Life in Occupation

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“I remember things gradually getting worse. The rules and regulations they became harsher and harsher. And there were all kinds of things you really had to watch out for. And they were starting to take things. There were no more cars. They were even taking bicycles of people. There were all kinds of problems with all kinds of regulations.

I believe in September ‘44 they were rounding up all able-bodied men. They brought a whole bunch of troops and kind of cornered off the whole neighborhood. And then went door to door to see if there were any men, and they were all told to gather together on a little square or something. Everybody goes down there, and the people were picked up and put on pick-ups and trucks and carted off.

And the other thing, you couldn’t do anything that displeased the Germans or they just shoot you. And down the street, they had taken a nice home just a few doors down. And I remember a girl was able to get to a side door which led directly into the kitchen. And she went in there and got the loaf of bread. And there was a soldier standing on the balcony, and he saw her with the loaf of bread, and he shot her right down there in the middle of the street. And another thing I remember, the neighbor two doors down. He had a little marigold in the window, you know, orange is the Dutch color, and the soldier just shot the flower right through the window.”