大象传媒

When my grandmother married in 1939, she never imagined her life would change so drastically, so quickly. On 10 May 1940, just seven months after she married, war broke out in the Netherlands. Shortly afterwards, her new husband was called to work in the factories in Germany. He went, leaving my grandmother to take care of her ailing parents.

During the first months, communication was limited, but possible. In 1942, all letters stopped coming, and my grandmother was convinced she would never see him again. While staying in Eindhoven, where she worked, in the south of the Netherlands, she met a man. He was tall, good looking and charming. She fell madly in love, but, alas, he too was called to work in the German factories. And so he left too.

The pursuit of love

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 in Germany, even though women were not allowed to travel alone unless they had an official permit to do so, which she did not. When they arrived at the border, the train stopped, and German soldiers got on board to check the papers. My grandmother grew 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 to 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 pinkie ring (the kind you could win on the fair) that my grandmother had given him. He offered her a cigarette and asked if she would wait until 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 (especially one he wasn't married to). So they went to an abandoned plot next to the railway tracks, where he started building a makeshift hut out of old doors left there. They stayed two weeks, until they found other accommodation in town. My grandmother also got put to work, but they were happy none the less.

On the run in the Ardennes

After several months, Toon got a short leave, and he and grandmother both went back to Eindhoven. At the end of his leave, they decided not to go back to Germany, but instead to go into hiding. They packed up everything and left for the Ardennes. They worked on a farm there, and Toon had to hide every time the Germans came to check. But, still, as long as they were together, they were doing just fine.

After D-Day, things were getting harder. The Germans came to check more frequently, so they had to hide more often, sometimes for days on end. And when young people in love are bored and cooped up all day ... my grandmother became pregnant. Fortunately, some days after she found out, they were liberated, so they sort of followed the Allied troops into the Netherlands. In March 1945, my mother was born. And to crown it all, the Germans surrendered. On 5 May peace was declared.

Love and happiness at last

But with the peace came the return of the many men who had been working in Germany. So imagine my grandmother鈥檚 surprise 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 in her arms! But, even though he was very disappointed, he realised he鈥檇 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 often told me this story, and the way his eyes lit up when he told it showed me how much they must have loved each other. They never cared about the circumstances in which they lived, as long as they were together. If my grandmother hadn't been so brave as to get on that train to Germany and keep looking until she found her man, none of my family would exist. She's old now, and forgetful and fragile, but she is still the same brave woman as she was back then. And as for my grandmother鈥檚 first husband: he remarried straight after the divorce, and stayed married to his wife all his life.

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