Worldly Chatter

Dirk was co-owner of a hat shop, Juliana is a housekeeper and nanny, and they had two children by the start of World War 2. Once Germany had invaded the Netherlands, they began to put into policy the same restrictions on Jews as in Germany. Families with only one partner that was Jewish were not necessarily subject to deportation to camps or relocated to Jewish ghettos. While this left them in a semi safe place, they were still in occupied Holland and had to abide by the new law of the land. Curfews, food rations and coupons, Juliana still had to wear her start. They also had to deal with the new laws that stated that Jews only be allowed work in ‘Jewish’ shops. This became an issue with Dirk as his partner was Jewish and Dirk had to let him go according to the Germans. When Dirk refused, he was arrested and imprisoned at Scheveningen where placed in a 2 meter block cell. He received hay for a bed and a bucket for a toilet. From there Dirk was transferred to a camp where Dirk and five others attempted to escape from the camp, Dirk was one of two that made it safely.
Juliana and her two children made it through the war, as did her husband and two sisters. However, one sister never fully recovered from the horrors witnessed. Both moved to England where she lived in a mental facility, her mind forever stuck as a teenager. Juliana’s daughters, Anita and Katina recall growing up in Scheveningen where they played in the rubble left after the war. Dirk found work after the war as a guard at the same prison he once stayed. He was a hardened man who rarely spoke though when he did it was loud, often harsh. He rarely spoke of the war and what he endured, either did Juliana. However, at the time of her death in 2004, her children went through her things and found her yellow star and coupons for food were still among her possessions. Dirk, Juliana, their children and Juliana’s sisters were all that remained of their family after the war. Some family members they are sure went to the gas chambers while others they simply do not know what became of them.
Another man, Bert, was just a Dutchman with a wife and children when Germany invaded his country. He was not of Jewish decent but at some point Germans started forcing non-Jews to work for them. Informed he had to go to work or he would have to face consequences, Bert did not see any other choice and went to work for the Germans. Once the Canadians liberated Holland Bert no longer worked for the Germans but consequences awaited him; a traitor they labeled him and stripped his citizenship. He continued to live in his country, function and pay taxes but in 1983, he died with no country behind him. It was not until years after his death that his wife received a letter expressing their apologies on the misunderstanding and reinstated his citizenship. Due to the overwhelming work ahead of the Dutch government after the war, many people in Bert’s shoes had been stripped their citizenship until the government could get through all the paper work and find proof of their stories.

These stories lack detail and many questions remain unanswered but they are real stories of people who lived through World War 2. Dutchie is the granddaughter of these stories. Bits and pieces of what they went through has been brought down and while they never rehashed most of the atrocities they saw and experienced they felt they did share what they could. These stories are of just one family of many. So many families have similar stories; many being passed on to the younger generation.

It is no wonder that, in a recent poll done here in Holland, there is still hostility and mistrust for their neighbor. While polls show there is a shift in change; there are still many who carry on the hostility. With so many people who can recall the war, even as children, and the younger generations holding fast to the stories of their family it may take years before there can be rest between the two nations.

    For many years, most recently since WWII a strong animosity existed towards Germans. They were said to be rude, arrogant, noisy and intolerant and in fact, most other antonyms of characteristics the Dutch pride themselves on. For many Dutch people it is not a question of “why” they dislike Germans, they just do. According to “The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Dutch”, “Telling a Dutch person that their language seems very similar to German is unlikely to benefit your relationship.” It humorously adds: “Remarking that the two nations are similar in many ways will probably get you thrown out of the house.”
Perhaps strangely, Germans are generally unaware of the fact that they are disliked by their neighbors and often think it is merely a soccer phenomenon, as this is when the anti-German feelings are most visible. The Dutch and Germans have had fierce soccer rivalry ever since the Second World War, even though the post war rivalry on Germany’s side is actually a reaction on the behavior displayed by the Dutch.
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Being as I am from America I may never fully understand the rivalry, mistrust and, at times, hatred that goes on and not living in it all my life I may never totally grasp it. I did not come from a place with such stories to hear. My country came over to aid in ending the war; it was not invaded, violated and spat upon as though it had no right to exist. With the recent observances this weekend, movies were on the television to remind of why these observances are held. Dutchie shares her story and I sit and try to come to terms with everything I see and hear. It is drastically different that I learned in school. It almost feels that what I learned was at a distance, intangible to my young mind. I was taught dates, strategies, battles won and lost and the ultimate result. Names of generals and other key players; I was taught the basics. Names and faces of the average people who went through it force it all to be more real than any textbook can demonstrate. I sit here with a different way to look at history and I welcome it, though it does leave me raw and emotional when I hear and see what went on from a personal perspective. It definitely shows me how the two continents view the same war and how people on a personal level still react to it today.

world war 2, occupation of the Netherlands, Netherlands, war stories, Dutch hostility towards Germans, Nazi Occupation, WWII

(Names have been changed for privacy.)