Tag: marriage
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Arnhem, Bach, Bible, church, Easter, family, God, Groningen, Hommes, marriage, organ, school, ship, Winschoten
World War II
Read More: World War IIThe family and its circumstances during WWII Birth How should I begin? Perhaps with my birth in Blyham (NL) on 3 October 1936, as my Mom told me many years later. Could a time be darker, a place be humbler? Hitler tightening his grip on Germany’s people, raucously goading them towards catastrophic war. A small…
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Marriage
Read More: MarriageWe were married on March 21st, 1934. All was ready, the beautiful new house for mother and the girls in the village. I had cleaned our house with Tiet’s help — put everything in place. It was a large house, the largest in the row of farms. The windows were very high and it took…
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Family Life
Read More: Family LifeGenerally speaking, we were all healthy children. Sometimes we were in each other’s hair but we never had big fights. We never went out much. Martje often came to our house when I was home for a weekend. Later she said: I really loved that. She stayed with the school principal, so she lived close…
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Settling In
Read More: Settling InAnd so, our marriage started, very simple and peaceful. Harm was busy in the fields and in the stables. We had seven cows and two horses, a few hundred chickens and a stable full of pigs. First, I had many things to do in the house, like painting and wallpapering. The house had become somewhat…
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School Years
Read More: School YearsExcerpt: We had a school choir led by Master Redeker, who had a wooden leg. Well, what singing we had! Then, when it went very well, the master would take off his leg and conduct with it.
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Amsterdam, Arnhem, Blijham, church, family, Groningen, Hommes, London, marriage, organ, politics, Rotterdam, ship, Vlagtwedde, Winschoten
1939-1945: The War Years
Read More: 1939-1945: The War YearsThe Shadow of war In the meantime, it was now 1939, and the political world had started to rumble. Hitler was the big boss in Germany and pushed his Nazi program on his people and started to shout about “lebensraum” (room to live). In the fall of that year they walked into Poland and placed…
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1934-1935: Renneborg Honeymoon
Read More: 1934-1935: Renneborg HoneymoonOur marriage on March 21st, 1934 Finally. the day arrived, our marriage day, a huge day for us. In the morning, four cars arrived at our front door, with the first car for the bride and groom. The second car was for the parents of both sides of the family and an aunt of Dina,…
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Amsterdam, Christmas, church, Easter, family, God, Groningen, marriage, organ, ship, Stadskanaal, Vlagtwedde, Winschoten
1929-1934: Courtship and Engagement
Read More: 1929-1934: Courtship and EngagementA cold wedding party in 1929 It was the coldest winter that we ever experienced, with temperatures at an all-time low in this month. We had rented cars for the civil ceremony at the townhall of Stadskanaal in the morning and the church ceremony in the village of Onstwedde in the afternoon. But wouldn’t you…
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1916-1929: Managing the Renneborg
Read More: 1916-1929: Managing the RenneborgAs we were eating in the backroom the next day, Mom suddenly appeared and said “Dad is dying”. So we crept quietly into the front room, where he laid in his bed, gasping for air and not knowing what was happening around him.
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Dina van der Laan-Beekhuis
Read More: Dina van der Laan-BeekhuisDina’s memoirs offer fascinating details into early twentieth century life, and the story of her courting, engagement and first year of marriage with Harm.