大象传媒

It's a bit a pity that I'm not so bright a writer, but I'm still hopefull that I can tell you an interesting story about my family in the war.
Only recently I have learned a lot about an uncle's life and death during the war. It makes me feel better, because I wondered often in my younger years what had happened to him and why nobody knew.
The most interesting thing that I found out is the fact that he is said to have been caught with a false ID, but that he in fact had stolen hundreds genuine non-falsificated, at least for the SD, not recognisable at that time, ID's. More astonishing is the fact that he admitted that he had a false name on the ID.
Another thing is a note that I found that he was allowed to write to his parents after he was caught. He says in this note that he is captured and that he is going to prison, but that he feels he is safe now till the end of the war at least (and that is of course because he had been hiding for month's in a chickenshed and in the woods) ! Can you imagine ; he feels safe to be put into a SD-prison.
I can only think that he writes this to let his parents know that they don't have to worry. But when you know what had probably happened before he was caught, you'll understand that he is probably serious about this remark.
Afterwards, when he is being evacuated into Germany, he also writes a note that was found near the railway and sent to my grandparents.
Again he tells his family not to worry. . When you read it, you are glad not to have had an experience like this, when you write it you feel glad that it wasn't you they where waiting for!

I found a picture of the room that I was in many years ago in Tilburg ! There are a few of them. At the back is written with a pencil :'Febr. 1949'. On one of the pictures you can see the shade of the bold head and big nose in profile of a man. I think that it is my dad taking pictures ! I called him 'whopee'when I was a little boy. When I read these books about the war of people who had been in it and who had responsible jobs like major Herman Giskes, head of the ABWEHR III F or Sir Neville Henderson, a British diplomate in Berlin 1937-1939, sometimes the author says that in a mayor event suddenly this fiancee or mother showed up at the right place at the right time (or the opposite) that settled things in a way that completely turned the event that was about to happen.
In his book Sir Henderson tells the story of Fieldmarchal Blomberg and his bride Fraulein Eva Gruhn. They married on 11th of January 1938. Adolf Hitler and Goering were best man (or the only witnesses?) at the wedding.
It turns out to be the first moral blow in the battle and defeat of the professional and solid German High Command.
Sir Henderson wrote his book after the war and when I visited the last surviving resistance-member of my uncle's party the man told me that he regularly thought that he still could very well remember what had happened during the war but that, when he took his diary's and read again what he wrote on the very day that the 'thing' happened, he could often catch himself in being mistaken !
What I mean is that I don't agree to quickly on the easy conclusions that were drawn by Sir Henderson after the war about the Blomberg-drama. It is probably not the 'whole story' to accuse Reinhard Heydrich being the genious behind all this. Nor an 'International Jewish conspiracy'.
In our country we have a National War Archieve.There are a lot of books, collected by mister Lou de Jong. A very famous war-historian. He died last year and maybe he was 93years old ! You can find the archive in the nice environment of the canals of Amsterdam. The first time that I was in Amsterdam looking for information about my uncle, I noticed something peculiar.
In the archieve you can find portfolio's with copies of the original documents, original documents, and books and manuscripts. I found this copy of the document. The publication in the 'Dutch General Police-magazine ', 24 January 1944 about the robbery that my uncle is said to have been involved in.
At the end of the page a discription is given of the signalement of 'the three masked man' that had threatened the members of the Air-Security-Guard on duty at the municipal hall during the robbery.
The first one : about 30 years of age, wearing black leather boots. The second one: about 40 years of age , wearing working shoes with strengthened soles and the third one: about 20-25 years old (my uncle!)..greyish overcoat, greyish hat..shoes? No shoes mentioned.
In the manuscript that I specially was looking for, titled 'The narrow road '(Geldrop 1980) by the commander of the resistance-group in Haaren. Mr.Bim van der Klei, the commander, wrote :
"A little while later Bart was also caught As far as we could trace he had been caught during an ID-check in the train while he was doing his job as a courier on the suspect of having a false ID. He went like the others (who had been caught like him) into the private world of the barracks of a camp, heading for a hard end. Later in my life I have often thought of him again, this tall somewhat private boy with his keepers-collar and his mountainshoes. He who had something sorrowful and some air of uncertainty about him. Why, I don't know."

the snowman
Message 5

Summer last year my mother died and when we cleaned the house there where still a few boxes containing the belongings of my grandparents. One of the boxes contained about a hundred letters and documents concerning the search of my grandfather after the whereabouts of his younger son, summer 1945/1946.
The letters were the answering letters of repatriates to inform my grandpa that they knew nothing about his son but that they knew another person who probably might have some information.
Finally I read two letters containing more information about my uncle's stay in the prison-camps in '44-'45.
This year I visited the war-documentary institute in Amsterdam and I studied on the documents concerning the resistance groups that my uncle participated in. It is very difficult to understand what has been going on in those days. Individuals have sometimes a few different identites and sometimes, like my uncle persons share identities (Grote Bart, Bart, Bartje[this is my uncle])This is the secret front ! It looks like a big hunting-game with more than two parties in it participating. It even look likes sometimes the parties are united in one person! Finally one morning, my uncle's destiny , like a chain of fate, finds him when the lager盲lteste and the camp-doctor send him back to the main-camp Orani毛nburg, fortunately with two other Dutch youngmen. I sometimes have a feeling that this main-camp is a kind of nerve-centre in this whole secret business. I understand that there have been 'double' and even triple-spies during the war. That is someone who is ordered to betray his comrades because of a higher goal. Creeps. When this happened my uncle was allowed or smuggled a note for his parents that he felt 'safe' untill the end of the war, now that he had been captured by the Germans. Oh boy . Maybe we should keep in mind the words of Mrs.F.D.(Eleanor) Roosevelt ; "Sacrifices are not so important as the reason for which you sacrifice and no sacrifice is any good which remains ever present as such." (May 13 1937) Next time I'll explain about the snowman !

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