Adrian Hekking (8jr.)
Lente 1942


SAINTS UNDER NAZI TERROR
THE NETHERLANDS: 1940-1945

by Adrian Hekking

Introduction

Recent Conference talks and Church magazine articles have
extolled the faith and steadfastness of the German Latter-
day Saints during the Second World War. Under Nazism
during this unhappy period, and even thereafter in
Communist East Germany, these saints had the misfortune
of living under totalitarian rule.

The present effort is dedicated to the Latter-day Saints who
lived in the Netherlands during this same terrible chapter of
man’s history. They lived under a Nazi government which
was in no way of their own choosing. Nevertheless, the
same restored gospel greatly sustained and united the
Dutch saints as well.

Reading anything Dutch, but especially personal and place
names, presents a problem to a non-Dutch reader when
encountering the combination “ij”. It is equivalent to our “y”
and pronounced like the English “dry”, but never as in “city” .
I have decided not to use “ij” in writing this effort but will use
the easy to type and read “y” instead.

Since the word Zuiderzee should be more familiar to most
Americans from songs and literature, I use it instead of its
more modern name of Yssel Lake.

I lived in the city of Rotterdam where my father was the
branch president. Because I want to write about the Dutch
saints, and not just about a chosen few of my own liking; I
have minimized the singling out of persons by name except
to relieve monotony, add clarity, or identify those with key
church callings or deeds of exceptional merit or notice.
Some readers will feel that their omitted kin should have
received notice as well. I apologize for having overlooked or
neglected to mention them personally.

This writing is based on personal knowledge and experience
and is not limited to the Rotterdam area from which I hail. My
parents regularly visited and were visited by members of the
mission presidency and by the mission priesthood leader.
Because I was their only child, they, more often than not,
had me accompany them. The three of us also visited other
branches whenever special meetings or conferences were
held there. My father was always ready and forceful in
expressing his feelings on injustice and tyranny to the Nazis
and those who collaborated with them. He managed to get
into trouble almost as soon as the German occupation had
started. The Germans were ruthless in arresting
“troublemakers” and making them disappear for good.
Therefore, my parents took me with them wherever they
went in order to protect our little family. I became quite the
traveler. This occasioned my presence, although
unobtrusively, at conversations pertaining to Church
business held at our home, the homes of other members
and at the mission office in the Hague, and later, in Utrecht.

The Hague mission office was close to the North Sea. Its
surrounding area quickly became out of bounds to the Dutch
unless they had official business with the Germans. The
mission office had to be moved to Utrecht. This city was
probably selected because of its being in the center of the
entire country and the central hub of Dutch railroads.

Unfortunately, this report contains more accounts of misery,
fear and death than spiritual or edifying events. . I feel they
are essential ingredients to show how the Dutch members
were able to surmount the very depths of adversity.

The Dutch Nazi party was called the Nationaal Socialistische
Beweging (National Socialist Movement) or NSB. I will refer
to it and its members using the same abbreviation.

I hope you will enjoy what I have written and ask you to
pass it on to anyone desiring to know more about the W.W.II
period. I believe that those who actually lived in the
Netherlands then, and their descendants, would be
especially interested.

Although the content of this book has been written from
memory, I must also give credit to Walter B. Maass, the
Author of The Netherlands at War: 1940-1945, which first
appeared in the USA in 1970. His book enabled me to
come up with precise dates, names and places for some
events I knew of or had experienced. His book was
invaluable in acquiring such details. Whenever I quote Mr.
Maass, I render proper attribution to him.

Rotterdam blijft mijn stad, by F.J. van Zonneveld, Publisher
Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, is the source of all photographs
except that of the Rotterdam branch choir which had been
given to my dad by Adrian Groos of Salt Lake City.

Many thanks and appreciation for his assistance and
suggestions go to my cousin, John Hekking, with whom I
discussed some of the details.

Last but not least, many kudos belong to my wife, Mariam.
Her many years of training and experience as a legal
secretary contributed significantly to organization, style,
content, and punctuation of this work.




The Dutch People

Dutch history goes back at least two millennia. The official
starting point for school children is 100 BC. At the time I left
Holland in 1947, Dutch girls and boys had to learn a table of
dates which started with the above time period and ended
with the reclaiming of the Zuiderzee. The table’s first four
events were:
100 BC: “Frisians and Batavians live in our country”.
These two peoples had no written history. The Frisians seem
to have been closely related to the Angles who settled early
England. The Angles and Frisians could still converse with
each other in the seventh century A.D. when the latter were
converted to Christianity by Saint Wilibrord sent from Anglia,
England. The Batavians arrived on rafts via the Rhine River
from Central Europe.

50 BC: “Arrival of the Romans” The Romans generally
occupied the Eastern and Southern parts of the country as
demarcated by the Rhine-Meuse delta. At times they did
venture further North and West to build roads and canals
for transporting troops and materiel in support of wars with
the Frisians between 28 and 47 AD.

69 AD: “Uprising against the Romans led by Claudius
Civilis.” He, as their chieftain, led the insurrection waged by
the Batavians with the aid of neighboring tribes. The
Batavians were recognized as brave warriors and served in
the Roman legions. They were especially renowned for their
ability to swim across wide and swift rivers in full battledress
and with all their equipment. The memory of these brave
people and their rebellion became symbols of Dutch love of
liberty and resistance against tyranny.

400-600 AD: “The Great Displacement of Nations”.
Attacks and invasions by Asiatic peoples triggered an
upheaval involving all of Europe. It resulted in the rule and
consolidation of power by the Franks in the areas now
known as the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the
German Rhineland. Clovis, their king, and an Arian
Christian, accepted his wife’s Trinitarian Roman Catholicism.

In 800 AD Charlemagne from another Frankish dynasty was
crowned as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope.
During his reign he extended his realm from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Danube River, from the North to the Baltic
Sea, to the Ebro River and to South of the Tiber River by
conquering the inhabitants.

Charlemagne was followed by Viking invasions, the
Crusades and expansion of feudalism with more nobles and
royal dynasties. Nobles and rulers were continually fighting
each other over feuds, marriages, succession to power,
and conquests. From earliest times, the Netherlands and
Belgium were culturally and linguistically closely related
except for the Belgian Walloons who had their own language
and customs. Sometimes the Dutch, the Flemish and
Walloons had the same rulers, but not always

A democratic system based on ancient Frankish tradition
was nurtured and began to hold sway in the cities which
were governed from Brussels, the present capital of Belgium.
It had become customary for the king to swear to uphold
the people’s rights before assuming the throne.

A ruler who would not do this was Philip II, King of Spain,
Lord of the Netherlands and scion of the ancient Austrian
house of Habsburg. Under the leadership of William, Prince
of Orange, the Low Countries made up of present-day
Netherlands and Belgium revolted against this despot. The
revolt started in 1568 and ended in 1648 and is known as
the Eighty-Years War. Only the present-day Netherlands
were successful against Philip and his successors. What is
now Belgium remained under the rule of the Habsburg
dynasty until the French Revolution.

Clouds on the Horizon

Like all countries, the Netherlands has had its ups and
downs but it managed to remain free and independent
except for a short interlude after they accepted the French
revolutionary regime which turned into an occupation under
Napoleon. It managed to stay out of World War I but could
not avoid the world-wide Great Depression of the 1930’s.
The country’s economy was injured severely by this crisis
which caused a severe downturn in Holland’s extensive
colonial and international trade. The absence of the usual
prosperity was difficult for many to accept.

Dissatisfaction increased. The Dutch began to blame and
criticize the government and crown. The political faction in
power was the anti-revolutionary party with their man,
Hendrik Colyn, being the prime minister. His wife used to
have a radio program for housewives on how they could
feed their families better and more economically. One time,
she suggested that fish heads should be saved for making
chowder. Mrs. Colyn’s advice was scorned and the
government continued to be ridiculed. After World War II, a
similar reaction to canned corn occurred when the Church
sent this commodity to its members in Europe.
Corn was considered animal feed and many would not eat it
even after having almost starved to death.

The Great Depression meant having to eat bread mush, a
mixture of days-old bread, hot water and sugar day in and
day out. Sometimes we would have cheese sandwiches.
When my mother bought cheese, there was normally only
enough money for fifty grams, thinly sliced, of course.

During better days, Dutch people had enjoyed excellent
food obtained from their own fertile soil and from their
colonies which were eighty times the size of the Netherlands.

In spite of all the dissatisfaction, the Dutch Nazi party,
recently imported from Germany, did not benefit politically
from these bad times. The NSB’s share of total votes cast
decreased from eight percent at the 1935 election to 3.8
percent in 1939. However, they would later become the
source of treacherous fifth columnists and slavishly
collaborate with the German occupiers. These few bad
apples managed to cause the Netherlands much grief by
their treason during the Nazi invasion and occupation.


My Dad was a house painter and unemployed most of the
depression years. He would get a little bit of money or dole
from the government which he augmented by working a
newspaper route. Like most Dutch people we had no car
but he did have a bicycle to deliver his papers.

One day, mission president, T. Edgar Lyon, approached dad
and offered him the opportunity to paint the interior of the
Sint-Jan-Straat meeting house. He was thrilled to accept
because he would make some money to improve our
standard of living.

The church again employed him and other members to work
on the construction of a Utah-style building on the south side
of town. Such opportunities for work and become more self-
reliant were a significant example of the care taken by the
church and its leaders for the welfare of its members.

At the time the new building seemed misplaced to some.
The North attendance and membership was greater than
that of the South. Some asked why the building had not
been built in the North. However, this new meetinghouse,
built in an area of no particular importance, later became a
source of refuge and strength for all Rotterdam saints.


I remember when Princess Beatrix, now Queen of the
Netherlands, was born in January 31, 1938. Patriotic songs
were heard in every street when the birth was made public.
A few neighbors even flew the flag. When I asked my father
why they did and we didn’t, he replied that many flag wavers
were insincere NSB trying to pass for Dutch patriots.

Our home was not too far from a Dutch airfield. Planes, both
civilian and military, flew over or near our home. One day I
noticed a lone plane that had a funny looking cross on it. I
asked my mom what it was. She replied,
“That is a swastika. The plane is from Germany. Hitler
wants war ”

One Sunday, during November, 1939, we found the
members of our branch stirred up but sad when we arrived.
We were told that a sister member and her two little girls had
perished on the passenger liner, Simon Bolivar, when it
struck a magnetic mine. Fifty-nine passengers and
forty–three crew died. 1) This sister had impressed me a lot
because she and her two daughters looked so beautiful in
their brightly colored dresses.
1 http://www.kroonvaarders.com/alfabet/schepen/Simon%20Bolivar.htm

I thought they were Indonesian. Now I believe that from the
name of the ship and its destination for the West Indies,
they could just as well have been South or Central
Americans.


Sint-Jan-Straat

Our meeting house was located on the South-West corner of
Sint-Jan-Straat, and, as I recall, the Achterklooster.
Although named after the “beloved” disciple, It was a rather
insignificant thoroughfare located in the inner city. As a little
tyke, I confused its name with Zwart Jan (Swarthy John)
Straat named for a blacksmith and a local hero. At the siege
of Rotterdam in 1572, he had posted himself at the city gate
and literally smashed Spanish heads with his hammer.

Zwart-Jan Straat was a busy street with many shops. It was
a shopping center much frequented by those living in my part
of town. I witnessed my first fear-inspiring Stuka ground
attack fighter-bomber descend on a Dutch military barracks
from there. The barracks was located in a rather densely
built-up area and unobtrusively nestled, almost hidden, by
the buildings surrounding it. A Stuka attack began with the
plane climbing to great height and then dive vertically at its
target. Its descent was accompanied by the blood-curling
sound of whistled that were affixed to its wings. Luckily I
happened to be at a safe distance and was watching the
spectacle with others. One of them said,

“Some NSB must have told the Moffen the location of the
barracks. (Mof is the Dutch sobriquet for German and refers
to Prussian cavalry officers who kept their hands warm
utilizing a muff).

“That’s for certain”, all agreed.

Sint-Jan-Straat was no more than two blocks away from
Hoogstraat, the city’s major shopping center. On Saturday
nights Rotterdam’s denizens walked this street as a solid
crowd in its length and width.

“It’s wall-to-wall people. You can walk on people’s heads”.
My dad used to say.

It was also the ancient center of the city. Most buildings
were very old. Many were decrepit as well. Our nearby
meeting house, I would say, was about 60 to 80 years old.
It had been quite well maintained, and dad’s paint job had
added greatly to its appeal and ambiance. At least, I thought
so.

The Netherlands Mission office was located further away
from the city center on Krooswykse Singel. A singel
normally denotes a finer more elegant street on which to live.
It would be divided by a park about 60 feet wide with a pond
in its center. The added bushes, flowers and the trees
made it all very pleasant although the water would often be
covered by algae (Dutch: Kroos) which caused unpleasant
odors at times, especially during summer.

At Sint-Jan-Straat we did not meet in a free standing building
or in anything at all that looked like a church. It was just one
of many buildings that were built side by side like row
houses, with no space between them. Only an alley
separated them from the back of another block of row
buildings on the next street. I suspect that our building had
been a societal hall, a theater, or music auditorium.

The entrance consisted of two good-sized doors that
opened to a foyer with a white marble floor. The stairway
was also of marble and had brass railings. Half-way up
there was a landing with a door to the left. Behind it was the
baptismal room and font. Continuing up the stairs, one
reached the chapel. I don’t remember there being a door
between it and the stairs.

The chapel’s major attraction was a softly illuminated,
bigger-than-life, painting of Joseph Smith receiving the
golden plates from the Angel Moroni. It greatly impressed
everyone who saw it. Dad told me it had been painted by
brother J. Bosklopper. According to the Dutch mission
magazine, “de Ster”, of January 15, 1931, the same brother
had built a monument to the first LDS convert baptisms that
occurred in the Netherlands on October 1, 1861, at Broek
onder Akkerwoude, Friesland. The artist’s Rembrandt-like
use of chiaroscuro made the picture come alive and bring
light into the windowless chapel reminiscent of a stained
glass Gothic cathedral window and provided the viewer a
strong feeling about the reality of the event.

The painting could be seen on the wall as one entered the
chapel and located at its center. We always sat near it. So
did the exotic woman and her two little daughters.

There was also a balcony in the back. Adjacent to it was the
office of the branch president, Jantje Borger, who had just
returned from Salt Lake City. I believe that he had gone
there to the Temple for his endowments.

After September 1, 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, it
became clear that there would be a war of major proportions
in Europe.

There had been some border incidents and skirmishes with
the Germans. It did not appear that the neutral Netherlands
would be exempt from the conflict this time in spite of Hitler’s
pledge that he would respect its neutrality. It was later
revealed that he had always intended to invade the
Netherlands because he would need the Dutch air bases to
conduct the invasion of England.

The Church realized that there would be a war in Europe and
brought its missionaries and mission presidents and their
families home during October 1939. I don’t think that its long
duration had been foreseen because local members
ordained or set apart to take over the government of the
church in the Netherlands would be presided over by an
acting mission president. The mission’s direction was
presided by:

1. Mission Presidency: Jacob Schipaanboord, acting
president; A.D. Jongkees, 1st councillor; Pieter Vlam, 2nd
Councillor; Jacob Schipaanboord Jr., secretary.

2. Relief Society: G Zippro, president; F Kemker,
secretary.

3. YMIA: Johan W Rozenmond

4. YWMIA: Agnes Alkema

5. Primary: P.C. Belt-Nykiel; C. Romeyn-Kwawegen:
Emma Oehlke.
6. Genealogy: G Riebeek, Jantje Copier; G Diender.

These were all outstanding and loyal saints with the desire
and ability to acquit themselves in an excellent manner.
They did perform yeoman service.

Pieter Vlam, the second councillor of the new mission
presidency, spoke at grandfather Hekking’s funeral. From
his talk I guessed that he and my grandfather had a long
association with each other in the Church. He was a Dutch
Navy Officer and spent considerable time in German
prisoner of war camps. After the action of 1940, he was
quickly released but every time Hitler got mad about Dutch
attitudes or when he feared these officers as potential
resistance leaders, he would issue orders to have them
imprisoned.

Brother Vlam and his wife would at times drop in on us
during conferences and other events. Purely coincidentally,
their son, Heber, and I were enrolled in, of all things, the
same German course at the University of Utah.

Brother Vlam converted a fellow-officer J Paul Jongkees who later became an important leader of the Church in Europe.

These prisoners of war stints by brothers Jongkees and
Vlam was a great hardship for President Schipaanboord.
Grandfather Hekking was called to be the mission’s
priesthood overseer. It was probably a new position to assist
the mission president whose councillors spent a lot of time
as prisoners of war. His position was not part of the mission
leadership established when the American missionaries left.

Grandpa’s livelihood was earned as a technical advisor for a
paint manufacturer. He had to travel a lot, mostly by train
using an unlimited railroad pass, permitting his travel
around the mission to also perform his new church calling.

The missionaries who had departed in 1939 held many local
positions that would have to be filled by local members. One
reason that missionaries were involved in local leadership
was the still on-going process of gathering to Zion. It fell to
the U.S. missionaries with the experience and priesthood
authority to preside over units and direct many of the
activities and organizations.

Unaccompanied older men who had lived in Holland or
served there on a prior mission were still called from the
United States to serve as missionaries at that time. These
“senior” companions often became district and branch
presidents.

It was obvious that replacing the departing leadership from
Mission to Branch level was going to be difficult and taxing.

During the German occupation, several additional real and
latent weaknesses in organization came to light over time.
Eventually, these weaknesses were turned into blessings
during the presidency of David O McKay when stakes and
temples were established in Europe.

After WWII, the Holland Stake was the first stake organized
on continental Europe attesting to the high level of sustained
activity and faithfulness of the Dutch members, in spite of
having lost many members who had recently emigrated to
Utah in the late 1940’s and early 50’s.

Church Organization

Before and during the German occupation, church
organization was in conformance with general church
practice. The mission consisted of districts and branches.
There were no stakes and wards. The nearest temple was
the Salt Lake temple. Dutch members longed to go there
but the realization of such dreams were realized by only a
few. For most this meant a one-way trip to Utah because
few would have the means and time for return travel. I
remember being envious of members and their families
emigrating to Utah in the nick of time not very long before
missionaries left. One of them was a very talented young
woman who spoke fluent English and was in charge of the
Beehive girls who she had often perform in English songs.
She even taught them to do the hokey-pokey

The mission periodical “de Ster” used to feature
advertisements of the Holland-America Lines sailing
schedules from Rotterdam to New York (actually Hoboken,
New Jersey) on its back cover for the benefit of the gathering
saints. Some of these emigrants would not have enough
money to pay their way to Utah and stayed in the New
Jersey area to find work to pay for their trip West. This
worked for some but not for others. A sizable community of
Dutch saints did develop in New Jersey. Many remained
active in the Church, some did not.


The mission office was moved from Rotterdam to the Hague
either shortly before or shortly after the beginning of World
War II. Rotterdam had been the place for the arrival and
departure of missionaries by boat. This meant we not only
had permanently assigned missionaries, but also new and
mission office types, attending our meetings. The branch
meeting in Zwart-Jan-Straat was one of, if not the largest,
in the country. Its Sunday School membership was
alleged to be the largest of all the Sunday Schools in the
Church’s mission field.

Meetings at the time, just like everywhere else before the
block schedule, were Priesthood Meeting before Sunday
School in the morning. “Promptly at ten in the morning”, if
you are old enough to remember the song. Sacrament
Meetings were held in the evening. Fast and testimony
meetings were held monthly in the morning after Sunday
School. Sacrament meetings lasted normally one hour and
a half and could go as long as two hours. The choir took a
real active part in the meeting. It mainly sang from the
existing hymnal which had just been introduced but also
from the “old” hymnal which contained many of the old
favorites.

Sunday School was only slightly different from the American
version I was introduced to and experienced upon arrival in
Utah in 1947. Sunday school in the Netherlands had the
same 2 ½ minute talk given by two persons, young or old.
The Rotterdam Sunday school had every one seated in
places reserved for the course or class they were in. After
opening exercises, each group would march class by class,
row by row, led by their teacher to the rather enthusiastic
piano playing of songs like “Behold a Royal Army”, “We are
All Enlisted” and other martial songs. Many of them are no
longer found in modern hymn books.

Everybody returned to the chapel for closing exercises in the
same manner in which they went to class. Before the
closing song and prayer, the Sunday School secretary
would read aloud a statistical report on the attendance and
enrollment of that day, a week ago, a year ago, number of
teachers, courses, etc. This practice may be a vestige of the
Deseret Sunday School Union.
I remember Elder Koldewyn, an American of Dutch descent,
being district president in Rotterdam before the missionaries
left. He also involved local members in street meetings and
other missionary activities. He came by our house quite
often to meet or go out with my dad.

I don’t remember there being district presidents during the
occupation. Perhaps this function was suspended due to
the absence of missionaries or because of a shortage of
worthy men to fill these positions, or both. I remember the
branch president reporting only to the mission presidency. I
also remember going to conferences held at Rotterdam, the
Hague, Amsterdam, and Groningen. I now believe these
events were neither district nor mission conferences but
more of a regional nature.

After the liberation, the newly arrived president of the
Rotterdam district directed the branch presidents as well as
the missionaries.

In mission fields, Melchizedek Priesthood bearers were
called according to the needs in the church. The
Netherlands Mission had been organized under the same
concept. For its branches to function, only a comparative
few elders and Aaronic priesthood members were really
needed. Wherever there were serious shortages, the
missionaries made up for them.

Men were usually only ordained as Elders when called to
branch and district presiding offices. Temples, Stakes,
Bishoprics or High Councils did not exist in Holland. No high
priests were necessary to lead the church, not even to
preside over the mission. Adult converts or other older
members, baptized at eight or older, were ordained to
offices in the Aaronic Priesthood and stayed there until
called to an office requiring the Melchizedek Priesthood.

In contrast, organized stakes and quorums require much
more Melchizedek priesthood but they have a more enriched
path of priesthood progression because the young men hold
and act in the offices of the Aaronic priesthood. They are
advanced to elder because of temple endowments and/or
marriage ordinances, and prior to going on missions.

When one considers that priests may be authorized to hold
meetings by the appropriate authority and that missionaries
held positions in presidencies; it is easy to see that not too
many men were advanced to the Melchizedek priesthood.

Perhaps Church sensitivity to the Dutch tradition of holding
older people in an elevated esteem over young people may
have contributed to the long absence of teen-aged Aaronic
priesthood. I believe the first teen-age deacon, Hans Zippro,
was ordained in Amsterdam around 1947 when about sixteen
years old.

Another reason could be Dutch Protestant bias against
Roman Catholic worship. The Netherlands North of the great
rivers was very Protestant (Reformed); the South, Roman
Catholic. The Church did not have any branches in the
South neither did it proselytize there. Protestants were quite
anti-Catholic as a result of the country having fought an
eighty-year war of independence from Catholic Spain.
Freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their
conscience was the major issue of the conflict. Catholic
worship in every form was considered an abomination. The
Mass was seen as pagan pomp, ceremony, and idolatry. It
entailed the participation of teen-aged altar boys. Need I say
more?

Another way for post-teenage men to receive the
Melchizedek priesthood was to be called as local
missionaries. My Dad had an M-Men friend who did this. I
think this possibly also enhanced the prospect of getting help
in obtaining a US sponsor and a ticket to the States.

After W.W.II many young men and women were called on
local missions in the Netherlands. Many received help
immigrating to the United States. This may not have been
due to an official church program but probably showed more
the friendship, kindness and generosity of some of the US
missionaries they served with.

Temples were not available to the membership unless one
was financially well off. I am not aware of any focused
procedures like the temple recommend and tithing settlement
to periodically determine the worthiness of members through
the prerequisite interviews. This lack of periodic interviews of
active members may have caused some laxity in morals,
keeping the word of wisdom, etc.

I was watching a BYU production on TV recently and learned
that in deepest Africa, far away from any temple, members
without any real prospect of ever going through the temple
were given the opportunity to receive recommends. Their
response was overwhelmingly positive. Their reward was a
temple to be constructed in Ghana, much nearer to them.

The 1930’s and 40’s, were really only hints of the electronic
age. Most people like us had no telephones; not even the
branch. Businesses had them. The corner grocery store was
used to make emergency calls. Phone booths were only found
near city hall, the post office and railroad station. The Dutch
had to walk great distances for everything to include reporting
to the authorities in person because of Nazi red tape. Today,
all we do is use the telephone for such matters.

Church policies and news were slow in arriving and being
translated. Their arriving was totally stopped on December 6,
1941. Their being received in the Dutch language and
promptly followed was also a slow process. When one
considers the slow pace in accepting and living the Word of
Wisdom in Zion, one’s optimism about member compliance
thousand miles away tends to wane.

This reminds me of my parents being called to serve as local
missionaries shortly after the War. We were sent to Arnhem,
a city close to the German border and my father was called to
be the branch president. One beautiful summer day, the relief
society decided to have an excursion to a cultural or historical
open-air museum, something like Williamsburg, Virginia.
At lunch time everyone met at the restaurant to have lunch.
Much to our astonishment, the relief society president and
some of the other sisters ordered beer for their beverage, not
near beer or three percent beer but good old Dutch beer.
Needless to say dad had a sermon for them and the other
members about the Word of Wisdom. Dad had also noticed
that some to the brethren would go outside and have a smoke
between meetings. Well, at least they did not sneak around.

After the “sermon” a sister Van der Berg , who was very good
to us - much later I wound up working at the Hotel Utah
where she and her husband were also employed - collared
dad and said,

“Why did you chastise us about the Word of Wisdom. You
had a cup of tea with me the other day.”

“Tea?” he said.

“Yes. Tea” she said.

Dad was not aware he had drunk tea; however, she was not
lying. What really happened will be explained later. Hopefully,
the full programs of the Church and Temples now in the
Netherlands will take the members in this country to even
greater heights.

Another problem during the Nazi occupation was
disobedience. Some members thought because of their
“greater” past positions or of their long functioning as
Melchizedek priesthood bearers, they were entitled to greater
standing in the Church. One of these had been to Utah and
ordained a high priest there. He became so vehement in his
opposition to the acting mission presidency that he had to be
excommunicated. According to Church policy, elders cannot
do this to a High Priest. He was reinstated after the War.
Sometimes, feuds and scandals also occurred, as they do in
other church units world-wide.

The Nazi Attack

During the early morning of May 10, 1940, the German armed
forces invaded the Netherlands. An attack had long been
expected. People knew it would occur sooner rather than
later. Dutch strategy was the centuries long practice of
conceding the eastern part of the country in phases but to
seriously defend the western provinces referred to as
Fortress Holland. Much, if not all, of this defensive system
consisted of bodies of water to keep the enemy from
advancing. It was aptly called “de Water linie” and had been
operative since the 17th Century. One of these bodies of
water, the Meuse river, ran through my hometown, Rotterdam.
It separated the city in two halves with an island in the middle
requiring two railroad and two ordinary bridges. Several other
bridges served various ports.

Rotterdam was attacked from the land and from the air. It
was even attacked from the water by the Germans who had
been supplied with rubber boats. Ships in the harbors were
bombed. The Holland-America ocean liners, Nieuw
Amsterdam and Statendam, were sunk. Harbor facilities were
destroyed as well as airports, bridges and other targets of
military or strategic importance. It did not take more than a
day or two for the Germans to seize control of the part of town
south of the Meuse river. One of the places captured was
Waalhaven an installation consisting of both port and airfield
facilities. The Germans used this installation to land ground
forces to reinforce their attack on our city.

We lived in the north side of town where there was continuous
combat for five days. The back of our house faced North and
we were high enough to observe the dropping of German
airborne troops on an area about 800 yards away. They
dropped on our side of a wide canal making it obvious that
they had been dropped to rush to the north side of the key
bridges over the Meuse river. They did not succeed and were
either killed or captured. During the fighting we saw an NSB
on the roof of his house signaling the enemy with a mirror.

The German schedule of attack called for Fortress Holland to
be taken within one or two days preventing French or English
troops from deploying to the Netherlands. Further delay could
not be allowed because German combat troops used in
Holland would have to deploy South to engage Belgian,
English and French troops in Belgium and Luxemburg.

To enter Fortress Holland and take the capital city of the
Hague, the Germans would have to capture two key bridges
and advance through our extended neighborhood on the
North side of town. Elsewhere, German parachute troops
had been repulsed at two air bases from which they would
have launched an attack on the Hague to capture the Queen.

Other than one or two ferries, the railroad and ordinary
bridges and the island (Noordereiland) already mentioned
were the sole means of travel between the South and North
side of town. The capture and crossing of them were essential
to German success One set spanned the Southern bank of
the Meuse and the island; the other set, Noordereiland with
the Northern bank of the river.

Although the Germans tried mightily, they could not capture
the northernmost bridge which was stoutly defended by a
regiment of Dutch marines. The fighting was extremely
heavy and, at times, hand to hand. Bombing, fighting and
skirmishes continued on the north side of Rotterdam for five
days. Not being able to capture the bridge was the greatest
thorn in the Germans’ eyes. They demanded surrender. The
marines refused but finally agreed to talk to an emissary
carrying a white-flag. The Germans threatened to bomb the
city into the ground. Such a menacing gesture required the
Dutch to negotiate with the enemy. While these were still in
progress, the Germans unleashed a massive air
bombardment on our side of town. It completely destroyed
the city center. Bombs even fell in our neighborhood which
was on the outskirts of the city. After the bombardment, the
Germans threatened to bomb other Dutch cities unless the
Dutch surrendered. Utrecht was to be next. (See Appendix
A, German Demand for Utrecht’s Surrender.)

Even though the Dutch had stopped the Germans in their
tracks at Rotterdam and Kornwerderzand in the North and
continued fighting in the South until May 23, they surrendered
Fortress Holland within the day. The government judged the
further destruction of Dutch cities as unthinkable and pointless
in face of overwhelming German military might. Had it known
the terrible fate that awaited the country during Nazi
occupation or had seen a chance that resisting a few days
longer would prevent a German victory in Western Europe;
they probably would have continued to fight. Enough of
Monday morning warfare

Like America’s Pearl Harbor experience, the Dutch were
attacked with no prior declaration of war. (Maass pp 30-32)
To accomplish this, the Luftwaffe took great pains to fly over
Holland making it appear that they were going to conduct
their nightly operations against England. Over the middle of
the North Sea they turned around and conducted an attack
coordinated with their ground forces against Dutch military
bases.

Planes were destroyed on the ground with their motors
running. German paratroopers attacked the Dutch defenses
and, at the Ypenburg and Waalhaven Air Force Bases,
cowardly drove Dutch military prisoners before them.

Similar to their actions at the Battle of the Bulge, to be waged
four years later, the Germans posed as Dutch soldiers to
attack the Dutch directly or as Dutch police escorting “German
prisoners of war” into Dutch strongholds where the combined
force of police and prisoners attacked the defenders. Shortly
prior to the war there had been a rash of thefts of Dutch
military and police uniforms. Many reports of German dirty
tricks made the rounds. Many, as always happens, turned out
to be just rumors.

Experiencing Terror

Of all the stratagems the Germans used during their attack
on Holland, the bombing of Rotterdam, while negotiations
were still in progress, may have given them a rapid and cheap
victory over a small country but it rightfully also assured them
of a place in the ranks of infamy and everlasting shame. In
his life story grandfather Hekking describes the bombing as
follows:

“Rotterdam burned for more than four weeks. The destruction
was unbelievable. Many people were killed. They could not
give the exact number of all the dead because many (of the
missing) had fled to other places for safety. They fled to
family members If there was no room they stayed in garages
or sheds. We lived in the Lisstraat on the second floor.

“Because of the noise of the bombers, we went down to our
neighbors. We were downstairs for about five minutes when a
bomb came down across the street and a complex of about
sixty* homes crumbled to the ground.

*Sixty is probably a typographical error. Six makes more
sense in light of my own experience in the same area.

The houses not hit were all without window panes. Most doors
were off their hinges. Our street was about 500 meters long
and there was no window pane left.

“When the bombardment was over, we fled our house into the
street. Glass laid about 50 cm high throughout. When we
came outside two of our sons, Henk and Anton, came to
check on us. We all went to Anton’s house in the
Vrijenbanschestraat. His workshop was under his house and
all the neighbors were there.

“Roel (another son)’s wife and two children were in their own
home very afraid while waiting to see what would happen.
Henk and Anton found Roel’s wife, Tini, sitting with a child at
each side, holding them tight. Little Ria (Maria) had the
measles. Henk and Anton wasted no time. They wrapped
Ria in a blanket and took them to Anton’s home. .........Roel
who had left that morning had to stand guard the night
before..........did not find his family at home when he
returned.......but he went right a way to Anton’s house.....he
found them.....laughed and cried.

“The above took place on Tuesday (May 15, 1940) in the
afternoon and they (the Dutch) raised the white flag in the
evening. A sign of surrender.

“As temporary branch president, I visited on Saturday with my
wife and the members of our branch. It was not easy because
many streets were impassable and we often had to crawl over
the heaps of rubble. But our efforts were worthwhile. We
found everybody alive. There was great joy. Some had lost
their furniture, but none were killed. We all went to our own
homes (from Anton’s home) after we had been together for
eight days. From then on difficult days lay ahead of us.
Every night at about 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., the English airplanes
came over the town to chase away German soldiers by
shooting all over the town. That lasted every night until 5:00
in the morning. All the time there was fighting in the air and
attacks from the air. You did not get much sleep and this kept
on going for at least half a year. We stayed day and night in
our clothes.”

Since we lived only a block away from Grandpa and
Grandma, our bombing experience was essentially the same.
I would like to add, however, that we expected the bombing
but had no idea what its duration and scope would be. Also
we knew somehow that negotiations about the bridge were
ongoing and thought that surely nothing would happen while
parleys were being held. When this sneak attack started, we
were completely surprised. We had only a faint idea what it
would really be like and were shocked by its brutality and
intensity. The explosions were louder than anything ever
heard before. Our Dutch double-brick-bonded house was
reeling on its foundation like a drunken sailor. The walls were
bending and listing making us fear they would collapse on us
at any time. We were located under the stairwell. It was
considered safest if no cellar or air-raid shelter was available.
Polish and Spanish experiences of German air bombardments
indicated that the stairway was most likely to be the only thing
left standing in a house after being hit.

At about the middle of the bombing, a stray German bomb
wiped out several homes about half a block away. We
became so scared and were so afraid that our house would
not make it that we went to the nearest air-raid shelter during
a lull in the bombing. This facility probably wasn’t any better,
or maybe even worse, a shelter than our home.

We never got to the shelter because the lull was short-lived.
The intensity of the bombing with the spreading of smoke and
fire reduced visibility practically to zero. We could no longer
continue our rush for the shelter. We hid in a vestibule of a
doctor’s home and office and felt a little safer. As soon as the
doctor and his family became aware of our presence, he
opened the door and pulled us inside. We felt a little safer
and they insisted that we stay with them until the bombing
was over.

When the bombing appeared to have ended, we went back to
our home sans window panes. Surprisingly, our house and
others in the neighborhood were much stronger or resilient
than we thought judging from the wild ride.

In April, 2003, we had the opportunity to visit my old home.
Everything appeared to be in good shape and appearance.
The nearby housing complex that was wiped out had been
rebuilt and was made a national monument.

Only one sister member’s house had been bombed. She had
been wounded in her arm and wrist disfiguring these
members and hampering their use. More seriously, some in
her family were killed.

The English air attacks and bombings that soon followed the
German atrocity were mainly directed at port facilities. The
Germans were planning to invade England and were using
our ports for staging and embarkation areas.

Since the British bombed only at night, their aim was not very
good and our part of town received its share of destruction.
Because of this danger, we followed my grandparents’
example by wearing our clothes day and night.

After a while my dad and I became curious and adventurous.
One night we got on the roof as soon as the attacks started
and were treated to a lot of extraordinary fireworks. We only
stayed up there until five minutes after the German air
defense artillery (FLAK) began firing. Conventional wisdom
had it that the exploded shell fragments took five minutes to
reach the ground.

We always hated having to leave so soon because the
fireworks were awesome. FLAK began firing whenever their
supporting searchlights caught an English plane in their light
beams. The Germans used beams from three to four light
beams to simultaneously shine on the aircraft. Observing this
intersection of beams and the pilot’s desperate efforts to fly
out of them was both exciting and frightening but always
spellbinding. Unfortunately we saw some of the planes getting
shot down.

Grounded flyers who survived were either captured by the
Germans or made their way to Dutch people for help. Some
would shoo them away, few would even betray them to the
Germans, but most would try to help them with food and
civilian clothes and help them get out of the country.

The Germans and their NSB henchmen were very keen on
catching these flyers. They would monitor bars and
restaurants to catch them because in those places non-
natives really stand out by the manner they eat and drink.
They also can’t avoid talking when spoken to and having to
respond. Their deficient Dutch would be immediately
detected. Also, I know of one of them being caught on a
streetcar while smoking one of his English cigarettes which
have their own distinctive smell.

My dad and I repeated our nocturnal adventures on most
nights there was “action in the air”, in spite of the danger. It
may seem strange that not only my dad and I, but also many
other Dutch people, acquired a certain nonchalance toward
the perils of war and exposed themselves more and more to
danger.

Although British air raids over Rotterdam were also severe
with much collateral damage, they were accepted and
regarded by the people as serving a good cause, the eventual
defeat of the Nazi regime.

The bombing of Rotterdam by the German enemy could only
cause hatred and pent-up feelings of revenge. As a result of
this atrocity, nine hundred persons were killed and several
thousand injured. Seventy-eight thousand were made
homeless. Four hospitals and twenty-one churches were
among the many buildings destroyed. (Maass, p 40) One of
these was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at
Sint-Jan-Straat

The Bruised, but not broken, Branch

With twenty-one churches, and many other buildings that
could have served as meeting halls, destroyed; it was very
hard to find a satisfactory meeting place for the saints living
on the north side of the Meuse river. The South side of town
was not seriously damaged during these five days. The
church recently built church there was still standing without a
scratch on it.

It was only after some time that a hall with no more than three
rooms could be found. It belonged to a patriotic association
called, “Het Vaderland Getrouw” which means true to the
fatherland. It was not adequate for the large membership of
the branch, especially when some of those who had left
Rotterdam when hostilities started, were gradually returning.

There were two other branches; one at Schiedam, the other at
Overmaas, the part of Rotterdam south of the Meuse river.
The building situations for the Overmaas and the North
branches was diametrically opposed . The North branch had
many members and the small patriotic hall to meet in. The
Overmaas branch had comparatively few members and had
the Utah-style, much larger and accommodating building.


Nineteen-hundred and forty was still a depression year in the
Netherlands with much unemployment. The German invasion
did bring about more employment opportunities. Most were
available from the Germans either in the Netherlands or
Germany. The Germans set up a labor service office which
saw to it that all were “gainfully” employed. German defense
jobs in Germany had the highest priority, work for the
occupiers in the Netherlands, the next. Those who would
volunteer for work in Germany were promised higher wages
with better benefits for them and their families who had to stay
in the Netherlands.

Many Dutch worker families felt that they had not been treated
right by Queen Wilhelmina and the Royalist party that had
been in power during the depression. The royal family had
fled to England and Canada, leaving the poor citizenry to fend
for itself. This behavior did not square with the three-century
old idea of William of Orange, the father of the country, who
had been a people-first Prince. Appendix B discusses some
of the reasons for this flight abroad.

Many people having suffered from a decade of unemployment
were willing to accept any employment, even if it were
German. Among these were members of the church. There
were even two LDS construction contractors in Utrecht who
started to work for the German military. They remained active
and faithful in the Church and did a lot of good for the
members, especially in the last, dark days of the occupation.
Nevertheless, opinions of them among the saints remained
mixed. I know of only two pro-Nazi LDS families in
Rotterdam. Both were in the Overmaas branch and had been
party members since before the War. One consisted of a
sister and her daughter. They were as harmless as doves.
The other was an inactive family whose actions could have
cost the life of the branch president and the possible loss or
destruction of the meeting house and the congregation.

In the early months of the occupation, the Dutch took the new
situation with passive and fatalistic grace. German soldiers
acted correctly in their treatment of Dutch civilians. We
laughed at their idea of being in the vanguard of a new
European cultural struggle (Kulturkampf) and their bringing us
a “New Order”. These two words were the object of many
jokes and limericks. I still remember a couplet, which does
rhyme in Dutch and not too badly in English as well:

“New Order
Empty larder,
Little fat (meaning butter and meat)
Early to bed,
Nice and warm
Air raid alarm.”

The Germans were out to conquer most of the world and
needed to clothe and feed not only their own troops but also
their allies’ armies. The first thing they did with any piece of
land that was not engaged in the production of food, was to
plant potatoes, beets, rutabagas, etc. This included the lawns
and flower beds of parks and singels. The Dutch, of course,
did not look on these strange efforts at cultural activities with
any great favor.

The end of Dutch passiveness was caused by the actions of
the NSB more than anyone else. The German victory, they
thought, amounted to their vindication and their turn to run
things. Their previous devotion to Queen and Country
vanished. They labored mightily to enforce all aspects of the
“new order”. They implemented bully-boy Nazi brown-shirt
tactics being used in Germany by creating disturbances and
riots. They searched, persecuted and reported all “violations”
to include any personal relationships or dealings between
gentiles and Jews. Popular unrest was subject to intervention
by the German military police “assisted” by these bullies
called the WA which it stands for Weer Afdeling (Defense
Section).

More stringent measures soon followed, especially for Jews.
Their bicycles would be confiscated. They could not travel
without permits. They could not enter restaurants, parks,
theaters or any other public places. Jews could not even sit
on public benches. They were dismissed from all but the
most menial of jobs. Later, these “unemployed” would be
sent to “labor” camps in the eastern part of the Netherlands
eventually winding up in the concentration camps. They also
had to register, wear a star, and obey a special curfew.

My Grandmother Cornelisse did have facial features usually
stereotyped as Jewish. At one time, she was stopped for not
wearing her “star”. It took quite a bit of red tape and running
from one Nazi office to the next for her to establish her “racial
purity”. I am glad she was able to do this because
Jewishness is determined through mothers, not fathers.
Nothing is wrong with being Jewish but the prospect of going
to a death camp to become a Holocaust victim is frightening.
These anti-Jewish actions were but a preview of the mass
deportation starting in the summer of 1942, and a portend of
what would happen to any Dutch gentile who would oppose
the regime, would not cooperate, or would simply happen to
be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is generally accepted that of the Western European nations
occupied by the Nazis, the Netherlands was treated the
worst. Hitler’s German military governor, General Christiansen
only looked into strictly military affairs. The Netherlands was
in reality ruled by Seys-Inquart and terrorized by his
henchman, the SS general Hans Albin Rauter.

Seys-Inquart was an Austrian Nazi and activist from Vienna
who had engineered Hitler’s annexation of his own country.
He walked with a limp. All of us, at times, would imitate him
by walking with one foot on the sidewalk and the other in the
gutter. After W.W.I, many an abandoned orphan from Vienna
was given food and shelter by the Dutch. The up-side-down
Nazi thinking thought that the Dutch would give him, an
Austrian, a warm welcome as well.

The Germans firmly believed in their Aryan and greater
Germanic race theories. They reasoned that the Dutch
“originated” from Germanic tribes and should want to be part
of the Reich and should accept the “Fuehrer” as their leader.

For those readers who watch the TV History Channels, you
may have seen how the Nazis established an occult, national
pseudo-religion based on “blood and race”. Bismarck is
reported to have said that the Netherlands would annex itself
(to Germany).

Also, the Nazis probably considered the Dutch polluters of
the blood, as evidenced by many Jews having indigenous
Dutch names, i.e. Visser, who was the Chief Justice of the
Supreme court. The traditional welcome the Dutch gave
those who sought religious freedom to include Sephardic and
Ashkenazi Jews must have bothered the Fuehrer greatly.

This animosity of the Nazis toward the Dutch is reminiscent of
the Moslem enmity toward the Jews. Mohammed thought of
himself as a restorer of the monotheism of Abraham. He
expected that the Jews would hail him as a prophet but they
rejected him. This kindled his anger against the Jews which
continues with Muslims even today.

Rationing

Because of the many people they had to feed and clothe and
given the cessation of overseas imports, the Nazis had to
establish a rationing system for food, alcoholic drinks, tea,
coffee, chocolate, textiles and leather. They also must have
confiscated these items at wholesale and retail levels
because they became scarce among retail consumers almost
immediately after the hostilities.

Many of these items were replaced by imitation (Ersatz)
commodities, i.e. tobacco items, tea, coffee, and chocolate.
Due to a shortage of meat, gravy makers were invented and
more oatmeal was added to the ground beef. Cigarettes and
other tobacco products were a mixture of grasses, leaves, and
some tobacco. The sole cigarette brand name was CONSI
(Cigarettes Under National Socialist Influence).

Let’s make a little detour and revisit Sister Van der Berg.
Ersatz coffee and tea were welcomed by most Dutch
members because they provided additional hot drinks
containing no caffeine. Since only ersatz (surrogaat in Dutch)
was available, this adjective was soon dropped. Imitation tea
and coffee became just “tea” and “coffee”. They were so
referred to by everyone including the LDS who felt they could
drink them. My dad had no idea that Sister Van Der Berg had
the real stuff.

Toward the end of the occupation, tulip bulbs and sugar
beets were substituted for potatoes. The beets were
shredded and boiled in water to yield simple sugar with the
pulp being dried and used to make “cakes, pies, or cookies”.
During the last Winter of the war, ice cream parlors sold a
concoction similar to “Cool Whip” but contained more air. Its
fluff filled the stomach for a while but had no nutritional value.

The worst things became food-wise, the better they became
word-of-wisdom-wise. People who were unfortunately
dependent on tea, coffee, alcohol and tobacco would take
their ration coupons for such items and trade them for bread,
meat, and other food coupons. A deal infinitely more
beneficial for, and advantageous to, the abstainers.

I can definitely say that our chances for survival were made
much better by trading coupons. Additionally, when things got
real bad, my grandmother would also at times give us some
money to buy on the Black Market.

The Consolidation

Our use of Het Vaderland Getrouw lasted a year, if that long.
The facility was not big enough. Also, the insufficient number
of priesthood brethren became a real problem. Some were
working in Germany, some were working out of the area, and
some had gone into hiding. The Germans’ appetite for more
laborers, whether forced or voluntary, had become so
voracious that men would go into hiding. This meant they
never left their home in which some probably had constructed
a secret hiding place. Reading, or even better, seeing the
movie, the The Diary of Anne Frank or Corrie Ten Boom’s
Hiding Place will give one a good idea of what such places
were like.

The Dutch term for these men was Onderduiker or one who
ducks or dives under. Among them were LDS brethren who
were called up for labor in Germany, who were in trouble with
the occupation authorities or who just stayed in hiding. The
Germans were known to pick men up from the streets to be
sent to Germany, to work on the Atlantic Wall or to perform
other forced labor duties. Unfortunately, these were also the
younger, able-bodied male members some of whom held the
Melchizedek priesthood.

The Overmaas and Rotterdam North Branches were
consolidated with Henry (Hendrikus) A. Hekking, called as
president. Public transportation in Rotterdam, and in the
Netherlands generally, was excellent at that time. The
Overmaas building became the branch building. It was very
close to a streetcar stop. Travel on streetcars was clean,
inexpensive and relatively quick. Naturally, one had to walk to
streetcar stops making things more difficult for the older and
infirm. However, many of them were assisted by younger
members. Some members lived in the outskirts of the city.
Public transportation to and from these areas was not
scheduled as regularly or frequently as that serving the urban
areas. There were a few North Branch members that had to
travel quite far. The previous Overmaas Branch members’
transportation needs remained the same.

One former North family from the outlying village of
Schiebroek comes to mind. Both parents, a son and about
four daughters rode their bicycles to church and back. The
parents rode a tandem, the kids rode their bicycles. They
performed this feat twice each Sunday except fast Sunday
when meetings were held en bloc. Priesthood and Sunday
school were in the morning and Sacrament meeting in the
evening.

An elderly brother also lived far away. He had diabetes and
his legs had been amputated. He rode a three-wheel bike. It
was propelled by hand-pedals with a vertical bicycle chain
driving the front wheel. The pedals also served as a steering
wheel by moving them horizontally.

One former South family also had to travel some distance.
They lived in the outlying village of Smitshoek. Their son was
one of my friends and their older daughter was a big help to
my sickly mother. Two families lived in the vicinity of Capelle,
towards the city of Gouda. One was a large family of rather
modest means. As times got worse, the less frequent their
attendance became. The other family also lived out in that
direction for a time but moved back to Rotterdam.

Generally, the people who lived in the West end of town also
had to come further because they had to travel a sort of
detour by having to go East to the bridges and then West
again to the church after they crossed the bridges. Their lot,
whether they walked or rode a bike, became easier when the
tunnel under the Meuse was completed in 1942.

Noone in our branch had a car, neither did the mission
president. The only members with motorized vehicles were
the two Utrecht contractors. Brother Riebeek, the mission’s
genealogy leader and an official with the Dutch hydrology
department drove an Opel passenger car.

The overall impact of the consolidation requiring the North
Branch to move South to Overmaas was extremely positive.
By this time both branches had already lost priesthood
brethren. The two groups’ meeting together caused and
enabled an overall increase of attendance and activity and a
greater availability of priesthood brethren.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Hitler declared
war on the United States, our family was asked to live in, and
occupy, the Overmaas building in order to forestall German
confiscation. This concern was based on the fact that the
Church was an American religion with headquarters in the
United States.

There had been confiscations in Scandinavia of LDS
churches, whether before or after our move into the building, I
do not know. Some stories about the Netherlands mission
mention that the Church was considered only a sect and could
not own property. The construction of the Overmaas
building, the manner in which it was done, the remodeling in
early 1942, and the Church’s concern about losing the
building convinces me that it was owned by the Church.

I feel that the Amsterdam, the Hague and Utrecht buildings,
as well as the Rotterdam North building were also owned by
the Church but were older, smaller and less suitable for a
family to live in and less attractive and suited for German use.
Our family consisted only of my parents and me.

To accommodate our small family required setting aside and
remodeling two classrooms to include the construction of a
chimney in one of these rooms for a stove. The new tenants
also had joint use with the branch of the large kitchen.

While this construction took place, a baptismal font was also
built. The stand was enlarged to accommodate an awesome
choir. A drive was started to replace the little parlor organ by
a much larger organ whose billows were driven by a large
electric motor downstairs. The Harmonica doors between the
chapel and cultural part of the building had to be removed
because the entire space, to include the stage, was needed to
seat everyone during meetings.

MIA flourished. Many of the activities were attractive not only
to the young but also to the older members. A that time there
was still the M-Men and Gleaner program for older, but young
at heart, members. I am not aware of any maximum age. At
any rate the older folks made great advisors and audiences.

Being only eight or nine years old I was not eligible for MIA
and, therefore, only a spectator. I became very jealous of my
teen-aged cousin, John, and his three friends. They were the
in crowd and had the chance to talk to and kid with cute
mutual aged girls. From four to five boys, about eight or nine
years old, were enrolled in our Sunday School class. There
were only two girls, my cousin, Elisabeth, and another who
was much taller than the boys. Later, in Utah, one of the boys
married the very same cousin.

The center piece of the activities, as they appeared and
appealed to me, was the theater company in which many of
the members and friends took part Everyone, who could,
attended. This could be as many as 500 persons.

Ping-pong also became a popular and exciting activity. Our
Ping-Pong playing eventually spread to other branches in the
mission. This led to tournaments among branches. Our
champion met his Waterloo in the city of Arnhem where he
was beaten by the Arnhem branch president.

Another attraction was the movies. These were furnished by
the mission MIA president. They were mostly German with no
Dutch subtitles. Sometimes I could pick out a word or two. I
watched because I enjoyed the movie or really, any movie
because kids normally did not go or were taken to movie
theaters in those days. “Frits und Franz” cartoons were also
shown. I later encountered these two ne’er-do-wells in the
U.S. newspapers as the “Katzenjammer Kids”. Katzenjammer
means hangover in German. Watching German movies was
not unlike watching and/or listening to Italian operas. One
had to use his imagination.

The other hub of branch activity was the choir. They even
sometimes traveled on Sundays to nearby branches and
performed for them. They were directed by Henny van Vliet-
Boekhout. Sister Nel Jelderda played the organ.

The choir also had some very nice outings and picnics in
parks and lakes around Rotterdam and even further away.
They had a excellent repertory and traveled around the
mission. Their singing on the trains and streetcars were good
missionary experiences. They were so good that people
would seriously take notice of them.

Because of the high level of individual and collective activity of
the members, non-members first from part-member families,
then friends and even walk-ins came and inquired about
participating in Church activities. Many people eventually
joined the Church that way.

The branch president and his family living in the building
helped. Only a few people had a telephone. Everybody
would not hesitate to call on someone unexpectedly. The
branch president would be right there to talk with them.

Most of the choir members emigrated to Utah after the war.
They and others from different Dutch branches formed
another choir under Sister Boekhout. I am not sure of who
were the organ and piano players. They performed regularly
during General Conference time when the Dutch held special
conferences, also on some Fourth of July or Memorial Days,
and Dutch reunions at either the Lagoon amusement park or
Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.

This choir became so well known that it often sang in many of
the Salt Lake City wards’ sacrament meetings providing a
complete program with “Dutch” Hoggan as narrator. They
even performed on Saturdays as the “Dutch Radio Choir”. I
believe, a Dutchman named van Wyngaarden, who also had
his own Dutch music radio program, had something to do
with this.

Close Encounters with the Enemy

My dad first ran afoul of the Nazis when he and another
member, Cor Rossaert, were on their way home from choir
practice. They became the victims of two agent-
provocateurs while riding the streetcar. Two fellow
passengers were sitting next to each other, well within the
earshot of Cor and my dad. One of them complained in a
loud voice about the Germans, the other defended them.

The argument became very ugly and the one criticizing the
Germans wanted Cor and my dad to side with him which they
wisely did not do. This continued for a while. After some
time after several stops, two men got on. They were
obviously Nazi agents. The pro-Nazi approached them and
told him of the argument. They went to the two Mormons to
confirm the argument and the other man’s anti-Nazi leanings.

Cor and my dad would not do this, not wanting to see a
patriot get arrested. The pro-Nazi man kept on and on
threatening to have them arrested if they did not confirm his
story. The two kept refusing.

Finally the so-called anti-Nazi said,
“I know full well that I spoke out against the Germans and I
am certain that the two could not have helped but hear me. I
also swear that what I said is what the pro-Nazi has told you.”

My father, recognizing the trap, answered and said,

“Enough, I know a set-up when I see one.”

The man, clearly a NSB in mufti, replied,

“I will have you taken to jail for slander against National
Socialism.”

The two Mormons were arrested and taken to jail by the two
agents who had boarded the streetcar. They arrived and
were booked around 11:00 p.m. Shortly after the midnight
shift change, they were released through the back door by a
patriotic policemen whose last words were,

“Don’t worry about anything, the book has been fixed. So
that we could enter that two men, who had not yet been
booked, escaped during the midnight shift change.”

The streetcars no longer ran that late and I am sure the two
would not have taken one anyway. My dad arrived home
after 2:00 am that night. For, at least a month, he and Cor
took a different, more indirect streetcar route instead.

A couple of weeks after the incident and near the railroad
marshaling yards. He and Cor found themselves in the
middle of a British air raid that nearly killed them.

Our branch was also attended by at least two LDS German
servicemen. One was in the Kriegsmarine (their navy) the
other, in the Army. Both appeared to be good members and
were invited to speak during Sacrament Meeting. The navy
man turned out to be very politically oriented by harping on
the evils of ungodly Russian Soviet Communism.

The other, an Army soldier named Schaupel from far away
Graz, Austria, gave a more charitable and gospel oriented
talk. I believe that Brother Schaupel is that person described
in Building Zion in Europe as the person who came back to
Graz after the war and got the church going there. He was a
wonderful man, especially when every once in a while he
would give us a can of conserved meat. Canned in the
Netherlands, of course

As a token of our love and friendship towards German
members, we would sing a hymn from the Dutch hymnal
whose melody was the same as the German national anthem
and our current Hymn # 46, “Glorious Things of Thee are
Spoken”. After the war we would sing the hymns known in
English as, “Our God we raise to Thee” and sung to the
same tune as, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” for Americans, and
“God Save the King” for the English.

The events right after the War, when the Dutch saints had
planted and raised potatoes for themselves, is ample
evidence that their love for their fellow German saint was for
real. When the potatoes were ready for harvest, the Church
requested they send a part of them to Germany for the saints,
and as the law required, for other Germans as well. They
gladly did this and continued for several years. After the first
year, they even sent herring to a starving Germany.

One Sunday morning a son of an inactive and NSB family
wearing his Hitler Youth uniform and regalia to include the
infamous dagger or long knife wanted to enter the chapel to
give his grandfather, a very faithful man, a message from the
boys parents. Remember Very few people, including the
branch president, had telephones. The older Aaronic
priesthood teacher and usher refused him entrance while
armed with a weapon. He refused to check it in the Branch
President’s office safe before entering the chapel. Even
German servicemen checked their weapons.

The boy returned home without having been permitted to
enter the chapel and see his grandfather to the chagrin of his
mother who reported the branch president to the Gestapo.
President Hekking was interrogated rather roughly by them
the first time and was told he would be called in again after
they had interviewed the plaintiff and others again. This
interview, and the one to follow, was about what the president
was alleged to have said to the boy.

The interrogations were conducted in half German and half
Dutch. The captive remembered each challenge of him by
the interrogators was, “Haben Sie das nicht gesagt”? (Didn’t
you say that?), repeated many times.

At the third grilling, the interrogation was conducted by
another person of higher rank and more sophistication who
acted less severe and asked more questions about how our
church meetings were conducted.

Among the questions asked was what was normally
preached on Sundays, undoubtedly to determine whether
sermons were against the Germans. The answer was that
LDS did not have regularly paid preachers and that members
of the congregation gave talks in accordance with the
scriptures.

The German asked for the names of the people who had
spoken during the last several months. He was furnished
the names of those that were readily remembered.

President Hekking also told the interrogator that German
military men had spoken at meetings as well. The man
almost fell out of his chair as his eyes piled out of their
sockets. He was asked whether he wanted their names as
well. He answered,

“Yes, and also what they talked about.”

The German took the information and said,

“You may leave now. I will summon you again later”.

Upon receipt of the next summons the branch president
reported to the same man and was told by the German,

“Thank you for your cooperation , sir. You may go now.”

Unfortunately, this was not the branch president’s last dealing
with the Germans. The centuries-old idea of sanctuary for
those in churches was not observed by the Nazis. The
Germans, whenever they were looking for able-bodied men
to work in Germany or on their local defensive positions,
would not only search homes but also churches to include
parsonages. Over time, Germany’s attitude had become
increasingly pro-Aryan pagan and anti-Christian with the
attitude of the Dutch clergy becoming increasingly anti-Nazi
with many joining the Resistance.

When the first search of our home occurred, my
grandmother who was visiting us had the presence of mind
for my dad to sit in a chair in the bedroom and drape the
bedding over him. The Germans did not catch this.

Germans were also deadly afraid of communicable diseases,
such as diphtheria, scarlet fever and measles. At one time
and for about six months I contracted all three. Our
physician’s note telling the Germans of this made them rush
to the nearest exit.

We had an even greater scare, even fearing bodily harm, one
stormy night. At about 9:00 pm, my mother’s nephew, Rinus,
knocked on the door requesting to be admitted and hid from
the Germans. Because we were living in the meeting house,
my dad consented to letting him stay the night only. It was
curfew already and anyone found outside could be shot. He
would be passed off to underground friends the next day.

Within fifteen minutes, we heard an extremely loud noise and
the breaking of glass. The wind began to blow through the
building. Its gusts would move two saloon type doors
seperating the foyer from the hallway. The doors were
mounted on hinges with springs. We feared the Nazis had
followed my cousin and broken in through a window. The
doors would suddenly swing a couple of inches making it look
like someone was testing them and planning to rush through
them guns a blazing. Then, they would swing back a little.
We finally figured out that a window had been broken letting
the wind gust through the building and move the doors back
and forth. We went to bed but did not sleep well that night.

The chapel windows were rather large. They were installed
and hung much like a pick-up truck’s tail gate. The custodian
had cleaned them, inside and out, by removing the
restraining straps which limited the windows to be left open
only part-way. Their complete removal permitted the windows
being lowered all the way permitting the resting of a window
on a chair to clean the exterior glass. The custodian had
apparently forgotten to reinstall the restraining strap leaving
the window fastened only by a spring latch which had not
been completely engaged. The strong wind had caused the
window to crash, make a terrific noise, and break the glass.

Later on my dad had become very skinny and did not look
strong or healthy. He was suffering from a vitamin deficiency
that kept his hand, which he had cut while chopping wood,
from healing. He had also dyed his hair gray in order to
appear too old for the Germans to bother with; however, he
wound up in the grasp of the Nazis one more time.

Maass (pp200-201) writes that on November 10, 1944, the
unsuspecting population of Rotterdam was awakened by
German sound trucks repeating the command: “All men
between seventeen and forty years of age are to assemble
immediately in front of their houses. All other persons have
to stay within.“

I well remember this day of terror which in a sense was as
terrifying as the bombing of May 1940. My dad, who was
thirty-eight and did not want any unfortunate consequences
for the branch and the Church, did as ordered.

The Germans had re-instituted the ancient German law of
“Sippenhaft”, which provided for the arrest, or worse, of one’s
next-of-kin. Those who did not do as ordered would be killed
immediately, their family taken captive and their homes
destroyed. The men ensnared in our South side of the city
were taken away in the holds of river barges.

My uncle Roel and all others who lived on the North side
were sent marching East toward Germany. While marching
through Utrecht, he was boldly pulled out of his marching
group by a nurse in uniform. Such things if done quickly, with
intestinal fortitude, and air of authority, especially when done
in uniform, were often not challenged by Germans. My uncle
quickly disappeared into the crowd. Aunt Tini had relatives in
Utrecht and he stayed with them for a while until he deemed
it safe to return to Rotterdam.

President Hekking was not as fortunate. He and the others
were going to Amsterdam from which they would cross the to
the Zuiderzee to its Eastern shore. The barges and the men
were constantly strafed by Allied airmen who shot first and
asked no questions later. They considered all transportation
activities to be in behalf of the Nazis at that stage of the war.

On the Sunday after embarking on the barges, an inquiry
was made whether there was a minister, called “Dominee” in
Dutch, among those captured. President Hekking was
apparently known by many men of our neighborhood. They
answered that the Mormon Dominee was on board. He did
preach a sermon based o n Psalm 27:1 through 3. He was a
very good and emotional speaker. I think he tried to emulate
LeGrand Richard who was a young missionary and later
president of the Netherlands mission.

After reaching the opposite shore of the Zuiderzee, the men
were loaded into old passenger trains and sent to Germany.
While on the train and guarded by German soldiers, my dad
planned his escape. He and a seventeen year old young
man who plotted with him noticed that the sky was cloudy
and that the Germans’ visibility would be poor whenever the
moon would hide behind the clouds. When the moon hid
again, they jumped from the train and headed home. On the
way home they stopped with our friends’ friends in the city of
Zwolle. My dad obtained a new identity document from the
Underground showing him older than forty years. The young
man, who was rather small for his age, was contorted into a
baby carriage. (The European perambulators of that time
were much roomier, sheltering and covered up than US
models.) My dad, someone’s wife and the “baby” crossed the
bridge over the Yssel river under the Germans’ noses. They
arrived home after three weeks having waded through the
Zuiderzee sufficiently far away from the shore not to be seen.


His fellow captives on the boat must have appreciated his
sermon and word must have gotten to the ministers in the
area. After they heard he had returned he was invited by
them to join their ministerial association.

This turned out to be a blessing to the children of the branch
who did not live too far away because they would be given a
hot meal a day during week days at a youth club house.
However, I, and the other “ministers’ kids were not deemed
eligible because of some high-minded reasoning that I still do
not understand.

After the Normandy Invasion on D-Day, things got worse in a
big hurry. Contributing to this was the general Rail Road
strike as the Allies had requested from the Dutch railroad
workers. These workers had to go into hiding. Naturally,
they could not present themselves for receiving periodically
issued ration cards. These “illegals” and other “onderduikers”
meant one less ration for every “onderduiker” per household.

There was also an increase in lawlessness and
“onderduikers” resulting from “Mad Tuesday” on September
5, 1944. The beginning part of the movie or the book, A
Bridge too Far, written by Cornelius Ryan, presents a short
but vivid picture of this exiting, and often rowdy, event.

On that September day, rumors started that Antwerp had
fallen into Allied hands. A quickly following rumor said that
Breda had fallen. A domino effect, where each city’s rumor
was that the city South of it had fallen, resulted in a chain of
“fallen” cities from Antwerp to Amsterdam. Many Dutch Nazis
and German occupation troops took the rumors seriously
and started a rag-tag evacuation toward Germany.

Many patriotic Dutchmen with more energy than sense
harassed them. When the Nazis learned the rumors were
false they quickly returned to get even with those who were
nasty with them during their short exodus, more
“onderduikers” disappeared from public view.

Nevertheless, the people began to realize that the Nazis
were not as omnipotent as previously perceived. By this
time, much of the police force had to be replaced by Dutch
Nazi auxiliary police. Considerable Dutch attitudes drastically
changed to outright disregard for military and police authority.

This attitude brought more repression imposed by the Nazis’
vicious, cruel and dreaded “Gruene Polizei” (Green police)
aided by their NSB stooges. An “Order” Police and a
“Control” Service also monitored people going to and leaving
from the country side searching for food. They had power to
confiscate any item(s) they wished.

Anticipating attacks from within and outside, the Germans
made more and more land in North and South Holland
provinces off limits to the Dutch. This was not hard because
these entities are really a collection of small islands in a sea
of rivers and canals. To travel anywhere requiring more than
an half hour walk meant having to cross a bridge controlled
by Germans or NSB and their henchmen.

By the Fall of 1944, the Holland provinces had become a
giant concentration camp with four million prisoners. Bodies
of water were the fences; bridges, the gates. Rather ironic
considering that the great waters had always been used to
keep the enemy out.

In the February 2003 Ensign at page 68, I read the
inspirational account a Dutch LDS family who helped downed
Allied airmen. At first, I was quite taken aback by a statement
that the German occupation forces had forbidden Latter-day
Saint services in his home town of Hilversum.

The Germans allowed our branch, and as far as I know, the
other LDS branches in our part of the country, to meet
regularly. It became more and more difficult, of course, as
the general situation worsened but I know of no instances
where any Dutch LDS were simply kept from meeting solely
for the reason that the Church was American.

I am sure that the author who had lived in Hilversum did not
misstate the facts. The event he described probably
happened during the hectic, and most repressive, days after
“Mad Tuesday” as perpetrated by the German “Gruene
Polizei” aided and abetted by local NSB bully boys.
However, these actions could have happened most any time
during the occupation. Many NSB worked for municipal
governments’ vital records sections. They amassed and
furnished the Germans much information that might incite the
occupiers against Dutch individuals or groups. Much of the
property confiscated by the Germans went to these traitors of
their own countrymen.

Also, those of you who may have heard about the LDS
German teenager named Helmuth Huebner and his two LDS
friends might remember that the Nazi interrogating one of his
friends told him that Mormons were “next”.

It was well known that the Nazis were introducing anti-
Christian religion based “on soil and blood”. They considered
Jesus the illegitimate son of a Jewish woman. No wonder
that the only-known church in Europe bearing His name
would be “next”.

There was no longer any electric power, gas, coal or oil.
Some candles were available for home use and were used to
read the sacrament prayers and not for ceremonial
purposes as far as I know! This would be so foreign to
Dutch members whose roots were in Calvinism.
In spite of the shortages, some oil was available to provide a
little bit of light from a make-shift lamp made from an empty
tin can or glass jar containing the oil. A cotton thread served
as wick and was stuck through a cork which floated on top of
the oil. After the wick had been lit, one could read books,
underground pamphlets or newspapers, but only by straining
the eyes. Because of its Northerly latitude, nights in the
Netherlands are very long during Fall and Winter, starting
around 4:00 p.m. and ending around 8:30 a.m.

My dad’s Uncle Pieter, quite an inventive person, rejected the
new way of providing light. He had made a little paddlewheel
which he affixed to a bicycle dynamo, a little generator which
was driven by the friction created by the front wheel tire and a
grooved cylinder He attached his invention to the water
faucet, turned on the water, voila enough electric power to
light a couple of bicycle headlamps by which he could read
and do other things.

Dutch cooking and heating stoves were designed for coal or
gas only. Various improvisations or modifications had to be
made to enable them to burn wood for cooking and heating. A
typical Dutch home did not have central heating. To cook food
and keep warm, people burned their furniture and the wood
they could remove from their homes without them collapsing.
Old wooden sidewalks and ties of streetcar and railroad
tracks, even those of existing routes, were dug up.

Meanwhile, the Germans had taken many first responders
such as emergency policemen, ambulance drivers and fire
fighters to include engines, vehicles and equipment to
Germany. These included branch president Hekking’s first
councillor, Jan Boekhout. The second councillor, Arie
Koomans, a railroad man, was on strike and in hiding leaving
President Hekking in the same predicament as the mission
president whose councillors were again prisoners of war.
Brother Goud became the councillor to replace Brother
Boekhout. He was the one who took over leadership of the
branch until President Hekking returned from his capture and
narrow escape from the Nazis. Mild mannered Brother Goud
performed his duties in an admirable manner and provided my
dad with the support he needed at that terrible time.

Cooking utensils had also worn out. At the time these were
enameled and the baked enamel would chip when they got
older. This would eventually cause holes requiring the
purchase of a new pot or pan.

Buying new utensils was no longer possible because they just
were not being produced. War materiel had priority. The
solution was two fender washers, one on each side of a hole,
held together by a nut and bolt. It worked

The wearing out of semi-durable good was real a problem for
the church as well. Because of the increasing number of
communicants and normal breakage of glass sacrament cups
their inventory had become too low. Consequently, the water
was passed to the members until all cups had been emptied
and returned to the trays. Empties, without being washed or
rinsed, would be refilled with water from a full pitcher which
had been filled and afterwards blessed during the sacrament
prayer for the water. I did not think too much of this procedure
even if it was the only option left. My friends and I
permanently moved from our usual seats in the back to the
front row in order to get a “fresh” cup.

Distribution of material necessary to make sacrament cups
was strictly controlled. An aluminum-like metal substitute was
obtained through the black market. The cups took a long time
to arrive because of the bribery chain necessary to get
materials to manufacture and supply them.

Food shortages, poor quality and nutrition of whatever was
available, and unhygienic food preparation due to a lack of
soap, caused people’s health to become increasingly critical.
All sorts of diseases, ailments and deficiencies took hold.
Worst was Hunger Edema. It became rampant and was fatal
in most cases. People contracting it were normally already
skeleton-like and undernourished. Overnight, their emaciated
bodies would become completely swollen and covered with
sores, their eyes would almost hide in their socket and their
pupils be a blood-like red. A cure was almost impossible
because no food or medicine was available. Nevertheless, it
was also a time when the members not only expressed the
love and care to their own family but also to others including
non-members, not in just words but also in action.

Sister Breeman looked out for us. She had connections and
was able to go into a restricted area and get some potatoes
each week. On Saturday, she would come and deliver about
two pounds of them. When she arrived my dad immediately
started a fire in the stove, my mother cleaned them, into the
pot and on the stove they went. They were immediately eaten.
Very seldom would anything be left to save for later.

This sister also had two sons who sailed the North Sea to
Scandinavia. One of them was also a good piano player at
parties. I am pretty sure another son existed but can’t place
him in my mind. They visited LDS churches in Scandinavia
and were very impressed with the quality, church attendance
and adherence to the Gospel by the Norwegian and Danish
saints who were also under Nazi occupation. They told us the
true war news they had heard at sea and ports of call. The
Germans only broadcast war propaganda and kept as much
real war news from the Dutch as they could.

Another member who was very helpful was brother Temerus.
He approached my dad about planting potatoes in the little plot
of land behind the church. We would split it between his and
our family. We did so until the end of the occupation. There
was never really enough to share the meager harvest with
others; except during the last harvest of 1944. Then,
whenever a member expressed a need for food, we managed
to scrape up a little bit. One, day of course, it would be gone.
But then, we were certain, other help would appear.

Again, I call on my grandfather’s life story comments about the
Black Market and going the farms in search of food.

“During the war the price of food went sky high. During the
first two years, it was not too bad. We still could get what we
needed but supplies went down and down. Finally there was
nothing anymore. You had to go into the black market.

“Prices were enormously high. Meat was 80 guilders a pound.
Butter was 30 guilders a pound. Bread was 25 guilders a loaf.
Potatoes were 700 guilders for 100 pounds. Wheat was 1,000
to 1,400 guilders a sack.

“A friend of mine was a fish dealer and once in a while I could
buy some fish but I did not get much for 10 guilders. Cod. 25
guilders a piece...... a few smoked eels 25 guilders, etc.,
etc....but when there is nothing, you were glad to buy at those
prices.

“Many people rented a handcart and went to the farmers to
see if they could buy some food because there was nothing
left in the big cities. My son Piet rented one of these
......walked to den Helder........48 hours back and forth..... they
were very fortunate to get some potatoes, vegetables, etc.

“I myself went on such a trip with Brother L. Plaizier pushing a
handcart to the Haarlemmermeer polder. a sixteen hour walk.
We left at 6:00 am.. and came back at 10.00 p.m. We made
this trip to see if we could get some food for the members of
our branch in Haarlem and our efforts were rewarded. We
could give every member sugar beets, vegetable, carrots, etc.

“My son, Roel, his wife and children, Adri and Ria visited us in
Haarlem from Rotterdam. They did not look well. Adri had
hunger edema and sores on his legs. I told Roel we didn’t
have any food but might be able to get milk for the children.
We went to the milkman, Mr Bergkamp, who gave us some.
Roel must have been able to get some potatoes (on the way)
because he went out and got 35 pound for us.”

My grandfather described the hardest times of the occupation,
from the Summer of 1944 until the Liberation in May 1945.
This period became known as “Honger Winter”. At this time 2.5
guilders officially yielded 1 US dollar. Twenty-five guilders
would be more realistic. Before the Normandy Invasion, the
increase of scarcity had been gradual but during 1944 and
1945 things deteriorated very rapidly.

My friends and I also made trips to nearby farms. Sometimes a
farmer or two would give us an apple or an egg to take home
with us.

Around Christmas 1944, one of the LDS contractors who
collaborated with the Germans sent a truck load of potatoes to
our branch. We held a branch Christmas dinner party having
rounded up some spinach and either margarine or suet to go
with the potatoes. In addition, there was enough for families
to take about ten pounds of them home. Of all the carols we
sang at our feast, the most powerful and moving song was,
“Onward Christian Soldiers” as sung by our branch members.

In fairness, I must add that this collaborator was also rumored
to be a member of the Dutch underground, that he was
involved in some resistance raids and that the military
installations he constructed were built not to last very long
when subjected to heavy attacks.

The other collaborator-contractor brother also remained a
member in good standing and was the president of one of the
mission’s auxiliary organizations. He also helped our branch
by providing many needed helps and resources.

Things were going real badly in the Reich. Allied bombing was
taking its toll. Destruction was everywhere. The Germans
desperately needed locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars,
buses, trolleys and street cars. They took them from the Dutch
and hauled them to Germany. What they could not take
away, they destroyed.

Most of the members who lived at the North side of town were
no longer able to make it to church. One had to go on foot
because public transportation was no longer available.
Members who once had bikes had them confiscated by the
Germans. Those not confiscated had no tires. The long ride
to church on only the rims was impracticable. Tires and inner
tubes had not been available for a long time. People rode their
bike on its rims for short distances. They also had substitutes
for tires such as garden hoses and strips of wood especially
bent to provide some bounce or spring action.

President Hekking decided to hold meetings at both sides of
town, South and North. Often, without anything to eat for
lunch, he would go to the North side and conduct the
meetings at Vaderland Getrouw. The tunnel under the Meuse
was closed to all but the Germans who feared acts of
sabotage. He had to walk by way of the two bridges which
added another hour to the total time spent walking.

The members referred to him as a modern Mohammed who
went to the mountain (meaning the people) when the mountain
could not come to him. He continued to hold these meetings
until well after the official German surrender.

German behavior toward the Dutch became even more
outrageous. Frequent patrols of “Gruene Polizei” would ride
through our neighborhood and fire their guns and pistols. The
whole scene was like that of cowboys or bank robbers
shooting up a Wild West town. They also got a lot rougher in
their approach and treatment of male civilian Dutchmen. The
Dutch underground had been receiving more weapons and
ammunition from the Allies and had enjoyed quite a bit of
success. The Nazis began to see a resistance fighter in just
about any man still around.

The Germans would execute hostages whenever something
bad occured: acts of sabotage, assassinations, etc. The Nazis
held Dutch political prisoners and captured resistance men in
their custody. These prisoners had been given or were
awaiting their sentences. They were the primary source of
hostages. If they ran low on these hostages, they would raid
the streets for more men to incarcerate.

Dad’s new but forged identity card would most likely not stand
close scrutiny. He went outside only when necessary.

One day. Brother Temerus suggested that my mother and I
accompany him on a food finding trek. On our way into the
countryside, people told us of a farm in Smitshoek that had
Brussels sprouts available. When we found the farm, none
were left. People were still there, however, pulling out the
stems that were left in the soil. It was said the stems were
edible and had some nutrition. One chopped them up a bit,
boiled the