The Hunger Winter

Another re-run due very little time. This is a little more about my family history and the "Hunger Winter" in Holland (1944-45.)

The "war" in the Netherlands lasted only three days- they capitulated on 10 May 1940. They then endured five years of Nazi occupation. My father was born in 1932 in Utrecht, which is geographicaly the center of the Netherlands. He spent the war years in Bilthoven, which is about 4 miles east of Utrecht. Bilthoven is next to the airport at Soesterberg, which the Germans used as a weapon depot. Consequently, the Allies strafed the town regularly. My dad showed me the bullet wounds on the trees when we went back in 2001. He remembers that there were never any windows in his house because of the constant bombings.

My mother was born in 1936 in Den Haag (The Hague.) She spent the war years in Ede, which is east of Bilthoven. Her father, grandmother and grandfather all died in her house during the war. She remembers that a Jewish family down the street was sent off to the concentration camps, and the neighbors were asked to keep their furniture for when they came back- they never came back. The house was still there when I went back in 2001. Her mother was forced to house German POWs during the war. My mother remembers having to walk for miles to beg for food for the family.

In September 1944, there was an Allied plan to move north into Holland to end the war quickly. "Operation Marketgarden" (A Bridge Too Far) failed miserably, and so Holland had to wait for 8 more months to be liberated. During this last winter, the weather was very cold and there was no food. Over 16,000 people starved to death during this time. The Germans made a virtual wall around Northern and central Holland and no food or other humanitarian aid could enter. My father had to eat his pet crow and tulip bulbs, among other things. The house he lived in (pictured) had no windows because the Allies strafed the town almost every day. My father never knew if he would be alive for another day. Finally, when it was obvious that Germany was going to lose the war, a tentative agreement was reached that Allied planes could come and drop food over pre-determined sites to help the people.

The operation was called "Operation Chowhound" for the Americans and "Operation Manna" for the British. The planes (B-17's and Lancasters) were in instructed to fly between 300-400 feet over the drop sites. Even before the papers were signed, planes began the food drops. The Germans had anti-aircraft weapons in case the Allied were going to bomb instead of drop food. Although the food drops were maybe too late to prevent much of the starvation, they did wonders for the morale of the people. The Canadians were then able to liberate Holland on the fifth of May 1945. My mother remembers riding on the Canadian tanks when they liberated Ede. There is still avery special bond between the Dutch and their liberators. After the war, the restoration of Holland was very diffiicult. Most of the infrastructure was completely destroyed. A new government was set up (Socialist) and a new economy was established. The rebuilding was slow and hard. Much farmland had been destroyed, and housing was at a premium for many years.

Since this is a long post, I will continue the story later. Please let me know if you find this interesting!

A Long Time Ago

A Long Time Ago.... was the last time I posted in this here blog. For shame! My bad! I think I have a reason that might suffice for two of those days; the rest of the days fell into my becoming even more compulsive-obsessive.
The large into the small- I came into possession of a bunch of old family papers/documents. For a history fanatic, this was a gold-mine. Included was the service record of my great-great grandfather, dated 1876. What is wonderful is that it has a complete physical description of him, with the shape of his chin and mouth, and even the color of his eyebrows. Way cool. All of this information in beautiful calligraphy (and all in Dutch!) The most emotional were my mother's and grandparents identifications from the war. My mother had no idea that these papers even existed. Most people threw them out after the liberation. There were also food ration coupons from during the war. There were letters dated from 1902, and also during the war.
In Holland, when someone dies, the family has a death notice made. They are on cards with a gray or black border (the envelopes also has the borders.) They are sent out and delivered immediately. I think this is a wonderful thing to do; it honors the person. My grandmother had saved them all from 1905 until she died (1987.) Here are all these cards that people had held so long ago, and meant so much to them. And my grandmothere had saved them.
She had saved a ton of letters also. It amazed me that she kept in such close contact with everyone after she emmigrated. Reading the letters are somewhat of a chore, not only are they in Dutch, the handwriting! Some of it is extremely diagonal.
I am still trying to translate everything, and then I have to scan it and save it to CDs. I have entered everything that I could get so far into the family tree. Based on the information, I was able to add over 100 names to the tree, all by searching the Dutch databases.
I can't figure out how my grandmother was able to save all this stuff. Two World Wars and an emmigration. And my mother didn't even know all these papers still existed. Blows my mind.
So, I'm sorry that I haven't written anything on the blog, but I have been working!