大象传媒

I have never seen any reference to my story of the Dutch Children in any reference to the War. It must have been late March or April 1940 so I was about 4 and a half years' old. I slept in the back bedroom of our maisonette and my mother came in one day to rearrange the furniture, in particular to bring in a bed settee. I must have asked about it because she told me that it was for a Dutch Child who would be staying with us during the war. Nothing more happened so after a few days I asked when the person was coming. My mother merely said something to the effect that it wouldn't now take place and the matter was never referred to again.
Even in later years it was a closed subject so my reconstruction (given below) is my speculation. I assume that there was a local Anglo-Dutch liaison committee looking to place vulnerable children but I know nothing more about it. One could speculate that the children were Jewish but we had no Jewish links (our background was Anglican and Roman Catholic)so the wish may have been to evacuate any Dutch child (rather as a lot of British children went to Canada and Australia). I guess that although preparations were well advanced, the German advance through Holland was so fast that the occupation took place before the refugee operation could occur.
As I said above, I have never heard anything about this episode though my memory of it is clear, presumably because it was so unusual that it left an indelible impression on me despite my young age.

Keith Knight

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