Life During The Dutch Occupation – Part One

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The sun is shining and birds are singing, this should be a lovely summer’s day, but it isn’t. Ahead of me on the road I see the German checkpoint, my daughter’s grip on my hand tightens. The German soldier now sees us walking towards him, I know he must be suspicious, why would a woman be wondering around a dangerous area near the front with her daughter?

When we approach the checkpoint he stops us, “Papieren Bitte!” he snarls at us. Even though I am used to the way these soldiers talk to us it still sends shivers up and down my spine. I give him a friendly smile while my daughter pretends she is only interested in her teddy bear. We are both very scared but there is no turning back now.

The German asks us what we are doing here; don’t we know the Allied soldiers are nearby? Yes of course we do but I really must visit my poor old grandmother who lives nearby, she is sick and has nobody to look after her. The German seems to believe my story and after a quick look at our ID cards he asks us to open our suitcases.

It doesn’t take him long to see we are not carrying anything we shouldn’t and he gestures us to move on. We make sure he doesn’t notice our sighs of relief.

As soon as we are out of sight my little girl hands over her teddy bear, I remove the microfilm from the bear’s sweater and quickly we continue our journey, not to Granny but to our secret contact who needs the information to prepare the attack on the local German stronghold. As we walk off I feel like a weight has fallen of my shoulders, I can breathe again but I can’t stop my hands from shaking. I am glad we got trough yet another checkpoint but I also feel guilty for using my daughter to bring my mission to a successful end.

As we walk away the German keeps following us with his eyes, as soon as we reach the woods at the edge of the field the public cheers and applauds.

The girl who played my daughter and I walk back to the German soldier, we laugh and shake hands, another performance that went the way it was planned. This was not a life-threatening situation in 1944; it was a Living History display a few years back.

I am a 33-year-old woman living in Amsterdam, for as long as I can remember I have been interested in World War II , especially the plight of the civilian population in occupied Holland. After studying the subject for years I decided to set up a Living History group specialized in portraying the Dutch civilians during the war, most living history events place the emphasis on the soldiers, weapons, vehicles or the US and UK home front. I felt the people who the war was fought for and over deserved some attention as well.

In our group we aim to be as authentic as possible, we take authenticity as serious as some of the better military Living History groups. Everything has to be just right, from the paperwork in our wallet to the money in our pocket. Besides setting up this Living History group I also started a Historical Consultancy about the 1930’s and 1940s, we provide museum, film and television productions and schools with information about the era we care so much about. And because my home is also our office it looks exactly like a wartime house, people compare visiting me with time travel. So for the last couple of years my hobby, my work and my life evolve around the Second World War.

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