大象传媒

鈥淭his story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by volunteer, Anita Howard from the Essex Action Desk CSV on behalf of Wilhelmina Cook and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.鈥�

Holland and Germany had been friends for years but with Hitler in power we did not escape the W.W.2 as we had W.W.1 No such luck, we were drawn into the war.

My story starts in Eindhoven, HOLLAND on May 5th 1940, about 4 months before my 17th birthday. My school had been bombed so I found a job at the main Post Office in town. After 5 months my boss said, 鈥淲ilma, I have a feeling that you don鈥檛 like the occupiers of our country, would you like to become a member of the resistance movement?鈥� I agreed immediately.

I was sent on an instruction course to become a full member. Girls were preferred over men and boys because the Germans were less suspicious of them. Men were more useful for the dangerous tasks. Identity was secret, no one ever knew who the agent was and we seldom met the same agent again. Information was passed on to our allies and if you were caught you were shot.

We had strict training in keeping calm and were told never to speak to other people about the resistance, not even to our parents, which was very difficult. My parents did not know about my involvement until the last year of the war. They were very shocked at first, my father although very worried, was very proud of me.

I was given a special pass which allowed me to be out of doors after curfew. These permits were really meant for those who were working for the enemy. Girls were mainly used to pass on messages. We were sent out in the day or night time, where ever we were needed. I felt happy in helping the allied efforts. There was also a nice side to it. I was able to go out on moonlit nights: the moon shining on plants, trees, ponds and small rivers turning them into a fairyland 鈥� a wonderful sight.

However one night as I entered the woods with my message, an icy feeling came over me. I quickly hid my bike in a ditch and lay down behind a tree. I was wet with perspiration, my heart thumping so hard I thought I would burst. I don鈥檛 know how long I lay there. I heard footstep and saw two German soldiers coming my way. I dare not breathe. Thank God they did not see me. I stayed for another 30 minutes to give me time to calm down. When I decided to move my contacts arrived. They had also been waiting in the undergrowth. We were still shaking but we had achieved our mission. That night the beauty of the moonlight was a hindrance rather than a pleasure.

Time went on, by now we were short of food, light and heating and many died from hunger. Many young men, including three of my cousins had been sent to Germany to work, most of them never returned.

Years passed until one evening in 1945 when we were sitting at home we heard aircraft flying low. Outside we saw some British parachutists landing near our back garden. The aircraft crashed into the trees behind us. We then saw three soldiers walking near our hedge. We called them in and asked for their uniforms which we hid in a hole under the scullery floor where we kept our radio and quickly covered them with tiles and rugs. In exchange we gave them working rags
In the meantime Mum had put our last bits of food on the table and we told them to talk gibberish. We were only just in time when four Germans burst in, guns in hand, looking everywhere for the parachutists.
They looked upstairs, in the loft, in cupboards, under the beds, tables and the sheds outside. They swore and left. By now we were shaking with fear and hugging each other.

Fortunately I was able to contact my Resistance colleagues; it would have been too dangerous for them to come immediately so we sat in the dark and waited until they came to collect the soldiers. It took several days before we felt normal again. Three weeks later we heard that they had arrived safely in England.

Life was hectic, dull and exciting all at the same time. It was also frightening - the darkness, the noise, the shortness of time. I was often petrified because I had to find the parachutists before the Germans.

Towards the end of the war we were all very thin. Many relatives and friends were starving. We were very weak too but my father went fishing and often had a good catch. He also grew vegetables and potatoes. He also kept rabbits in the shed for food.

Wilhelmina Cook (d.o.b. 20.9.23)

Oct.31st 2005

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