大象传媒

Quietly we followed one another into Opa鈥檚 garden. It was early morning and still dark. The ground was covered in snow, which crunched under foot. Our breath was visible in the moonlight, while the shadows moved forward in a single file. Aunt Elisabeth turned around and put her finger on her lips to indicate that the girls should not spoil the surprise with their giggles.

The surprise was for Opa. All his children and grandchildren had come together to celebrate Christmas in Bergen, a little village north of Amsterdam. We stopped under his bedroom. My father stooped to dig for a stone and threw it against the window. We held our breath鈥 light switched on鈥�.All was going according to plan.

We sang Silent Night, a beautiful arrangement for four voices, which sounded as pure as the clear frosty night. We were a musical family, singing and playing instruments were part of our upbringing.
And there stood Opa looking down, the window wide open. He was surprised and moved. I noticed that he wiped his eyes with his handkerchief.

Opa fascinated me. He was awesome, with silver- grey hair. His bright blue eyes penetrated your soul. Though he had been a very strict father to his eight children, to his grandchildren he was definitely a lot milder. He kept us spellbound for hours with his stories. We were always delighted when we went to visit him.

This Christmas morning, after breakfast, we all went to church. Very upright,with his silver-knobbed walkingstick Opa led his family to his pew at the front. The church was in candle light and the aroma of the pine branches hanging all around was gorgeous. The minister talked about the dark days to come. I found that strange, because the days should be getting longer!
The singing sounded better and louder than ever before!

I remember the evening very well, twenty of us around the table was quite an occasion! Our eyes wandered towards the Christmas tree. It was fixed in a musical box, turning around playing carols. Underneath the tree we noticed a few parcels, wrapped in red paper, which was unusual. Normally presents were not given at Christmas. They were books for the children. The adults were talking very seriously. Now and then we heard the words, Austria, Poland and Hitler.

We were soon to know what it was all about.

It turned out to be the last Christmas together.

It had not been an easy life for my parents as they, like everybody else, were slowly building up their future again after the Depression.

Ten years after my brother Wim and my sister Willy, I was a planned baby and at my birth in 1933 I was given the name Theodora, Gift of God, which says enough.
The greatest step forward, however, was to move to a new house in this recently developed area of The Hague, the Zuiderpark. The outside stone stairwell led to the frontdoor of our two-storeyed home. From the balcony at the front we overlooked a magnificent park as far as the eye could see.

I loved it all. We now had our own bedrooms, which pleased Wim and Willy. Soon they had to sit their finals for school and they needed peace for studying. They were allowed to put a lock on their door to keep me out. Rightly so, because their marbles and rollerskates were not safe!

With Wim and Willy, and my parents, it was as if I had two fathers and two mothers. I was delighted when in 1939 my younger brother Hans arrived, together with a washing machine. Both were equally admired and intensely enjoyed. I had now a living doll to play with and he was mine.

My father was strict, too strict maybe. He believed in a spartan approach.
We had to finish our shower with the cold tap, which spoiled the bath fun.
Good for your heart, he would say.
He insisted that his children learned to swim as young as possible He was not a very strong swimmer himself, though he rescued a boy from drowning when he was in his teens. With so many ditches around where we lived now , it was essential. As soon as I started school, Wim and Willy had to take it in turns to take me to the open-air swimming pool in the park, before breakfast. I remember Erica, a fat lady with cropped ginger hair, who kindly rubbed my purple body dry after the lesson.
I made sure it did not take me long to acquire the skill of swimming!

Piano lessons were next. The teacher, Bep, did not allow you to touch the instrument until you knew all the notes on the music-sheet and the corresponding keys on the piano. Finger exercises had to be done daily too. Finally I could open the lid and play. Practice time was early in the morning. Invariably my father would get out of bed when he heard my inability to count. Every time I made a mistake he would say: 鈥滱gain, from the beginning!鈥�
It always ended in tears. My mother often felt sorry for me, but I made progress. My father would also praise me:鈥� Well done, Sunbeam!鈥� Willy had piano lessons too, but she did not like it when the time came I surpassed her. Wim played the harmonium, until my mother discovered that the tutor played Wim鈥檚 set pieces, while telling each other jokes. The lessons were stopped and Wim was quite happy with this.

I liked going to school. It was a long walk, but sometimes I could hitch a lift in the morning on the back of Wim or Willy鈥檚 bike or my father鈥檚 crossbar. We had two hours for lunch and all pupils had to go home, rain or shine. Wednesday afternoons were free, because of school on Saturday morning, which was still a normal part of the working week for everybody. I spent a lovely time with Hans, or I played outside with the numerous neighbourhood kids. We got on very well together on the whole.
On one occasion I had taken Willy鈥檚 bag of marbles and lost them all in a game.
I was very upset when they refused to return them. Fair is fair, but I was not looking forward to Willy鈥檚 anger.

The Sundays were special. Church in the morning and long walks in the afternoon, either to the park or the city. The information given by my parents encouraged our interests, even to this day.
The weekend finished on Sunday night with a serial story, told by my father.
His own made-up tale and he had the knack of stopping at the crucial point that made it hard to wait till the next episode.
The winter time was great when it started to freeze. As soon as the ice was strong enough the skates came out. Young and old were on their way. I learned behind a little chair or between adults, if they were willing to help.

On December 5th, it was the birthday of St. Nicholas. Some evenings before I had put my shoe on the hearth and sang a special Sinterklaas song up the chimney, hoping that when he rode his white horse over the roof tops, he would reward me with a sweet. Sometimes he didn鈥檛 !

One year, on the 5th, we took our places around an enormous crate in the front room. I was quite nervous, especially when the lid slowly opened and I saw Black Piet鈥檚 face appear. He is St.Nicholas鈥檚 helper. After all the poems were read and the presents received, Piet left.
I was really sorry that Wim had missed all this. I had not even recognised him as Black Piet !

The long school holidays were a problem as most people had only one week off a year. Very few ever travelled abroad. For us, there were family visits.

On rare occasions we would go by train and the destination was usually Bergen, to enjoy the woods, sand dunes and the sea.
We would stay on after my parents returned back home.

Opa and aunt Elisabeth lived about a hundred metres away from each other.
Uncle Arie was in the Merchant Navy and often away for very long periods. Their children were about the same age as us, so it was fun to spend time with them. I found aunt Elisabeth much stricter than my mother! Well, she had to be, I suppose.

There were so many exciting things to do. We particularly loved a journey with 鈥淏ello鈥�, an old steam-train. We would hang out of the window and enjoy the smell of the puffs of steamclouds drifting along, while the sharp whistle announced our arrival at the sea-side.

Opa would always come along on walks to the woods, encouraging us to collect fir-cones for his fire.How can we ever forget the buckets of green beans we sat stringing in the garden! Hoarding food had been forbidden recently, but everybody still bottled, salted and stored as before, just in case. During the evenings we made music. One uncle, who still lived at home with Opa, was an accomplished pianist. The others all played a different instrument.
We younger ones listened or sang. It was a super way to finish the days.

It was at the end of this summer holiday, in 1939, that the idea was discussed for all the family to meet at Christmas.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Theodora Coleman and has been added to the site with his permission. Theodora Coleman fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.