“Five people, I haven’t got food for them…!”

We lived on Kijkuit, my parents, my brother, my sister, and I. I was 11 when the war started. I remember a lot, especially from the last six months. That dreadful execution of 14 men from Wamel. It was on 20 September. I don’t know what the reason was, but 14 men from across the Waal were arrested and shot dead at the Coupure. Afterwards, the bodies were stacked on a flat cart and taken to the Drowning Cemetery. All of this passed by our house. The wooden clogs of those farmers were sticking out from under the tarpaulin. My father, who was originally from Wamel, was shocked when he saw those clogs. “I know them, they all live on the dike!” Father de Bruijn ensured that the bodies were transferred to the Catholic cemetery the following day. After all, most people from Wamel were Catholic. The Catholic cemetery was behind our house. So, the flat cart with bodies came by our house again. My brother stood on the roof of the kitchen to see everything. The Germans aimed their weapons at him. He had to go inside!

My brother worked for the Dutch Railways. When the big railway strike broke out, he had to go into hiding. He simply hid at home. If someone rang the doorbell, he disappeared into the attic, into a large blanket chest. My parents always said that he had gone to his girl across the Waal and hadn’t come back. But when we had to evacuate in mid-January, he obviously had to come along. Hidden between the suitcases and beds, he sat on the flat cart. We eventually ended up in Everdingen, at a bachelor farmer’s house with a housekeeper. When the five of us arrived at the farmyard, he shouted: “Five people, I haven’t got food for them…!” He wanted two of us to go elsewhere. Then my mother started crying. That helped! “Oh damn, if there’s three, there’s food for five!” How filthy it was! My mother and I slept in the bedstead, my sister with the housekeeper, and my father and brother in the attic, among the cheese racks. I wasn’t bored, although I couldn’t go to school. It was a harsh winter, and I skated a lot! On borrowed skates.