Turmoil in Twente: A Tale of War

By Bernhard A Kats

This book should be read not for its literary value, but as the subtitle indicates, as a tale. The author returns to the days of WWII when, at age ten, he had to run for his life. Although it all happened during the German occupation of his native Holland, it is not really about the Holocaust, but rather about him and the people around him. The son of a Jewish physician is suddenly exposed to a totally different environment. He is sheltered by a Dutch-Reformed family and grows up on the farm.
Today he is a husband, father and grandfather. He takes his oldest son on this trip over memory lane and talks with him about experiences he never revealed before. One marvels about details that the author remembers. The chapters on the war in the air and on the V1 and V2 rockets are fascinating. A curious new fact mentioned in this book is the preparation, in 1938, for the flight of the Royal Family to Great Britain. How did they know what nobody else knew, that war would break out in 1940 and that Holland would be invaded. After all, Holland had been neutral during WWI. We may never know the answer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496982391

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© 2014 Bernhard A Kats. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 07/22/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8238-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8237-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8239-1 (e)

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Formerly The Pilgrimage, May 2009 and May 2012

CONTENTS

Prologue

1. Twente

2. Introduction

3. The Decision

4. Daniel

5. The Departure

6. The Netherlands

7. Amsterdam

8. Anne Frank

9. The Mosler Family

10. The Ilse Saga

11. Delft

12. Rotterdam

13. Father

14. The Sea Mine

15. Zwolle

16. The Kats Family

17. Hans B

18. Menaldum

19. Friesland

20. Aunt Jetske

21. Zweelo

22. Mother

23. Hardie

24. Riekje

25. Disaster Looms

26. The War

27. The Occupation

28. The Flight

29. The Hiding Place

30. Oom Hylke

31. Tante Greet

32. Hulzen

33. School With The Bible

34. War In The Skies

35. The Hiding Place

36. The Secret Weapon

37. Nijverdal

38. Egede

39. The Resistance

40. Almelo

41. The Liberation

42. Conclusion

Dedicated to my parents and my foster parents.

PROLOGUE

The main character of this book is Hardy, nickname for Bernhard, a Jewish boy, born and raised in Almelo, an industrial town in the center of the region Twente. When he turned seven German troops invaded his country. At age nine he had to run for his life and go into hiding. Three years later Canadian troops liberated Twente, and he was reunited wit his family. Life returned to normal, kind of. His family was one of the very few Almelo Jews, who survived the war.

Among the worst consequence of the measures the Nazis took against the Jews, was the disintegration of the family, especially the separation of children from their parents. When the deportations of the Dutch Jews began in July 1942, most people went, trusting that they could survive. Butthe German methods became more and more brutal, and it became obvious that something terrible was going on. Starting in the autumn of 1942, more and more Jews sought to hide. Because an entire family could seldom find a hiding place, parents were confronted with the necessity of giving away their children to complete strangers. They did so while facing a dismal future, uncertain if they would ever see their children again. They could only hope that their children would find a friendly home, a place where they would be given care and love. Only a small percentage of parents were reunited with their children after 1945. The first hiding address was often the first of many hiding places. After the war some parents had to prove that the child was theirs. Sometimes, the parents themselves had doubts. How could they recognize a baby after two or three years? Several foster parents were reluctant to return their now beloved child. A fairytale would end with …and they lived happily ever after, but in real life it seldom turned out that way. Young children did not know that their foster parents were not their reaL parents. They were not interested in those strangers who told them that they were their true mother and father. When taken to their parental home, they would yearn for their foster parents for years. Researchers have found that a separation of a few years without contact brings about an irreversible estrangement, not just with hidden children, but with all children. In the case of hidden children, there is an additional factor. Even very young children seemed to sense that their lives were at stake when they went into hiding. They adapted very quickly to the new surroundings, hardly crying for their parents — an important survival tactic. The reasoning seemed to be, I must surely have been a bad child that my parents gave me away; I must be a very good child now lest these people give me away. Their grief over losing their parents and their anger about being given away stayed mostly hidden. But after the war — past the danger — their fury emerged, and often it was aimed at their parents. Sometimes, the anger came out in psychosomatic complaints, sometimes in impossible behavior. Another frequent consequence of the separation of the family was the child’s inability in later life to form effective bonds — to sustain lasting relationships. As for the parents, without a roof over their heads, without money, and without income, they had survived the war but they now needed to survive the peace. The behavior of the former hidden children was an additional trauma for them. Also, for the most part, they were not the ideal figures to restore either their children’s lives or their own. For many, the happy life at the end of the nightmare did not come to pass.

(Geschonden bestaan: Gesprekken met vervolgde Joden die hun kinderen moesten ‘wegdoen’ (Dutch Edition) Bloeme Evers-Emden)

In 1951 Hardy recited the monologue of Faust in German in the annual high school theater performance. Next on the program was the trilogy of Peer Gynt. The main actress however was so nervous that she could not speak a word. The whole evening threatened to fall in the water. Suddenly his classmate Didi got up, sat down at the piano and entertained the audience for a full hour. When he sang a love song in a broken dialect to a Romanian girl, who had fled for him in a tree, everyone was rolling on the floor laughing. His career as the most famous of all Dutch entertainers, Ramses Shaffi, began right then and there. One of his most popular songs was about Sammy. Don’t bent down your head Sammy, look up at the sky Sammy. When he spoke with him one day, Didi said: That was you Hardy, you inspired me to write that song. On the way to school you always walked with your head down, as if you were carrying a heavy burden.

1. TWENTE

Twente is a region in the far corner of the Dutch province of Overijsel, between the River Regge in the west and the River Dinkel in the east. Its name is kind of unusual. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote about a tribe the Tvihanti, who served in a Roman cavalry unit. And the local word for a two-year-old horse is Twenter. So take your pick. Twente is part of the Achterhoek or Hinterland of Holland. Most of the people live in three large cities, Almelo, Hengelo and Enschede, and in fourteen municipalities. The story of this book takes place in two of them, Almelo and Hellendoorn.

The flag of Twente is bright red with a white rampant horse, the Saxon Steed. The countryside is scenic with woodlands, pasture and hills. In its center is a range of hills, named the Holten, Nijverdal and Hellendoorn Mountains. In Holland anything more than two hundred feet above the ground is called a mountain. Kids play there, search for edible mushrooms in the undergrowth of the forest, and chase rabbits in the thicket of small trees. In the wetlands, marshes and peat bogs, turf bars are dug to fire the stove. These fens make the region inaccessible and form a kind of natural defense. When In 1887 a Baron drilled some wells on his property, salt instead of sweet water came bubbling up. Today these are the famous salt mines of Boekelo, where you can buy a pack of table salt for 25 cent. The people speak their own Saxon dialect. Like anywhere else in the world, Twente has its own traditions. Noaberskop means that neighbors look after each other, collect mail, water plants and look after pets, when needed. They help each other prepare for a wedding or a funeral. The mid-winter horn is blown at Christmas, big fires are lit at Easter. Klootsketers, or bowling is a traditional sport. In one small town they do vlöggeln. On Easter morning eight Poaskearls, or bachelors, form a chain by joining hands, enter local homes and sing psalms, while others join them. The chain halts in the town center and fathers lift up their young children three times and shout hallelujah. Then they continue towards the fields, where a story high Easter fire has been lit, and they sing again psalms. The west of Twente is Protestant. One farmer was Catholic. He had seventeen children, who all had straw blond hair. Therefor the locals thought that all Catholics were straw blond. The people of Twente like to eat. Kreantewegge, or currant bread, is baked to celebrate the birth of a child. It is up to three feet long, and is cut in thick slices. Bakleaverworst, or bakworst, is like haggis in Scotland, a big spicy pork sausage, which is eaten during the winter. Other dishes are Stip in de pan, rye bread dipped in bacon grease, and balkenbriej, waste of the pig, including head, ribs, bacon and liver mixed with buckwheat flour and spices, The world-known Grolsch lager is brewed in Groenlo. The town also has a distillery of bitters. Orange bitter is the most popular, but there are many other ones, not for sale outside the home village. Several town names end in lo, like Almelo, Hengelo, Boekelo, Borculo, Markelo, Bentelo and Groenlo. Lo means a creek or small river. Saxon heritage is seen in the design of its farms. The Lös Hoes is a home where both humans and livestock live together. The roofs are thatched, and supported by a frame of thick beams. The gables are decorated with "gewelteekns", or symbols such as a life tree, cross, anchor and heart, a sun wheel, or two rampant horses. They are mounted onto the ridge of the home’s front and back gable, and are believed to bring either prosperity or ward off misfortune. This may give some insight into Twente and its people but it does not explain, why so many Jewish children were saved there, more than in any other part of Holland. Or why for that matter many of the Boers of South Africa originally came from Twente. The following tale may explain that.

2. INTRODUCTION

When the Dutch talk about the war they mean the Second World War. In the First World War the Netherlands remained neutral, and therefor was spared the fate and destruction of the other European countries. Not this time though, when on May 10, 1940 German troops invaded the country. Four days the Dutch army held its ground, but it was no match for the Wehrmacht and SS troops. It was a lost cause from the start. The bombing of Rotterdam ended the resistance. On May 15 the surrender was signed and Queen Wilhelmina with her government fled to England, leaving the country behind like a motherless child. Holland became part of the Third Reich.

Hardy was born and raised in Almelo. His father was a general practitioner, one of twelve. Doctor Jan van der Tooren, whose niece Stientje was one of his two closest girlfriends. Doctor Anton Westenberg, who visited his patients in a horse and buggy and wore white gloves. Doctor Charles Volmer, whose son little Charles was born on the same day as him, only two hours later. Doctor Jan Sillevis, the only surgeon in town, who removed Hardy’s tonsils when he was five. Doctor Jan Pannekoek, internist, born in Batavia, who helped them escape from the Nazis. His youngest daughter Anneke was one of his girlfriends. They skated in the winter on the pond of a park near his house. Doctor Binkhorst was the ophthalmologist, and Doctor Nienhuis the dentist.

After his father had decided to open his practice in Almelo, he borrowed money from a wealthy Jew there and built a house on a prominent avenue. The mayor and the chief of police lived there too. He also bought a black T-Ford. Few had one in those days.

Father came from a traditional Jewish family, who had lived for six generations in the neighboring Province of Drente. Almelo had a Jewish community of four hundred, big enough for a synagogue and a cemetery. Every Friday night mother lit a candle to welcome the Shabbat and father recited prayers for the wine and the bread. In the early morning of Shabbat and of the High Holidays he walked with father to the synagogue. After the service they visited one of father’s patients, and he drank a glass of raisin wine with real raisins. In the afternoon they visited uncle Herman and aunt Jet, one of father ‘s three sisters. He was a stocky man with a golden watch that hung on a chain from his vest pocket. He was an executive of the textile factory in Nijverdal. Aunt Jet always smiled and she spoiled them with home baked cookies. He played with his two nephews in the backyard. Sallie had big ears and little Bernard squinted and wore glasses. There were three Bernard’s in the family, all named after grandfather. On the evening of Pesach mother served the Seder meal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, to remember the slavery and exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Family, friends, and according to tradition, a stranger, sat around the table, reading the story together out loud. On Simchat Torah a prayer roll was carried around in the synagogue and sweets were thrown to the children.

Mother arrived from Germany during the turbulent years after World War One. She worked in a large Jewish hospital in Amsterdam and met his father, who interned there. After his graduation from medical school and completion of her training for registered nurse, they got married and moved to Almelo. Hardy was born there in the night of April 29, 1933. Between the screams of his mother in labor and his first cries you could hear the thunder of collapsing clouds split apart by lightning. He had light brown hair, green eyes and a straight nose. You would never guess that he was a Jewish boy, at least not according to the stereotypes of the Nazi propaganda. In 1935 he visited with his parents Berlin. At the Brandenburg Gate stood a guard who stroke his hair and marveled, what a golden Hitler boy! In 1939 he went from kindergarten to the elementary school. That was the peaceful environment he grew up in.

It ended abruptly after the Germans occupation. First he was not allowed to swim in the municipal pool any more. His father had taken him there every morning on his bike, three miles out of town. It was the end of May and the water was still cold, but he did not care because he loved to swim. He did not understand why he could not swim any more, and he cried for a week. His parents did not tell him that they were not allowed in shops and restaurants either. But mother could not hold back her tears when she sowed a yellow Star of David with the Dutch name Jood in the center on his jacket. He was a marked Jew now. In 1941 he was banned from school. The Jewish community opened in a hurry a school for their children, quite a distance away from his home. When he walked there past his old school some former classmates scolded him. From the daily conversations of his parents he could feel how anxious and worried mother was. Father tried in vain to reassure her. Then suddenly one day they left their beautiful home and left everything behind. They had to run for their lives, but he was too young to understand, why they were expelled like outcasts from the community.

In his book The War that Hitler won, Herzstein writes that the Dutch Jews had been eradicated successfully.