1.iri ,
r s. ier~ st and~ w nt to xprass our thnnk ~
for yll l!' e;__,r sit t ve \ ,.~ ll:~c r.r.qt
,., "'?'
of the -~c~~ber 7, 19{2 ;c~v¢c~t~~ •.
t0 :ro'l
·, r')
L ~,..
l i i·A to .-:x t an:'l cur 1-:cst wishes for vour c.gr
•,j :--
�
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_NWS_1988-12-13-Advance-Convocation-report
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Tremlin, Todd
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1988-12-13
Title
A name given to the resource
Holocaust nightmare remains for three honored heroes
Description
An account of the resource
Photocopied newspaper clipping about Pieter and Adriana Termaat lecturing at Grand Valley State University.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Europe
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
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cdb47983284fc5ee2fe883d5cb42bb67.jpg
3d0ae46ba75242bd2700dc05e213f44b
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2f4007456921546c62f0af38da86837a.jpg
4f1023d1a4f9dcfef961da35721f0a14
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
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
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_PHOT_1952-ABT-CBT-NPJT-recto_img055
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Unknown
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1952-04
Title
A name given to the resource
Adriana B. Termaat and sons, 1952
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph of Adriana B. Termaat with her sons Cornelis B. (Keith) Termaat and Nicolaas P.J. Termaat wearing Netherland Scout uniforms with Bette Lenderink.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Scouting (youth activity)
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
Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
image/jpeg
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/97af11dd8acf532d99e1d278a212f21f.jpg
bab02833d2df4f9c7aa0d156aee529f4
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b9d071e23085d090f5a82ffe1e30ce05.jpg
acfaf9360a11f2ef68adc79c0b3bd241
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
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
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_PHOT_1952-Termaats-GR-Union-Station-recto-img376
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Unknown
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1952-02
Title
A name given to the resource
Termaat family arrival at Union Station, Grand Rapids, 1952
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph of the Termaat family arrival at Union Station, Grand Rapids, Michigan, February 1952.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dutch Americans
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
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
Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
image/jpeg