大象传媒

Part 1
Antonia Ernst鈥檚 War
Rotterdam - May 1939-August 1944

We woke up to the sound of aeroplanes going over. It was a terrible noise of engines humming and drumming. We never expected a war, as during the 1914/18 war we were neutral. Ninety per cent of the people thought that we would therefore be neutral in this war so bombs etc were never expected.

We went up through the skylight and ended up on the rooftop and stood looking at all the planes in the sky. Suddenly they dived and started shooting at us with machine guns 鈥� bullet holes appeared next to us in the chimney pits! We fell back through the skylight double quick, all landing on top of each other. We got washed and dressed and went out into the streets where the Dutch soldiers and the Germans were fighting in the streets. We wandered in the streets amongst the fighting not believing that we were in the middle of a war.

This went on for 4-5 days. Fierce fighting but there were so few people, barely an army against the size of the German army. There were very few shelters 鈥� didn鈥檛 even know what a shelter was because we hadn鈥檛 thought of them.

After 5 days the Germans decided to bomb Rotterdam just to show their strength and make Holland capitulate. They bombed the centre and the outskirts. When we went back to the centre, you could not even walk as the pavements were still so red hot from the fires that the bombing had caused. It burned through your shoes!

We had to wait a few days before we could go back to find where our house had been 鈥� we lost everything. The fire brigade couldn鈥檛 cope. Uncle worked for the council and helped with the clearing. People who had gone to the cellars to escape the bombs were found with their lungs burst through the pressure of the explosions from the bombs.

The Germans made promises so we thought that it mightn鈥檛 be so bad 鈥� if only we knew then! We had no work, the shops had all been bombed out. No money, no possessions. We were told the government would give us an allowance and the banks would see what was in the accounts 鈥� if you were lucky!

I found work sewing. Then we were told we had to sew Gerry uniforms 鈥� didn鈥檛 fancy that much. Then we had to start stitching lifejackets. We had lots of broken needles but instead of throwing them away we used to stick all the broken bits into the lifejackets! I eventually got the sack 鈥� thank goodness! But then came compulsory 鈥榮ign on鈥� and when they realised that I had sewn uniforms I was told that I would have to go to Essen to sew the uniforms. I didn鈥檛 like the sound of that. At that time Omi got poorly and had to go into hospital and I had six weeks to sort things out before I had to go to Germany. In those six weeks I found a job in a furniture store so I got a reprieve! As the time went on, things got worse. We were not allowed to speak English or listen to the radio 鈥� especially British stations. We were ordered to take in all radios but luckily we had two so we took one in and kept the other at the furniture store behind a big stack of carpets. When we thought it was time for the British Broadcast we had to drag away all the carpets and creep in under the sink where the radio was kept. With the little bit of English we knew between us we could make out what was said. This was the only thing we could rely on otherwise all we had were rumours 鈥� not knowing what was true and what wasn鈥檛.

The men were sent away to Germany for forced labour. Uncle Ton went but escaped by climbing between the wheels of a train. He ended up in Paris and joined the American troops initially and the towards the end of the war he was transferred back to the Dutch army. Tante Jo thought he had died in one of the labour camps until she was given a tiny scrap of a letter thrown out of a train. It just said 鈥淪till Alive鈥� When the war ended we had a knock on our door and it was Uncle Ton. He hadn鈥檛 dared go straight home in case his Mum died of a heart attack! So we took him back as a surprise. We had a big tearful reunion.

I had a big Afghan hound. One day we were told to take all dogs to a big park because the Germans were recruiting dogs for work on the front. I was afraid that they would take my Afghan as he was such a beautiful dog so I borrowed a friends small dog and went to the park with it on a lead. I was so used to taking a big dog for a walk, when it stopped I gave it such a jerk it flew through the air!! When I got to the park some friends said what has happened to your dog? I said that I had washed it and it had shrunk! I took him to Auntie Jean鈥檚 at Nimagen 鈥� she had moved out to escape the bombing. Once the round up had finished I went and collected it and brought it home. There was a curfew at night and in the summer it began at six o鈥檆lock in the evening. The dog always wanted to go out so I would just open the front door and say 鈥淥ut you go, but you鈥檇 better come back!鈥� We lived on a triangle, which came out on a main road and just round the corner was an army barracks. The dog made straight round the corner to the barracks and would stand barking at the sentry. I could hear them shouting at it then it would take off running and you could see the sparks flying when the bullets hit the street as they fired at it. Lucky it never got hit but it would come home panting with its tongue hanging out 鈥� it had had its exercise.

Two hours a day we got water and two hours a day we got electricity. Towards the end, although we had ration books they were no good as the shops were shut because there was no food to be had.

We used to get sugar beet and take the top off an old empty can and make a sticky sweet substance by heating fat in the can and cooking the sugar beet.

I would walk home from Auntie Jean鈥檚 mums 鈥� a 20 minute walk and would see people laying in the gutter starving and you couldn鈥檛 do a thing to help them. No ambulances, no food. All they needed was food but what could you do with no food to give them so you just walked past and pretended it wasn鈥檛 there. If you were lucky enough to work in a shop or a trade you may have something to barter because buying was useless. Curtains, carpets etc. all had to be sold on coupons but a farmer would come in and want furnishings and we would want X pounds but instead we would swap it for a bag of potatoes or eggs etc. I had a very good boss, he always shared everything with his employees. There were fourteen boys in the workshop, mending and re-doing old things, four in the showroom, the boss, his brother and a secretary. If we got a bag of beans it was wonderful. Of course there was a black market. Eggs worth 鈥� say 鈥� a penny, were sold for 25 pence 鈥� if you were lucky! A loaf of bread worth 鈥� say 鈥� two pence was sold for eight pounds. A bag of sugar worth two and a half pence sold for six pounds. A sack of potatoes worth three shillings sold for eight pounds. You had to find work or sell something in order to eat. Mother worked and I worked so we managed.

We became a safe house for underground escapees, resistance etc. You would get a knock at the door and someone would be stood there saying 鈥淒ick from the garage says can I have a bed for the night so they would be given the back room upstairs overnight. Sometimes they would leave a couple of coupons or an egg or something. Once or twice we were asked to keep someone a couple of days, it wasn鈥檛 easy to say 鈥渘o鈥� if they needed help. We had no names, no details.

At one time a man came who had been born in a province between France and Germany. It was declared it belonged to Germany at the outbreak of war. He lived in Holland but had had to become an unwilling German citizen and because he spoke French, German, Dutch and English the Germans wanted him as an interpreter, so they enlisted him but he didn鈥檛 cooperate. The underground rescued him and we had him for two days, then a week, extra food was put in for him. We couldn鈥檛 get him away as it was too dangerous. He had a gun and he would always say if Gerry comes, I shoot them first then myself. He ended up staying for three months

We had a two-storey house. On the first floor was a living room, kitchen, and bedroom. On the second floor, at the front, was my bed sit and at the back on the right of the landing was a storage room then a door opening into a small bedroom with doors on to a balcony and a fire escape leading on to the roof. This was an escape route.

One time the Germans blocked off the road and they began systematically searching houses for men. There should be no men around except for old, young or infirm. Omi had gone to the farms that day to see what food she could obtain and I was home by myself with the dog and a man hiding upstairs. There was a great bang on the door, three Gerry soldiers came in; a sergeant and two privates. 鈥淎ny men here?鈥� he said in half-broken Dutch and a bit of German which you did not want to understand, even if you did understand. 鈥淲e will have to search鈥�. The dog stood at the top of the stairs growling and baring his teeth. 鈥淒on鈥檛 make any unexpected moves or he will go for you鈥� I told them. 鈥淎re you the only one in the house鈥� I said yes and he turned to the others and said, 鈥淥h well you go next door and I鈥檒l see to this鈥�. 鈥淥h God鈥�! I thought 鈥淒on鈥檛 touch me or the dog will have you鈥� He said 鈥淣ever mind the dog鈥� I said 鈥淒id you know that Hitler likes these dogs鈥� trying to sweeten him up. 鈥淭hen I shoot the bastard鈥� he said. That sounded promising I thought! He looked out of the long kitchen window over the triangle and said 鈥淕ot a good view here鈥�. Then he asked if he could wash himself and as the water was on at the time I said that he could. I got him a tiny bit of soap and he washed his hands and face and sat on the window ledge. He said he hadn鈥檛 been out of his clothes for 3 days and 3 nights and he was tired and he could see from the window if any one tried to escape so he would sit and rest for 10 minutes. He said he was hoping that by Christmas it would be all over and I could hear by his voice that he wasn鈥檛 happy being a Gerry soldier. My heart was in my mouth as there was the fugitive either upstairs or out in the gutter hiding. Luckily the soldier didn鈥檛 go upstairs he just said thank you very much and disappeared. How lucky we were. We had to get him away after that. I had a friend who was a hairdresser and who lived about twenty minutes away from me in a big white house. She still did hair and had people in and out of her house so she offered to have him so he went there. Then after a while he escaped. It was such a strain on the nerves, it was awful but we did it because you felt it was your duty.

Omi was picked up once because so much sugar had gone missing from the German kitchen and they were trying to discover what had happened to it. It had landed up in a bar owned by a friend and Omi had bought some. Omi helped out in the bar sometimes serving and washing glasses and cleaning. Everyone was arrested. We waited for news and she was away for two days and a night. The less you knew, the better it was!

In between all this, Gerry bombed us and the British came and bombed the harbour that Gerry was trying to repair. Also the Yanks tried to bomb a 鈥楿鈥� boat base built under the piers which Gerry defended. Once they picked out a big house in town and accurately bombed it, probably Gerry Headquarters or a high ranking Gerry official but houses around got bombed also. We were bombed several times and shot at several times. If the resistance did anything you were punished. If you were walking down the road and something had happened Gerry would just round up any men on the streets, usually old or young as all the rest were in Germany except for a few left to do necessary work in Holland. They would pick at random six, eight or ten men from the street, line them up and just shoot them and if you would dare say anything they would just have shot you as well. After they were shot no one was allowed to touch them for around one to two days, so you would just avoid it.

One day while the bombing was going on I was at home with a friend. The house was long and narrow with three rooms on the ground floor. The rooms had sliding doors that could be opened to make one large room or closed. We sat in the middle room away from the windows. She was crying and shaking. 鈥淥h come on鈥� I said. 鈥淎s long as you hear the bombs drop, they are not dropping on us!鈥� After a while it was over and although I hadn鈥檛 felt frightened during the raid, I stood up and my knees buckled and I collapsed on the floor and had to pull myself up. Pieces of the ceiling were all around.

The Germans launched the V1 and V2 bombs at London from Holland and Belgium and there was a launch site near Rotterdam. You would hear them going up and just stop and go again. You waited for them to fall again and say a little prayer when you heard them go. You hoped that they would land in the sea and not in England, your hair stood on end.

On nights if there was no curfew and the pubs and caf茅鈥檚 were open till about 1 o鈥檆lock at night, you might go on to a nightclub until around 3.00 am. Drinks were made of anything with flavouring. Someone called for me one night around 1 o鈥檆lock and four or five of us went to the caf茅. It got very misty and, of course, everything was dark due to the blackout so we all had to hold on to one another. Sometimes you would lose someone and have to call out in the dark 鈥淲here are you?鈥� One time I ended up in a different place with different people because I鈥檇 grabbed a wrong arm in the darkness!

In the beginning we used to go horse racing on a Sunday. Everyone piled into the trains. Any horse with a German sounding name you would not back it!

When in the shop Gerry would come in and want to buy things and you would straight away say you need coupons. One day, I had had a couple in wanting to buy something and, in those days, you were very polite still and would walk them to the door and open it and let them out. I was walking behind these Gerrys doing funny salutes and miming 鈥淏ugger Off鈥� etc. so that they other girls could see me and they were laughing. Then suddenly one turned round. It frightened the life out of me!

One day letting down the metal window blinds two Gerrys stood in front of the window with their backs toward it. So I let the blind fall making a loud noise and the two Gerrys leapt about two feet in the air. I locked the door quickly before they could come in!!

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