Hunger WInter 1944-45 Page 3

The stress we lived under ALL THE TIME, was enormous. A man
could step out of the front door and be never be heard of again.
Everything had broken down. The Germans robbed the country of
every part of machinery and then destroyed the buildings. They stole
all street cars from the cities and no-one seemed to be working
anymore. My father was trying to get to the East of Holland to find
some food for the family. We had no idea if we would ever see him
again! Many did go on their bicycles and on their return were stopped
by the Germans and all was taken away including the bicycles. As a
fact I saw with my own eyes two Germans hiding in a street, and if an
unsuspecting bicyclist came down the road those two would jump in
view, always with their rifle ready to take that bike away. They were
given a note for a new bike, after the war, oh sure!

The railways were plundered.
Before the war. At the armistice.
Locomotives 890=== 165
Wagons 30,000=== 1,050
Electrical train units 300=== 5
Diesel-electric units .57=== 1

They blew up the dikes setting 500,000 acres of land (Polders) under
water what had taken many, many years to create. Damages estimated
at 10 billion dollars. That would be far more today! But that was not
enough. They now concentrated to catch every man between age 17
to 60 and they had to walk to Germany to work in the war industry.
150,000 men were picked up to work in German factories. The
resistance was enormous and the hatred of both sides had no limits.

At the village of Putten in one of the nicest parts in Holland the
underground attacked a column of trucks, an unwise thing to do. You
were dealing with Nazis and soldiers who had to follow orders or they
also died right on the spot. I read they took out many prisoners from
different places (more than 100) and just shot them because Rauter, a
high officer, was badly hurt in the attack.

One morning I saw (we lived upstairs and could look into the street)
Germans setting up a machine gun on the corner of the street where
we lived. They were trying to find men and boys over 17 to send them
to Germany on foot. This happened often and were called razzias.
They had to climb the stairs to get up to us. I shook again because my
nerves were just about to break down. They asked again where is your
husband and do you have a son hiding here? My mother was very
brave I couldn’t have talked because I shook so much. She was really
cool and said they were away hunting for food………Except my brother
was hiding one floor up in a hiding place made in the back of a storage
room. The Germans would sometimes shoot right through the ceiling
since they knew that was a favorite hiding place. We were lucky again
as the two did sit down and had a nice rest and talk. They had enough
of this game, thank God.

I knew my two older neighbors and often help them because without
food they were doing very poorly. One morning I thought that I didn’t
hear from them for a day or so and went to their door. The door was
unlocked and when I entered they were both laying dead on their bed.
Maybe one helped the other to die, I would never know. They just gave
up. Was very sad to me because I liked them a lot. A handcart came,
picked up the bodies and went off. I knew there was a mass-graveside
where they all went.

As you may have seen me write, not all Germans were Nazis. There
were also decent people. But they had to do what was ordered or they
also died. It was the German Gestapo and the SS units who were the
murderers but there were also regular army fanatics.

Since all this comes straight from my memory and not from anything
written down, I will overlook and miss a lot. So be it! But it is the
absolute truth.

The hunger became impossible. The mortality rate from the first to the
20th week in 1945 increased on the average by 167 % as compared
with the same period in 1944. The 3000 calorie level before the war
per day was now less than 400 per day. Percentages of deaths in Jan
45, increased by 54% in April. This applied to 4 million people in the
West of Holland at that time. Walking on the street became a search
for how many would drop dead between my home and where I was
going. Once an older man collapsed and fell against me, one man had
a steady route with his cart to just pick up the bodies of the ones that
had fallen to their death.

Many, many thousands were hiding all over the place and therefore we
had the German razzias trying to smoke them out. I had to watch out
also because picking up boys now became a possibility and I might
have never come home again. The American Food Transports
reported 200,000 cases of famine edema or dropsy. And I was in the
middle of that, it is no wonder that my nerves were ready to burst and I
felt sickly. If I saw as much of a German, I did hide already. Many were
Russian prisoners in German uniforms who had to do the dirty work. At
least they stayed alive until Uncle STALIN got his hands on them.

Then end April 1945 I started to not eat anymore my stomach couldn’t
accept the garbage that was left to eat. I chewed an old piece of
leather just to feel that I would eat something but I didn’t care anymore.
The neighbors we had living on the other side and which I didn’t know
very well also died. I prepared for my doomsday!

An agreement was worked out with the Red Cross and the Germans
whereby planes would fly over the cities parachuting large tins of very
dry type of toast- like bread. Eating normal food would have killed
thousands, the stomach and bowel system would not support it
anymore. I heard a German abwhere geschut (anti aircraft) opening up
on the planes but it stopped immediately.

Then on May 5th 1945 we became liberated by the Canadians. All hell
broke lose, people screaming, singing, and much crying. However
there was an aftermath for many including me. I went to work in those
first days of the liberation in a hotel where the officers got into. I
became a waiter in a matter of hours, I got close to FOOD, yes real
FOOD.

Then one of the officers in there gave me diphtheria, my last resistance
disappeared and my doctor had to get the serum to safe my life from
the Canadians, if it would have happened just days before I would not
have seen better days.

This disease creates a big and fast growing swelling in the throat
which will cut off your breathing and give very high fevers. I recovered
from that but because it took everything I had, I became paralyzed for
the next 6 months. Totally…my mother had to spoon feed me because
I couldn’t lift my arms. A Roman Catholic nurse came every day to stick
a big and long needle in my bum into the muscle with vitamin B12.
They were the ones on the job. She fed me much info about her beliefs
and I had nothing but time to read it. I always asked her questions and
she said to my mother that I would probably be good material to
become a priest.

When I recovered I saw a priest at the church who said that at age 16 I
had to wait one year and if I felt the same he would talk with me.

Well, I discovered the girls of our species and what a soft spots they
had and how well they did teach me to kiss. I learned as a priest, I
would have to give up on that, and I couldn’t just leave the girls to be
without me now…could I. Johanna (my wife, now of 54 years) came
along and I was lost to the priesthood permanently.

This then brings me to the end of the story but I can still hear the
German boots on the road marching and singing that they would
conquer England soon. I remain extremely sad about the people and
boys of my own age who didn’t make it. I almost died also. The others I
knew, and who are gone. Yes even the 60 years that past never did
release me from my experiences in that time. It still makes me so sad!

This then brings me to the end of the story but I can still hear the
German boots on the road marching and singing that they would
conquer England soon. I remain extremely sad about the people and
boys of my own age who didn’t make. I almost died also. The others I
knew, and who are gone. Yes even the 60 years that past never did
release me from my experiences in that time. It still makes me so sad!

PS. In 1960 I got type-1 diabetes. I have it now for 47 years and think
that this story may well be a contributing factor to getting diabetes.

John Vandermeer SR.
Hunger Winter 1944-45