Re: Our questions
Kees Vanderheyden (keesv@SYMPATICO.CA)
Thu, 20 Mar 1997 07:20:18 -0500
Dear friends of Sue Hall,
I read the questions of Laura, Lisa, Philippa, Mark, Dorian, Claire
and Gemma that came through MEMORIES. Iıtry to give some
answers from my own experience. I was 11 years old at the end of
the war. I lived in a village in the south of the Netherlands. Our
house was occupied by the Germans and we were liberated by the
Brits and the Canadians. I have written my many memories in a
little book, written in french, called ³La guerre dans ma cour²(the
war in my backyard).
Q : How did you life change?
At that young age you are not always conscious of the changes
going on in your mind. They become sowhat clearer later. I have
acquired a great thirst for freedom and peace, and a desire to find
peaceful solutions to the challenges I face. I have also discovered
that not everything is black or white, and that even the ennemy
has a human face.
Q How did you feel when the war started?
Scared, because of the German bombers and because there were
rumours that we would have to flee. So mom had prepared bags of
clothing and food for us ( my dad, my three brother and sisters).
But when the fighting stopped life looked almost normal, at least at
the beginning. Donıt forget I was about 7 years old.
Q : What was it like in the air raid shelters ?
We didnıt have any. We hid in the cellar, scared stiff of the fracas
outside.
Q : How did you feel when the war ended ?
Happy of course. But when it ended for us in the south, it still
went on in the rest of Holland. There was also a lot of destruction
and death with the Liberation. Wounded and dead soldiers,
bombed houses in the village. Chaos.So we were insecure. There
were the flying bombs, the threat of German counterattacks. We
really felt free and happy in may 1945.
Q : How did you entertain yourselves ?
By playing games, and by ³playing war². We also played soccer of
course, and we tried to start a circus with our dog.
Au revoir,
Kees Vanderheyden
Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Canada