This is from some memoirs that my Mom wrote in 1997, about her experiences as a young women, going through the 2nd World War years in the city of Utrecht in the central part of The Netherlands. She also went to stay in a safer place, Groningen, near the North Sea, for a short while, with a Dutch Reformed pastor and his wife. She had a remarkable life and after the war, she came to Canada by boat, knowing no one, to marry her sweetheart who had helped to liberate her homeland. They were married in 1947 at First Baptist Church in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
God’s Wonderful Faithfulness Through 5 Very Difficult War Years 1940 – 1945 -by Anneke Thompson
It was May 10th, 1940. Our family woke up early on that beautiful morning to the sound of many airplanes going over our house. Our neighbour across the street was out in his pyjamas standing on top of the roof, looking through his binoculars. “Those are German warplanes”, he shouted. There had been threats of war for a while as some European countries were taken over already by that mighty German army. As we turned on the radio that morning, we heard the bad news that our small country was being invaded by this great army. German soldiers, some in Dutch uniforms had parachuted down and there was terrible fighting and confusion. Next thing we knew, there was a fierce battle being fought and at one point burned pieces of paper came down on our city which was in the center of Holland. The big harbour city of Rotterdam had been bombed. The whole inner city with it’s beautiful old churches and majestic buildings was destroyed. Soon after, we discovered pamphlets dropped out of airplanes with the message on them, “you people capitulate or surrender or else your city with over a half million will be bombed also”. This was a very frightening thing hanging over our heads. Then on May 14th, which was our Mom’s birthday, and always a special day in our family, the news came that our dearly beloved country had surrendered to the enemy. What was a small army going to do against such a superpower?
First there was relief that the shooting and bombing had stopped, but with the passing of each year, life became more and more difficult. All of a sudden, people would disappear, especially men and boys from 16 years of age and up. Many of our supplies which were so carefully looked after, were hauled away. During the First World War, 1914 – 1918, Holland had been a neutral country and people were saved (spared) from the terrors of war and destruction. So, when dark clouds were gathering in Europe in Sept. 1939, Holland was preparing for another time of self-sufficiency and neutrality, but this was not to be, at this time. Supplies started to become scarce, as the enemy had taken much of our goods away. I remember very vividly seeing bombs sailing over our house and dropping a distance behind us where there was an important railway centre. One week this happened three times in a row at exactly the same time each day, about 5:30 P.M. We were all at home and stood in the hallway with our arms around each other, praying that we as a family would be spared. The noise of these bombardments were ear shattering, but thank God none of these many bombs hit our home. One hit on a canal behind us and the mud that splashed in all different directions also covered our house. When these attacks subsided we thanked our Heavenly Father for His protection over us during this ordeal.
For a family of 5 children (some of us in our teens) there were many fears and anxieties to cope with. But we had our faith in God and we had each other and were often encouraged by our loving and God-fearing parents.
One of our beloved school teachers who had hidden an allied soldier who had parachuted from a plane was discovered by the German soldiers. Without any questions asked this teacher was shot and killed right in his house where they found the paratrooper.
Then there were the Jews, some of which were our good neighbours and who did well in their businesses, who, all of a sudden mysteriously disappeared. We never knew what happened to them until after the war when it was discovered that these innocent people were hauled away to Germany in boxcars. There they were gassed and burned in the ovens. Some of these people were of very high calibre and outstanding people in the community. Why were they destroyed? They were Jews and Hitler hated the Jews.
My girlfriend and I on several occasions rode our bikes to the north part of the country to buy trade wares to trade for food. At one time my friend had rubber water hoses as tires on her bike and I had wooden tires as one could not buy regular tires for bikes. My friend’s hoses came off soon after we started our trip and then she rode on the rims of her bike. The wooden tires were bumpy and noisy. At one time, going across the country, war planes were shooting at us and we had to hide in trenches along the side of the road. Coming home from these expeditions one time we had to go through a tunnel. The tunnel was very dark and our bikes were very heavy with food that we had bought and traded. Just when we were almost through, my bike capsized and everything spilled on the ground in that dark tunnel. To make matters worse at the end of the tunnel were enemy soldiers inspecting the people that came through. We picked up as much as we could of our scattered goods and these men probably felt sorry for us and they let us through. This to us was a miracle of God who had watched over us. Angels were watching over us and they brought us home safely after a very adventurous and dangerous journey.
Many people worked underground, which of course was very risky. One day on one of the highways a motor car with German officers in it was shot at and some GIA”s were killed instantly. It seemed this was an action by the underground people. The punishment was extremely severe. As it happened close to the small town of Putten, all the men, 16 years and older were rounded up and killed. This left only the women and children in that town and there was great sorrow. The last year of the war which was definitely the hardest, the people who worked for Netherland railway went on strike and that was a real blow for the Germans. My Dad was an inspector for the railway warehouses and many along with him were fearing for their lives. A second cousin of ours had made a hiding place in our home for my Dad to disappear if necessary. So many nights we took turns staying up, watching out to see if trucks with soldiers would be in our streets looking for strikers. Then we would have a short time to warn our Dad, and to help him disappear into his hiding place.
To go out of your house after sunset was a no-no. So night after night everyone stayed put unless you wanted to risk your life. Everything was in darkness, no street lights or any kind of light so the allied air forces did not know where the cities were, I remember doing a lot of handwork such as knitting, crocheting, while our Dad read stories to us. We were all together then and that’s all mattered in those days.
Bad things did not last forever and our hopes of being delivered by the Allied Forces never faded. It was exactly five years after Holland was invaded that deliverance came in 1945. What joy to see our liberators, men who from far away countries who came to set us free. How thankful we were first of all to our God, our Heavenly Father, who sent these men to us. They also had risked their lives to set us free, though many thousands of these young men died on foreign soil. They gave up their lives to set us free. This reminds me of the perfect One who gave his life to set each and every one of us free so that we can have everlasting life, if we surrender our all to Him.
Fairly shortly after the war was over, I called on some friends and they wanted me to meet some Christian Canadian soldiers. These same fellows also started to hold fellowship meetings in one of the buildings in our city. My brother, who went to one of these meetings asked me if I would go with him to hear these people speak and witness. I agreed to go and I can tell you I was impressed to say the least. These Canadian men who had gone through so much and watched many of their comrades die on the battle field, were witnessing for their Lord in a strange country. One of these young men was Percy. He was so handsome in his uniform! To make a long story short, that was the beginning of a romance that has lasted close to 50 years. When Percy left Holland in the fall of 1945 to go back to England, we were not sure if there was ever the possibility of seeing each other again. We were not married then and there were still many travel restrictions. Then the letters started coming, first from England. In one of those letters was a beautiful celluloid bookmark with golden letters printed on it which read: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31, What truth there was in this scripture verse. We just trusted if it was God’s will, we would be together again sometime in the future and that this would surely happen. The correspondence went on for over a year. Many blue airmail letters arrived. In those days an airmail letter from Canada would arrive in Holland in 4 or 5 days.
-written in 1997
