大象传媒

This Interview took place in Holland in July 2005 J.H.Warmerdam (Hann)was interviewed by Henriette Wood-Grossenbacher. He was a school boy during the war growing up in Lisse, in the Dutch bulb growing area, where he still lives. He spent his working life in the flower bulb trade and is a dear friend to an aunt of mine. He gave permission to add his story to the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War website.
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When I think of the war I always think of this day when my grandmother came to visit from Haarlem and told us that she was made to watch these Dutch citizen being shot. It must have been 1942 or 43. At the beginning of the war it was quite calm, but as the war went on the resistance came up more and for every action done by the resistance the 鈥渕offen鈥� took revenge. We called the Germans the 鈥渕offen鈥�, the Dutch were called "kaaskoppen鈥� (cheeseheads) and the English 鈥渢ommies鈥�.

One of the revenge actions in Haarlem was that they took 12 people at random and shot them. The resistance had done something, what exactly it was I don鈥檛 know. They picked 12 men just like that off the street here. In Putten near Ijssel they shot down more or less the whole male population. In Haarlem on the 鈥淒reef鈥� near the 鈥淗outplein鈥� these people got shot without pardon or fuss. My grandmother was on a tram from Haarlem to visit us in Lisse for the day. All the people on the tram had to get out and line up to watch the shooting. My grandmother came to our house in a terrible state. How she got through the rest of the day I can鈥檛 remember. These things which made an impression as a child you keep during your whole life. I don鈥檛 know what I would have felt as a 10 or 11 year old. Those things somehow passed you by. Still it is imprinted on me and every time I pass there, where the little statue is, I think about it.

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