大象传媒

QUIET HEROES AND DEADLY RISKS ( PS. 2)
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The main objective of my stories is to highlight some of the things the very active Dutch underground was involved in. The Quiet Hero must be my father, who looked anything but a hero. Not even my mother was fully aware of the real reasons about the way he very skilfully and patiently used his
Position as an off-license merchant, to become on very friendly terms with some thirsty leading German officers. Not even years after the war , he refused to talk about it, but shortly before his death in the 7Os, she found out that he had not only been involved in handing important military secrets to the Dutch Underground as well as 鈥淟ondon鈥�, but that he had also edited and distributed a highly secret underground journal. And 鈥� together with our GP, he had also helped to get pilots out of the country. The GP on account of him being one of the very few allowed to break the nightly curfew. It was not easy for the untrained eye of a German soldier to know if those people at the backseat were seriously ill or just pretending鈥�.

Not so lucky to escape the post-war revanche by the Dutch were, for instance a number of young females who had been entertaining the Germans. Minutes after the Germans had left, neighbours broke into the girls apartment , pulled them out into the street and paraded them in front of the ridiculing masses. To top it all, their hair was shaven off and large thick black Swastikas were painted on their bald heads. It was one of the things I have never forgotten and I must admit of feeling somewhat uncomfortable , uneasy and embarrassed , partly because there is nothing tougher than to be starving when survival is all that matters. Others , of course, have different ways of dealing with the problem. A very cultured, educated aunt of mine was driven to empty dustbins in the hope of finding anything eatable for her four small children, including pet food. We often asked her over for a good meal, but being a proud woman, she rejected the idea of depending on us. But one day she noticed my mother peeling potatoes as she had always done, My aunt became very excited and asked if she could please have the peels! These days people have become more health conscious and actually prefer potatoes in their own jackets but during the occupation potato skins were still seen as animal food, so my mother had quite a shock and was angry with her sister for not telling her earlier . Not only did my aunt return home with a bag full of fresh potatoes, but also the promise of lots of skins waiting for her at least twice as week in future鈥�.

Probably like many 鈥渨ar-children鈥�, I do not always find it easy to comprehend why many of today鈥檚 youngsters do not feel happy unless they have the latest and most expensive things to wear solong as it shows the label prominently鈥� For years I have also given up trying to keep up with the non-stop technical advance of computers, digits, cameras, videos, Cds and so on! They all have a habit of going out of date every few years and difficult to repair for little money鈥� The war years have probably 鈥渉ardened鈥� some of us by holding on to what is available in the believe that it might come useful some day, and the way things are going these days, this may not be as funny as it sounds..
All the same, one often envies younger generations being able to enjoy a world full of fashions, trends and opportunities to travel the world without any pressure put on them to 鈥渇all - in line鈥� the moment one leaves school. Freedom for all is what the Quiet Heroes鈥� fought for. People like my father, who - from what I am aware - never received any medals or what have you for what he did鈥�. Not that it would have made any difference to him . Real heroes are like that.

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