Histories

In Memory of my Mother Trijntje Bouma - Langenberg

by Herman Langenberg, 1926 - 2008

The 10th of May 1940

During the night there was much noise as planes roared overhead. Formations of German planes were entering our country. My brother woke all the family and we all listened. it was an eerie feeling. Our country was now at war with Germany.

It was Saturday morning and there were not many people in the street. There was no shooting. Only at the train station were some people watching the last Dutch soldiers marching towards the Afsluitdijke. A small truck with some anti-aircraft guns was to be stationed near the Mayor’s house in the centre of town however they decided it was safer to locate them out of town. About a half an hour later armed trucks arrived and stopped at the tram station. People watched thinking they were Dutch troops because the trucks were covered in orange tarps. The door opened, a helmeted German soldier stepped out, gun at the ready. The people quickly made their way home. A short time later more trucks with German troops entered the town, weapons at the ready. At het Grootzand were a few warehouses belonging to Platinga and Douker. They contained liquor, the containers were smashed and emptied in the canal. A short time later the German troops took their positions in the town.

As boys of fourteen we moved freely among the the German occupiers. They were not at all threatening towards us. They were getting ready for the battle that was inevitable. The battle had yet to begin for the forts of Kornwerderzand, a small hamlet at the entrance of the Afsluitdijk, and the flooded lands near the small village of Worn.

Later in the evening the cavalry arrived. Hundreds came, some with guns on their back. All the troops continued their journey next day, it looked like war was coming. 

You could hear the rumble of the canons in the distance, there was heavy fighting. The cavalry made their way towards the Afsluitdijke some 10 km from Bolsward. Often older soldiers accompanied the cavalry. There was fighting throughout the provinces and the Germans were not having much success. They then decided to bomb Rotterdam and then Utrecht followed the same fate. It was now clear that that the Netherlands had no option but to capitulate.

After the capitulation, some boys and I went to the Afsluitdijke. At the entrance was a grave where a German Officer, Ernest Abraham, was buried. How many soldiers died on the straight stretch of the Afsluitdyk has never been made public. Warsaw had already been destroyed before Rotterdam. Poland had been annexed and the most vicious crimes were commited by the nazis. To follow was ‘Kristalnacht’, everywhere in Germany jews were beaten, their businesses confiscated and synagogs destroyed. All this happened under the eyes of the West, the democratic West. Well before the war a social democratic newspaper ‘Het Vrije Volk’ pointed to the atrocities happening in Germany unfortunately no one listened. So the construction of the concentration camps continued and this is where people who did not agree with the Fuhrer ended up. I myself do not believe that we could have stopped the nazis however nothing was tried either.

Chamberlain and Faladier returned home quite humiliated. They were made fools of by Hitler. Their only action was to agree with the Furher.

The war was now getting worse by the day and people tried to flee, often without success. The SS was everywhere, watching, and some Dutch gave them a helping hand, they new so well where people lived.

One sunny morning my mother asked me to go to the tram station. A man and a woman would be arriving and I had to take them to our home. I knew the man, not the woman. Manus and his brother had been boarding with us before the war. They entered our home. The door was now closed behind them for the next three and half years. We learned that both their parents, a brother and wife and baby had been taken and sent to a concentration camp never to return. 

The ‘February Strike’ was not political but to ‘wake up’ the Dutch people to remind them of the attrocities happening in our country. Rations came in and some foods were not available at all anymore. My mother was a widow without an income. We were living in a small house, 10 van Munnickhuizen Straat in Bolsward. Before the Jews arrived there was five of us. My eldest brother was sent to a a work camp in Germany. Another brother lived in Rotterdam, a sister was in Enschede and one sister was living in Alkmaar. Altogether four boys and four girls.

How would we survive, having the jews living with us was taking a big risk for our family. We had to create a hiding place for them. A brother in law was a carpenter, he had lots of tools. He cut a large piece of flooring out and a matress was lowered and the flooring replaced, covered with a piece of carpet. Table and chairs were placed on top and we all prayed that it would not be discovered.

As time went on people were becoming more scared. Arrests were made and guns were often fired. I still think we continued living as normal as possible, we survived. Of course the neighbours must have had their thoughts about the Langenbergs. Before the war, as the house was next to the foot path passers by could look freely into the lounge, not now however as glass curtains were hung. 

Again I was asked to go to the tram station, another couple would be arriving. I knew Ab but not the woman. Manus and Ab were brothers. Bep and Paula, were sisters in-law but they were not too friendly to each other. There was not much room in the house, no spare bedroom.

My mother stayed very calm and things appeared normal. She quite often said “If they catch two Jews or four we are doomed just the same”. 

The biggest problem was there was no money coming in, neither was there extra foodstamps. How would we keep going? We must have had a guardian angel on our roof top.  Mr Heurink, the manager of the ‘cooperative’ or grocery shop was already involved in the underground in Bolsward. He himself was hiding three Jews, he got in touch with the underground and they mad sure we received some money and extra food stamps. One less worry!