大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War web site by Pauline Day on behalf of Elisabeth van Alkemade and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Picture little miss five standing at the window gazing down into the street, wearing an orange bow in her hair and a festive-looking white, hand knitted cotton top with orange pompoms at the neck and sleeves. What she saw was a procession of tanks with flags, occupied by cheerily waving foreign soldiers, rolling by her window and people in the street waving, a still somewhat hesitant, welcome.

These were the Canadian tanks displaying the Maple Leaf entering Amsterdam on Liberation Day, 5 May 1945 signalling the much hoped for and long awaited end of the 5 year German occupation of Amsterdam (the capital) and the entire country. It was clear that something very special was expected to happen that day as my mother told me to go and watch at the window in my orange finery. I remember us attending the first public film screening after Liberation Day, which was 鈥淧ride and Prejudice鈥�, in black and white of course. I thought I saw St. Nicholas in the film (a bishop in a mitre) and shouted: 鈥淟ook, Dad, St. Nicholas!鈥�, which caused considerable mirth.

Liberation had been slow coming but was eagerly awaited after the D-Day landing of the Allies in Normandy in June 1944.It took until May 1945, almost a year after the landing before the liberating forces reached Amsterdam.

That year was the worst of the entire war for the people of Amsterdam as it included the winter of starvation during which, much of the food was confiscated by the occupying forces and only the barest minimum was made available by the so-called Central Kitchens, which often required hours of queuing for bread, soup and sometimes mashed potatoes with some vegetables. Because of the scarcity of food, my brother and I( we were then 6 and 4 years old) were evacuated by bicycle by my father, who took two of us, in the snow, with me on the carrier and my brother on a sled behind the bicycle to the province of North Holland to stay in a farming area where my brother stayed with the grocer鈥檚 family and I stayed with a distant relative. This lasted for several months.

While staying in the countryside, I learnt for the very first time that beans grow from seed, which sprouts underground and becomes a plant. I did not believe this when I was told until the proof was visible above ground. Even then I had a mind of my own.

During this time and much earlier during the war, the 大象传媒 broadcasts (especially Churchill鈥檚 voice), which my father received on an old radio in the basement, were the only signs of hope for the future and carried the message that the free world still existed in England, which had already defeated the Germans in the Battle of Britain and subsequently, with the Allies, (as I learnt much later) was preparing over a couple of years for the landing in Normandy.

Although I was born in Holland, from age 17 I have lived in English-speaking countries almost all the time. Starting as an au pair in Blewbury in Berkshire, I returned to Holland in 1959 and worked for the New Zealand Government in The Hague at the New Zealand Consulate/Migration Office prior to emigrating to New Zealand myself in 1960. I am now on an extended stay in England so I am closer to my mother (93) and family, who are still in Holland.

During the last few years in England, I have listened to and asked questions of people who are senior to me, who have had adult experience of WW2. I have also lived and travelled extensively in Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire and am now in the Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire area. On my travels I have taken note of the presence of several D-Day airfields e.g. Coolham, (The Memorial there carries the names of several New Zealanders who were in the RAF.) Pershore, Long Marston and Moreton-in-Marsh and of various military/airforce and defence establishments around the country. To conclude this story, I want to say that I am absolutely 100% impressed with the huge contribution the British people, with their resolve, made to bring about Peace in Europe in 1945.

I have read some more about the early history of the war and am aware of the huge number of casualties. Many of these casualties were on Merchant Navy ships in the Atlantic Ocean late in 1940. There was also the bombing of several major cities. Then there was the huge effort of all those who were involved in the massive D-Day landing in Normandy and the planning for this over a long period of time. It was an incredible feat to bring this about together with the Americans. From my observations and participation in the extensive recent 60 year anniversary celebrations of the ending of World War 2, I am absolutely convinced that the British gave Europe hope and made peace in Europe possible. The huge number of soldiers and civilians who risked or sacrificed their lives for our freedom deserve to be remembered and honoured by all of us.

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