Category: Memoirs
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Organ Playing
Read More: Organ PlayingI have no recollection that I played much with my siblings, Kees, Truus and Sense. I imagine they had their own friends as I had mine. Of course, they were 5 and 4 years older. All of us had organ lessons, but I was the only one who took lessons for over one year. My…
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Elementary School – Final Years
Read More: Elementary School – Final YearsIn 1944 I became twelve years old and almost finished elementary school. In Holland you went to High school after grade 6. There were three types of high schools. The ULO was the easiest, The HBS prepared for university education, especially for engineers and business jobs, while the Gymnasium was the hardest, because you had…
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Health Problems
Read More: Health ProblemsDuring the last years of the war my mother began to suffer from Meniere’s Disease, which affected the balancing components in the middle ear. She was always terribly dizzy and would sometimes keel over unexpectedly. As children we had to be very quiet, because noise upset her terribly. Now, as I am sixty years old,…
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Incidents
Read More: IncidentsMy nickname was ‘Jeude’ (Jew). My brother Kees was called by that name because he had black hair, and when he finished elementary school, that nickname was loaded on me. One Saturday morning I was walking downtown, close to our church. Onno Bolhuis passed by on his bike and waved at me. “Ah, die Jeude!”…
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The War Years
Read More: The War YearsChildren usually are not interested in world politics. When I was 8 years old I didn’t know Hitler was planning to conquer all of Europe. Of course, I had seen pictures of this beastly man, but only thought he was funny with his mustache and straight hair. On May 5, early in the morning our…
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Pedagogy
Read More: PedagogySchools during my childhood were places where quietness in classrooms, disciplined order, and endless drilling were paramount. When you didn’t hold a pen in your hand, your arms were crossed across your chest. To make an impression on a teacher, you sat up as straight as possible, crossed your arms as high as you possibly…
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Grades One and Two
Read More: Grades One and TwoSoon I entered grade one. A female teacher — although sometimes other young teachers, who couldn’t find a teaching position because of the Great Depression, would hone their skills on us. I remember especially a jolly young man, Mr. Zoutman. He taught us how to subtract. He would have five red, little balls in his…
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St. Nicholas Day
Read More: St. Nicholas DayDecember 5 … St. Nicholas Day. Maybe even then I wasn’t totally with it, but I can’t remember that the teacher prepared us that morning for the momentous things that would happen in the afternoon. I’m suddenly hearing a noise right above my desk. All the other children are looking up and finally I dare…
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Kindergarten
Read More: KindergartenBut to kindergarten I went. In wintertime much too heavily dressed. I walked all by myself about 1 1/2 km. on a, for that time, quite heavily travelled road along the canal. I was to walk on the less busy road on the other side of the canal, but since I had to walk all…
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Move to Winschoten
Read More: Move to WinschotenI did all of my growing up in Winschoten. My parents rented a brand-new house on the outskirts of Winschoten, the Acacialaan. Indeed, the street was lined with Acacia trees. My first memory of that house was the smell of fresh paint, as I climbed the stairs to the upper floor which held three bedrooms.…