大象传媒

When my grandmother married in 1939, she never imagined her life would change so drastically so quickly. 7 Months after she got married, the war broke out in The Netherlands, on 10 May 1940. Shortly afterwards, her new husband was called to work in the factories in Germany. He left, leaving my grandmother to take care of her ailing parents. During the first months, communication was scarce, but possible. In 1942, all letters stopped coming, and my grandmother was convinced she would never see him again. While staying in Eindhoven, in the South of the Netherlands, where she worked, she met a man. He was tall, goodlooking and charming. She fell madly in love, but alas, he too was called to work in the German factories. And so he left too. But by now, my grandmother had had enough of giving up loved ones, so she decided to follow this one, called Toon. She got on a train to Essen (Germany), even though women were not allowed to travel alone, unless they had an official permit to do so, which she hadn't. When they arrived at the border, the train stopped and German soldiers went on board to check the papers. My grandmother got really nervous, but when they came to check her papers, a stranger told the German officer that she didn't need the permit, since she was travelling with him. Without this perfect stranger, she would never have made it to Essen, but she never saw him again, so she couldn't thank him. After she arrived in Essen, she started to visit all the factories to ask if Toon van Putten was working there. After some hours, she got lucky, or so she thought. The guard went inside the factory to fetch Mr. van Putten, but when he came out...it wasn't the right guy. Tired and already a little desperate, my grandmother arrived at the last factory at the end of her second day in Germany. This time she was in luck; the Toon van Putten who came outside, was her loved one. He still wore a small pinky ring (the kind you could win on the fair) that my grandmother had given him. He offered her a sigarette and asked if she would wait till he finished his shift. After work, they had to find a place to stay, since Toon's boarding house would not allow him to stay there with a woman (especcially not one he wasn't married to). So they went to an abandoned plot next to the railway tracks, where he started building a make-shift hut out of old doors that were left there. They spent two weeks living there, until they found other accommodation in town. My grandmother also got put to work there, but they were happy nonetheless. After several months, Toon got a short leave, and he and grandmother bot went back to Eindhoven. At the end of his leave, they both decided not to go back to Germany, but to go into hiding instead. They packed up everything and left for the Ardennes, in Belgium, where they stayed Faimeville. They worked on a farm there, and Toon had to hide every time the Germans came to check the farm. But still, as long as they were together, they were doing just fine. After D-day, things were getting hard. The Germans came to check more frequently, so they had to hide often, sometimes days on end. And when young people in love are bored and cooped up all day....my grandmother got pregnant. Fortunately, some days after she found out, they were liberated, so they sort of followed the allied troops into the Netherlands. In March of 1945, my mother was born. And to crown it all, the Germans surrendered and on 5 May, peace was declared. But with the peace came the return of the many men who had been working in Germany. So imagine my grandmothers suprise when, one day in May, her husband showed up at the door. He'd never expected his wife to open the door with a newborn on her arms! But, even though he was very disappointed, he realised he'd lost his wife, so he granted her a divorce, and after a while the road was clear for my grandmother and grandfather to marry. They remained happily married until my grandfather passed away in 1999. He has often told me this story, and not the story, but the way his eyes lit up when he told me, showed me how much they must have loved each other. They never cared about the circumstances they had to live in, as long as they were together.If my grandmother hadn't been so brave to get on that train to Germany and keep looking until she found her man, my whole family wouldn't have existed. She's old now, and forgetful and fragile, but she is still the same brave woman now as she was back then. And as for my grandmothers first husband: he remarried straight after the divorce, and was married to his wife all his life.

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