1 00:00:16,141 --> 00:00:22,021 (narrator) Anne Frank, in her diary, June 6 1944: 2 00:00:22,105 --> 00:00:26,150 "Would the long-awaited liberation, which still seems too wonderful, 3 00:00:26,234 --> 00:00:29,653 too much like a fairy tale, ever come true?" 4 00:00:29,738 --> 00:00:33,574 "Could we be granted victory this year, 1944?" 5 00:00:33,658 --> 00:00:37,828 "We don't know yet, but hope is revived within us." 6 00:00:37,912 --> 00:00:43,917 "Now more than ever we must clench our teeth and not cry out." 7 00:00:44,002 --> 00:00:50,382 The people of Holland had lived under Nazi occupation for four long years. 8 00:01:48,817 --> 00:01:52,319 (narrator) On May 10, 1940, without a declaration of war, 9 00:01:52,445 --> 00:01:56,031 Germany struck against neutral Holland. 10 00:01:56,116 --> 00:01:59,701 Paratroopers and panzers overpowered the Dutch peacetime army, 11 00:01:59,786 --> 00:02:01,829 with its obsolete weapons. 12 00:02:11,297 --> 00:02:13,465 Using Holland's excellent roads, 13 00:02:13,550 --> 00:02:16,552 Hitler's columns raced across the flat countryside 14 00:02:16,636 --> 00:02:19,346 before the Allies could come to the rescue. 15 00:02:21,224 --> 00:02:26,019 At lunch time on May 14, 50 Heinkels attacked the port of Rotterdam. 16 00:02:27,021 --> 00:02:31,358 ln 15 minutes they started fires which destroyed the city centre 17 00:02:31,442 --> 00:02:34,736 and struck terror into the population. 18 00:02:37,866 --> 00:02:41,743 Rotterdam capitulated, and only a few hours later 19 00:02:41,828 --> 00:02:45,914 Holland decided to surrender to save other cities from a similar fate. 20 00:02:48,209 --> 00:02:53,005 That night, as Rotterdam blazed, the Dutch people were leaderless. 21 00:02:56,259 --> 00:02:59,052 The queen, with her cabinet, had escaped to Britain 22 00:02:59,137 --> 00:03:01,305 to carry on the government in exile. 23 00:03:01,389 --> 00:03:05,517 Faced with the prospect of Nazi rule, more than 300 Dutchmen, mainly Jews, 24 00:03:05,643 --> 00:03:07,477 preferred to commit suicide. 25 00:03:07,562 --> 00:03:11,064 People were stunned, bewildered, fearful. 26 00:03:11,149 --> 00:03:13,692 (speaks Dutch) 27 00:03:13,776 --> 00:03:19,364 (translator) Holland hadn't been involved in a war since Napoleon. 28 00:03:19,449 --> 00:03:22,910 We were completely stunned, 29 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:25,204 and psychologically broken. 30 00:03:26,372 --> 00:03:30,667 We had read what Hitler said, and... 31 00:03:38,384 --> 00:03:44,306 As to the Jews, l had a firm belief in what he prophesied. 32 00:03:45,642 --> 00:03:48,393 l actually believed that, yes. 33 00:03:49,479 --> 00:03:54,316 He would do away with us. Yes, l believed that. 34 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,112 We were not so very alarmed. We didn't believe all the things they said, no. 35 00:03:59,197 --> 00:04:03,825 My brother - Eddy, the oldest one - 36 00:04:03,910 --> 00:04:07,287 came to our house 37 00:04:07,372 --> 00:04:09,081 in the days the war started, 38 00:04:09,165 --> 00:04:13,961 and he said, "Come with me. Let's try to escape." 39 00:04:14,045 --> 00:04:18,465 And l remember that my mother said, "Escape? Why?" 40 00:04:18,549 --> 00:04:21,343 "l must wait for the man who brings the laundry." 41 00:04:21,427 --> 00:04:23,428 "What do you want me to escape from?" 42 00:04:23,513 --> 00:04:27,891 Maybe they were the enemy to us, but, really, true, 43 00:04:27,976 --> 00:04:31,228 they didn't see us an enemy at that moment at least, 44 00:04:31,312 --> 00:04:36,817 you see, because we were just hotel employees, 45 00:04:36,901 --> 00:04:40,946 and so long as we didn't bother them, 46 00:04:41,030 --> 00:04:43,490 they accept everything, you see. 47 00:04:43,574 --> 00:04:46,743 Like, the doorman opened the door for anybody, 48 00:04:46,828 --> 00:04:50,372 like he'd do today, like he'd done years before. 49 00:04:50,456 --> 00:04:53,750 l mean, and the bellboys did the things they had to do, 50 00:04:53,835 --> 00:04:56,169 the porter did the things that he has to do. 51 00:04:56,254 --> 00:05:01,633 Anybody, from the highest to the smallest, did his job what he did. 52 00:05:05,638 --> 00:05:08,390 (narrator) Germany imposed a new administration 53 00:05:08,474 --> 00:05:10,142 headed by a Reich commissioner 54 00:05:10,226 --> 00:05:14,563 personally responsible to Hitler and empowered to rule by decree. 55 00:05:15,982 --> 00:05:21,111 The new supreme ruler of Holland was Dr Arthur Seyss-lnquart, 56 00:05:21,195 --> 00:05:23,071 a Viennese lawyer. 57 00:05:23,197 --> 00:05:28,535 He had helped organise Austria's absorption by Germany in 1938. 58 00:05:28,619 --> 00:05:32,164 ln the Hall of Knights at The Hague, he addressed German ofticials. 59 00:05:32,248 --> 00:05:35,500 The 12 most senior Dutch civil serVants were also present. 60 00:05:36,502 --> 00:05:39,629 (speaks German) 61 00:05:50,433 --> 00:05:52,642 (narrator) He tried to reassure the Dutch 62 00:05:52,769 --> 00:05:55,604 by declaring that Nazi ideology would not be imposed. 63 00:05:55,688 --> 00:05:58,398 Germany had no imperialistic designs on Holland. 64 00:06:03,071 --> 00:06:06,823 Dutch laws would remain in force until further notice. 65 00:06:06,908 --> 00:06:08,617 Seyss-lnquart made it clear 66 00:06:08,701 --> 00:06:12,996 that the country would still be administered by Dutch civil serVants. 67 00:06:13,122 --> 00:06:16,041 Anyone who wished might resign. 68 00:06:16,125 --> 00:06:18,251 Few were to do so. 69 00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:26,468 He called for cooperation between two Germanic peoples of the same blood. 70 00:06:26,552 --> 00:06:29,179 - Sieg... - (audience) Heil! 71 00:06:29,263 --> 00:06:32,432 (orchestra plays "Deutschland über alles") 72 00:06:49,409 --> 00:06:51,618 (narrator) As a conciliatory gesture, 73 00:06:51,702 --> 00:06:55,664 Hitler ordered the release of all Dutch prisoners of war. 74 00:06:59,252 --> 00:07:01,711 People started to relax. 75 00:07:01,796 --> 00:07:04,673 The Germans promised to maintain living standards 76 00:07:04,757 --> 00:07:06,675 and to cure unemployment. 77 00:07:06,759 --> 00:07:09,302 The occupation might not be so bad after all. 78 00:07:17,854 --> 00:07:21,356 The Reich commissioner Seyss-lnquart himself 79 00:07:21,441 --> 00:07:27,154 saw oft a trainload of children on a free holiday to his native Austria. 80 00:07:39,250 --> 00:07:42,043 For the Dutch Nazi movement, the NSB, 81 00:07:42,128 --> 00:07:46,631 this was a moment of jubilation as they gathered to welcome the invaders. 82 00:07:46,716 --> 00:07:50,177 The NSB had been holding rallies here in Lunteren for years, 83 00:07:50,261 --> 00:07:54,264 but now, for the first time, instead of protesting against the regime, 84 00:07:54,348 --> 00:07:56,391 they were its champions. 85 00:07:59,479 --> 00:08:02,981 The NSB membership quadrupled to 80,000, 86 00:08:03,107 --> 00:08:05,984 although still only 1% of the population belonged. 87 00:08:07,487 --> 00:08:11,698 Like Hitler's Nazi Party, the NSB was born of the economic depression, 88 00:08:11,782 --> 00:08:16,453 fear of Bolshevism, and the promise of a revived Europe. 89 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:24,711 lt stood for order, discipline and an authoritarian state. 90 00:08:24,795 --> 00:08:28,381 (crowd sings) 91 00:08:33,137 --> 00:08:34,930 Patriotic in their fashion, 92 00:08:35,014 --> 00:08:38,016 the Dutch Nazis extolled ancient traditions, 93 00:08:38,100 --> 00:08:43,063 glorified the fatherland and promised national self-respect. 94 00:08:43,147 --> 00:08:45,690 (song continues) 95 00:08:49,570 --> 00:08:53,949 (crowd sings Dutch national anthem) 96 00:08:56,661 --> 00:08:58,203 Saluting the Dutch flag 97 00:08:58,287 --> 00:09:01,373 and singing the national anthem were part of the ritual. 98 00:09:01,457 --> 00:09:04,501 All references to the royal family, the House of Orange, 99 00:09:04,585 --> 00:09:07,462 were, however, omitted. 100 00:09:18,683 --> 00:09:20,350 (anthem ends) 101 00:09:20,434 --> 00:09:22,519 (crowd chants) 102 00:09:22,645 --> 00:09:24,813 Anton Mussert, the NSB's leader, 103 00:09:24,897 --> 00:09:28,650 was an engineer with an outstanding record in the civil serVice. 104 00:09:28,734 --> 00:09:30,110 He saw this as the moment 105 00:09:30,194 --> 00:09:33,238 for the rebirth of the Netherlands as a great power. 106 00:09:34,490 --> 00:09:37,242 Mussert moulded himself on Mussolini. 107 00:09:37,326 --> 00:09:40,620 Hitler was the Messiah sent to save Europe. 108 00:09:40,997 --> 00:09:44,958 (Mussert speaks Dutch) 109 00:10:32,590 --> 00:10:36,259 (narrator) A German bomber flew low over the crowd in salute. 110 00:10:37,428 --> 00:10:39,387 lt was just six weeks 111 00:10:39,472 --> 00:10:43,683 since the Luftwafte had spread fire and death in Rotterdam. 112 00:10:51,942 --> 00:10:54,611 (Mussert speaks Dutch) 113 00:11:04,580 --> 00:11:08,875 (crowd sings) 114 00:11:20,221 --> 00:11:22,430 (narrator) But there was another Holland. 115 00:11:23,349 --> 00:11:25,934 Astonishingly, on Prince Bernhard's birthday, 116 00:11:26,018 --> 00:11:29,771 only one week after France had fallen, thousands of ordinary Dutchmen 117 00:11:29,855 --> 00:11:32,273 spontaneously demonstrated their defiance. 118 00:11:34,944 --> 00:11:37,821 Soldiers saluted as people sang the Orange anthem 119 00:11:37,947 --> 00:11:43,743 and placed white carnations, Bernhard's favourite flower, on national monuments. 120 00:11:51,961 --> 00:11:54,879 Some saw no point in open opposition. 121 00:11:54,964 --> 00:11:57,716 A new German-approved political organisation, 122 00:11:57,800 --> 00:11:59,634 the Netherlands Union, was formed 123 00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:02,512 to unite patriots in loyalty to the occupying power. 124 00:12:02,596 --> 00:12:04,848 With most other parties gagged, 125 00:12:04,932 --> 00:12:08,476 it seemed to be a respectable alternative to the NSB. 126 00:12:08,602 --> 00:12:11,730 15% of the population joined. 127 00:12:15,860 --> 00:12:18,319 Holland was a religious country. 128 00:12:18,404 --> 00:12:22,031 Despite Hitler's claim to be the saviour of the Christian West, 129 00:12:22,116 --> 00:12:26,953 the churches were hostile to Nazism because it placed man above God. 130 00:12:27,037 --> 00:12:31,040 ln some churches, Dutch Nazis were denied communion. 131 00:12:37,423 --> 00:12:41,176 Everyone had to be fingerprinted and photographed and registered. 132 00:12:41,260 --> 00:12:43,595 The Dutch government had left instructions 133 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:45,430 for civil serVants to stay at work 134 00:12:45,514 --> 00:12:48,892 as long as they thought it was in the best interests of the people. 135 00:12:48,976 --> 00:12:53,521 Now they were systematically issuing identity cards to the entire population. 136 00:12:56,650 --> 00:12:59,944 The Germans introduced a racial questionnaire. 137 00:13:00,029 --> 00:13:02,947 (speaks Dutch) 138 00:13:03,032 --> 00:13:05,742 (translator) Very shortly after the occupation, 139 00:13:05,826 --> 00:13:09,037 two men from the German security police came to me and asked, 140 00:13:09,121 --> 00:13:11,831 "Are there any Jews in your municipality?" 141 00:13:11,916 --> 00:13:16,085 l told them it was true there are no Jews in my municipality. 142 00:13:16,170 --> 00:13:19,088 But that was my first mistake. 143 00:13:22,301 --> 00:13:26,471 Because by answering that question you accept racial discrimination. 144 00:13:26,555 --> 00:13:29,182 And you had to fill in a form. 145 00:13:29,266 --> 00:13:32,227 One passage was if you had any Jewish grandparents. 146 00:13:32,311 --> 00:13:34,395 l had none, so l said no. 147 00:13:35,105 --> 00:13:37,899 Then you went home and didn't realise 148 00:13:37,983 --> 00:13:40,610 that you'd helped in cornering the Jews 149 00:13:40,694 --> 00:13:42,779 and making them vulnerable 150 00:13:42,863 --> 00:13:44,614 and bringing them in a position 151 00:13:44,698 --> 00:13:47,659 where they could later on be transported and gassed. 152 00:13:47,743 --> 00:13:49,828 You didn't realise. 153 00:13:49,912 --> 00:13:54,958 After a year of being politicised a little bit better, 154 00:13:55,042 --> 00:13:59,379 you got more agitations on what such a declaration really meant. 155 00:13:59,505 --> 00:14:03,842 But the first impression is: your age, your address, 156 00:14:03,926 --> 00:14:07,262 grandparents of Jewish origin? No. OK. 157 00:14:08,264 --> 00:14:11,015 You see? lt is so... lt was a process. 158 00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:19,065 Step by step the process of infiltration of this Nazism in the society was there. 159 00:14:22,236 --> 00:14:25,446 (narrator) All Jews were dismissed from public oftice. 160 00:14:25,531 --> 00:14:29,117 The Germans began to segregate Jews from other Dutchmen. 161 00:14:29,201 --> 00:14:32,495 They were banned from cafés and parks. 162 00:14:38,752 --> 00:14:42,964 ln Amsterdam, black-shirted NSB men marched into a working-class area, 163 00:14:43,048 --> 00:14:47,510 pulled Jews out of pubs and beat them up in the streets. 164 00:14:53,309 --> 00:14:56,019 Jewish self-defence groups fought back. 165 00:14:56,103 --> 00:14:59,772 A Dutch Nazi was killed, a Gestapo man injured. 166 00:15:04,111 --> 00:15:07,155 As a reprisal, the Germans snatched 400 young Jews 167 00:15:07,239 --> 00:15:09,824 at random oft the street, beat them up, 168 00:15:09,909 --> 00:15:15,121 and sent them oft to Mauthausen, already known to be a death camp. 169 00:15:16,874 --> 00:15:21,210 A Communist street cleaner, Piet Nak, following his party's instructions, 170 00:15:21,295 --> 00:15:25,924 stood up in the street and urged Amsterdammers to protest. 171 00:15:26,008 --> 00:15:28,092 (speaks Dutch) 172 00:15:30,095 --> 00:15:33,973 (translator) What drove me personally, but l think the other people too, 173 00:15:34,058 --> 00:15:36,351 we were filled with an overwhelming hate. 174 00:15:36,435 --> 00:15:39,062 We'd never seen anything like that in Amsterdam. 175 00:15:39,146 --> 00:15:41,689 Lots of people, just because they were Jewish, 176 00:15:41,774 --> 00:15:46,027 men, women and children - there were no exceptions. 177 00:15:46,111 --> 00:15:49,238 People just arrested and beaten up. 178 00:15:49,323 --> 00:15:53,785 You see... Well, what would you do if you saw someone in the water? 179 00:15:54,662 --> 00:15:56,955 Of course you'd dive in and get him out. 180 00:15:57,039 --> 00:16:01,167 You don't ask if the water's clean or dirty. You are filled with anger. 181 00:16:01,251 --> 00:16:03,795 There was nothing we could do but go on strike. 182 00:16:03,879 --> 00:16:08,216 l wouldn't have known what else we could do. There was no other way. 183 00:16:10,636 --> 00:16:12,720 (speaks Dutch) 184 00:16:17,893 --> 00:16:20,728 (translator) Thousands in a tightly packed column 185 00:16:20,813 --> 00:16:23,147 marched through the streets in Amsterdam, 186 00:16:23,232 --> 00:16:26,651 while the Germans circled round them in tanks. 187 00:16:29,071 --> 00:16:32,865 Of course the demonstrators weren't armed, 188 00:16:32,950 --> 00:16:36,202 yet they found a weapon in marching and singing. 189 00:16:36,286 --> 00:16:42,083 So they marched along the Rozengracht singing the internationaie. 190 00:16:42,167 --> 00:16:43,334 (Nak speaks Dutch) 191 00:16:43,419 --> 00:16:45,753 (translator) The second day of the strike 192 00:16:45,838 --> 00:16:48,840 we held a meeting at the cleansing department. 193 00:16:51,301 --> 00:16:55,096 The boss there wanted us to start work in the afternoon of the second day, 194 00:16:55,180 --> 00:17:00,893 but we had already decided we would only go back on the third day. 195 00:17:05,357 --> 00:17:06,691 (narrator) The trams, 196 00:17:06,775 --> 00:17:11,654 which had signalled the start of the strike, signalled its end. 197 00:17:11,739 --> 00:17:15,825 The Germans had shot down nine people. To continue would mean a bloodbath. 198 00:17:15,909 --> 00:17:19,454 For 48 hours, workmen, shopkeepers and businessmen 199 00:17:19,538 --> 00:17:22,540 had staged a unique strike in defence of the Jews. 200 00:17:22,624 --> 00:17:24,709 (Nak speaks Dutch) 201 00:17:26,962 --> 00:17:29,130 (translator) My personal opinion is, 202 00:17:29,214 --> 00:17:36,220 put yourself in the place of the Jewish people of Amsterdam. 203 00:17:36,305 --> 00:17:38,973 They felt they'd been deserted, left on their own, 204 00:17:39,058 --> 00:17:42,185 but because of this strike there must have been many Jews, 205 00:17:42,269 --> 00:17:44,228 well, you can't really say many, 206 00:17:44,313 --> 00:17:47,356 but if you ask if it did any good, l say this: 207 00:17:47,441 --> 00:17:49,442 if just one Jew in the gas chamber 208 00:17:49,526 --> 00:17:52,737 felt that the workers of Amsterdam had not deserted him, 209 00:17:52,863 --> 00:17:54,906 then it wasn't for nothing. 210 00:17:56,533 --> 00:17:59,118 (narrator) Faced with such bold opposition, 211 00:17:59,203 --> 00:18:02,371 the Germans now abandoned what was left of conciliation. 212 00:18:02,456 --> 00:18:05,625 The mayors of three towns who had been lenient with strikers 213 00:18:05,709 --> 00:18:08,211 were replaced by Dutch Nazis. 214 00:18:08,295 --> 00:18:11,714 NSB leaders, though not allowed to form a government, 215 00:18:11,799 --> 00:18:15,218 were installed in positions of power. 216 00:18:15,302 --> 00:18:19,055 The head of the Netherlands Bank was Rost van Tonningen. 217 00:18:19,139 --> 00:18:24,018 (woman) My husband joined the NSB in 1936. 218 00:18:24,103 --> 00:18:26,562 He was very interested in the work of Hitler, 219 00:18:26,647 --> 00:18:29,899 what he was doing in Germany. 220 00:18:29,983 --> 00:18:36,197 ln Holland, the situation was quite difterent from Germany. 221 00:18:36,281 --> 00:18:39,200 We have big poorness here in Holland, 222 00:18:39,284 --> 00:18:41,452 we have no buildings, 223 00:18:41,537 --> 00:18:46,749 three-quarters of the population had no work, 224 00:18:46,834 --> 00:18:49,168 and they had bad clothes, 225 00:18:49,253 --> 00:18:53,756 so it was really not a very good situation in Holland. 226 00:18:53,882 --> 00:18:57,677 Before l joined the NSB, l was in the youth movement. 227 00:18:57,761 --> 00:19:01,264 The only difterence between the NSB and the youth movement 228 00:19:01,348 --> 00:19:03,766 was that it was not a political movement. 229 00:19:04,268 --> 00:19:12,108 The Jeugdstorm was to bring the children who came from poor parents together, 230 00:19:12,442 --> 00:19:18,531 to give them ideals, to work in teamwork for another person. 231 00:19:18,615 --> 00:19:23,369 Of course, we looked to the youth movement in Germany. 232 00:19:23,453 --> 00:19:26,956 lt was quite difterent, because a German has a German character 233 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,917 and a Dutchman has a Dutch character. 234 00:19:30,002 --> 00:19:33,004 So we tried in the movement of the NSB, 235 00:19:33,088 --> 00:19:36,507 because we saw the ideal, 236 00:19:36,592 --> 00:19:39,218 we saw the danger of the Bolshevism, 237 00:19:39,303 --> 00:19:46,142 and our thinking was to work there, to make them a big movement, 238 00:19:46,226 --> 00:19:48,603 to try to help Europe, 239 00:19:48,687 --> 00:19:54,859 as a big united Europe from several kinds of countries who work together. 240 00:19:54,943 --> 00:19:57,069 (man speaks Dutch) 241 00:19:57,154 --> 00:19:59,697 (narrator) Another Dutch Nazi, Woudenberg, 242 00:19:59,781 --> 00:20:01,866 was put in charge of the trade unions. 243 00:20:01,950 --> 00:20:08,998 My father, l think, worked and he lived from a religious base, 244 00:20:09,082 --> 00:20:12,668 without calling it God 245 00:20:12,753 --> 00:20:15,046 or some other religion's name. 246 00:20:15,130 --> 00:20:19,884 My father was a well-known man. He was a hated man. 247 00:20:19,968 --> 00:20:24,055 There was a possibility for me to go to Germany, 248 00:20:24,139 --> 00:20:28,142 to this National Socialistic educating institute. 249 00:20:28,227 --> 00:20:33,356 lt was a school, like Eton school or something like that. 250 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:39,362 We wore uniforms, and we had the feeling 251 00:20:39,446 --> 00:20:42,990 that we were a selected group, better than the others. 252 00:20:43,075 --> 00:20:47,036 And, you know, you feel happy when you have that feeling. 253 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:53,459 And in a very short time l was educated in this SS thinking, 254 00:20:53,543 --> 00:20:57,922 a great Germanistic empire, and there was no reason 255 00:20:58,006 --> 00:21:03,052 for me to think about Holland and the Netherlands in school. 256 00:21:03,136 --> 00:21:09,058 l knew there should be one thing done - this war had to be won. 257 00:21:09,142 --> 00:21:12,812 When l had the age, l had to be a soldier, 258 00:21:12,896 --> 00:21:19,568 to fight so that we could leave behind that little small country 259 00:21:19,653 --> 00:21:25,700 and we come to new situations, this great Germanistic empire. 260 00:21:25,784 --> 00:21:29,245 - (man) Heil der Führer! - (crowd) Heil! 261 00:21:29,329 --> 00:21:31,539 (narrator) June 1941 . 262 00:21:31,623 --> 00:21:36,085 The NSB called for support for Germany's attack on Russia. 263 00:21:36,169 --> 00:21:39,630 Mussert urged Dutchmen to unite for Hitler, 264 00:21:39,715 --> 00:21:43,551 against Stalin, against Churchill. 265 00:21:43,635 --> 00:21:46,554 (Mussert speaks Dutch) 266 00:21:47,806 --> 00:21:49,974 (crowd chants) 267 00:21:55,981 --> 00:21:58,566 (repeated drumbeat of "V" in Morse code) 268 00:22:03,697 --> 00:22:05,781 (man) Beep beep beep beep. 269 00:22:05,866 --> 00:22:08,075 (conversation in Dutch) 270 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,996 (translator) First it would start, "Beep beep beep" and "Radio Orange". 271 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:13,998 There you were, sitting in the dark. 272 00:22:14,082 --> 00:22:17,209 You could only have a little light, a candle or something, 273 00:22:17,294 --> 00:22:18,586 and we would listen. 274 00:22:18,670 --> 00:22:22,256 (radio crackles) 275 00:22:22,341 --> 00:22:25,051 (narrator) Hundreds of thousands risked arrest 276 00:22:25,135 --> 00:22:27,678 to listen to Dutch broadcasts from London, 277 00:22:27,804 --> 00:22:29,638 their only trusted source of news. 278 00:22:29,723 --> 00:22:35,102 The radio urged patriots to daub up signs "OZO" - "Orange will win", 279 00:22:35,187 --> 00:22:37,271 and "V" for "victory". 280 00:22:37,356 --> 00:22:40,524 Goebbels started a not very convincing countercampaign - 281 00:22:40,609 --> 00:22:43,486 "V" stood for "German victory on all fronts". 282 00:22:43,570 --> 00:22:47,740 (man) Early in '41 , we decided to start a political cabaret. 283 00:22:47,824 --> 00:22:51,786 We looked in all the gramophone shops 284 00:22:51,870 --> 00:22:54,246 in London for old Dutch records. 285 00:22:54,331 --> 00:22:57,375 We used the tunes of these records 286 00:22:57,459 --> 00:22:59,418 and put new words to the tunes, 287 00:22:59,503 --> 00:23:02,254 so that every Dutchman could whistle the tune 288 00:23:02,381 --> 00:23:06,884 and then every other Dutchman knew he had heard that from Radio Orange. 289 00:23:06,968 --> 00:23:10,721 (piano plays song intro) 290 00:23:10,806 --> 00:23:14,558 (woman sings "Lied van de watergeus") 291 00:23:45,382 --> 00:23:49,635 (woman) There were two boys who came over to England in a canoe. 292 00:23:49,719 --> 00:23:51,929 They were introduced to me, 293 00:23:52,013 --> 00:23:55,433 and they realised all of a sudden who l was. 294 00:23:55,517 --> 00:24:01,981 They looked at me in such a strange way, 295 00:24:02,065 --> 00:24:08,154 and they said, "ls that you, this girl, this voice?" 296 00:24:08,238 --> 00:24:14,326 And l said, "Yes." And they said, "May l touch you?" 297 00:24:14,411 --> 00:24:17,413 And l said, "Certainly." They were... 298 00:24:17,497 --> 00:24:20,749 Something happened, something strange, 299 00:24:20,876 --> 00:24:24,753 and all of a sudden l realised what l meant. 300 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,882 Not l, but what this voice, 301 00:24:28,008 --> 00:24:34,889 the whole thing we meant to do with it, what happened in an occupied country. 302 00:24:40,645 --> 00:24:44,273 (narrator) On the surface, life in Holland seemed to go on as usual. 303 00:24:44,357 --> 00:24:46,525 Under the patronage of Seyss-lnquart, 304 00:24:46,610 --> 00:24:49,653 Holland's most famous conductor, Willem Mengelberg, 305 00:24:49,738 --> 00:24:55,576 still gave dazzling performances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. 306 00:24:55,660 --> 00:24:58,787 (♪ "Egmont Overture" - Beethoven) 307 00:25:06,546 --> 00:25:11,675 (narrator) But all the time the Germans were steadily tightening their grip. 308 00:25:11,801 --> 00:25:15,137 By 1942, the invaders began to fortify the coast. 309 00:25:15,222 --> 00:25:20,100 They evacuated resorts where people had holidayed only two years before. 310 00:25:20,185 --> 00:25:26,148 The Germans conscripted more and more workers for forced labour. 311 00:25:26,775 --> 00:25:30,402 Those who resisted, they imprisoned and shot. 312 00:25:35,992 --> 00:25:39,119 There was no sign of an Allied victory, 313 00:25:39,246 --> 00:25:43,082 no sign of when Holland would again be free. 314 00:25:46,002 --> 00:25:48,629 (♪ "Egmont Overture" - Beethoven) 315 00:25:52,676 --> 00:25:57,054 German promises not to impose their ideology were now forgotten. 316 00:25:57,138 --> 00:26:00,432 All performing artists, writers and painters 317 00:26:00,517 --> 00:26:03,602 had to join Nazi-controlled cultural guilds. 318 00:26:03,687 --> 00:26:08,232 Only music approved by the censors could be played. 319 00:26:26,793 --> 00:26:32,506 Jewish composers were banned and players of Jewish origin sacked. 320 00:26:33,842 --> 00:26:37,052 Slowly, resistance was organised - 321 00:26:37,137 --> 00:26:40,347 weapons and explosives for sabotage, 322 00:26:40,432 --> 00:26:44,768 an underground press, printed and distributed at terrible risk. 323 00:26:47,647 --> 00:26:50,232 The few thousand men in resistance groups 324 00:26:50,317 --> 00:26:52,610 became Holland's conscience. 325 00:26:52,694 --> 00:26:57,156 (man sings "Kleine Greetje uit de polder") 326 00:27:00,243 --> 00:27:03,370 (narrator) The illegal papers urged people not to attend 327 00:27:03,455 --> 00:27:06,582 German-sponsored all-Aryan sports meetings. 328 00:27:10,170 --> 00:27:14,214 But attendances rose - people wanted to escape the war. 329 00:27:14,299 --> 00:27:16,383 (song continues) 330 00:27:25,977 --> 00:27:29,938 The Resistance also urged people not to listen to German-controlled radio 331 00:27:30,023 --> 00:27:32,983 which poured out pop songs and propaganda. 332 00:27:33,068 --> 00:27:35,778 Popular entertainers like Eddy Christiani 333 00:27:35,862 --> 00:27:39,406 walked a tightrope between collaboration and resistance. 334 00:27:39,491 --> 00:27:43,160 You must live. So to listen to music, 335 00:27:43,244 --> 00:27:47,164 l know it's maybe collaboration, 336 00:27:47,248 --> 00:27:51,669 but then the whole Dutch people have collaborated. 337 00:27:51,753 --> 00:27:55,756 You couldn't listen to another station than the German station. 338 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,468 See what l mean? And you can say maybe, 339 00:27:59,552 --> 00:28:03,931 "l don't like the German music. l never listened during the war to music," 340 00:28:04,015 --> 00:28:09,395 but if for one week you're at home and it is in absolute silence, 341 00:28:09,479 --> 00:28:11,271 you don't hear nothing at all, 342 00:28:11,356 --> 00:28:16,819 then in one weak moment you put on your radio and you hear music 343 00:28:16,903 --> 00:28:19,863 and you don't care if it's German or Chinese. 344 00:28:19,948 --> 00:28:23,409 lt's much better than to hear still the bombing or the aeroplanes 345 00:28:23,493 --> 00:28:25,119 or the shouting of the Germans. 346 00:28:25,245 --> 00:28:27,162 (band plays marching tune) 347 00:28:27,247 --> 00:28:30,499 lt was allowed for the Dutch people to sit down 348 00:28:30,583 --> 00:28:32,960 and just listen to music, but no dancing. 349 00:28:33,044 --> 00:28:36,004 lt was also forbidden to make show with your orchestra. 350 00:28:36,089 --> 00:28:39,258 lt was not allowed for a trumpet player to play a muted trumpet, 351 00:28:39,384 --> 00:28:45,681 you see, like, let's say, Duke Ellington, to crow. 352 00:28:45,765 --> 00:28:49,393 lt was forbidden for a trumpet player or for a saxophone player 353 00:28:49,477 --> 00:28:54,940 to make a movement with his instrument, like swaying. 354 00:28:55,024 --> 00:29:01,196 lt was forbidden to play a higher note than a C, a written C, 355 00:29:01,281 --> 00:29:03,824 because that was all Negro music, 356 00:29:03,950 --> 00:29:07,745 and they say in Germany Negro music was music of the devil, 357 00:29:07,829 --> 00:29:11,999 and we are now a cultivated people, and so were the Germans, 358 00:29:12,125 --> 00:29:16,962 so we have to play proper, cultivated music. 359 00:29:17,046 --> 00:29:19,673 At that time, of course, you had some ofticers 360 00:29:19,758 --> 00:29:21,592 who were looking for nice girls. 361 00:29:21,676 --> 00:29:25,304 Today you have customers in the hotel all looking for nice girls. 362 00:29:25,388 --> 00:29:28,640 lf they want some nice girl, you could find some nice girl. 363 00:29:28,725 --> 00:29:33,061 l still can find some nice girls today for them if they ask for it, you know? 364 00:29:33,146 --> 00:29:36,815 But l must say, there was... 365 00:29:36,900 --> 00:29:40,110 He was... How do you call it? 366 00:29:40,195 --> 00:29:42,446 He had his oftice at the Museum Square 367 00:29:42,530 --> 00:29:47,618 and he was, you may say, town commander of Amsterdam, 368 00:29:47,702 --> 00:29:49,870 and he was a guy, you know... 369 00:29:49,954 --> 00:29:53,707 l mean, today they would say a playboy, you know? 370 00:29:53,833 --> 00:29:56,877 He was a German playboy in uniform. 371 00:29:57,003 --> 00:30:01,799 He had his own two seats in one of the cinemas and the City Theatre. 372 00:30:01,883 --> 00:30:08,222 And later on, l have been many times to the City Theatre with his card, 373 00:30:08,306 --> 00:30:12,351 because those seats was not allowed for anybody to sit down. 374 00:30:12,435 --> 00:30:16,855 But two employees, like me, youngsters, you know, 375 00:30:18,066 --> 00:30:20,984 sat down there at the invitation of the commander. 376 00:30:21,903 --> 00:30:24,071 So we had fun about it. 377 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,491 (narrator) One film which had to be shown in every Dutch town 378 00:30:27,575 --> 00:30:29,368 was The Eternal Jew. 379 00:30:29,452 --> 00:30:34,498 (Dutch newsreel) They have always moved over the Earth like parasites. 380 00:30:34,582 --> 00:30:36,708 Their journey started in Asia. 381 00:30:36,793 --> 00:30:42,589 From there they moved via Russia and the Balkans into Europe. 382 00:30:42,674 --> 00:30:47,553 Halfway through the 18th century, they were spread across Europe. 383 00:30:47,637 --> 00:30:50,597 Towards the end of the 19th century, 384 00:30:50,682 --> 00:30:54,142 they used ships to take over America too. 385 00:30:57,188 --> 00:31:01,275 Where rats appear, they bring death and depravity. 386 00:31:01,359 --> 00:31:04,570 They destroy human property and food. 387 00:31:04,654 --> 00:31:09,032 They spread pests, leprosy, typhus and cholera. 388 00:31:09,117 --> 00:31:13,620 They're vicious, cruel cowards, who prefer to move in big groups. 389 00:31:20,253 --> 00:31:21,795 (narrator) Made in Germany, 390 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,423 the film was part of the carefully prepared campaign 391 00:31:24,507 --> 00:31:27,050 to foster fear and loathing of the Jews. 392 00:31:28,595 --> 00:31:31,763 (Dutch newsreel) The assimilation has reached its maximum 393 00:31:31,848 --> 00:31:34,850 here in the second and third generations. 394 00:31:34,934 --> 00:31:39,354 They try to imitate the host people in their appearance. 395 00:31:39,439 --> 00:31:44,735 The host people sometimes let themselves be fooled 396 00:31:44,819 --> 00:31:48,363 and consider the Jews to be their equals. 397 00:31:48,448 --> 00:31:50,657 That's where the danger lies. 398 00:31:52,785 --> 00:31:54,870 (narrator) ln each occupied country, 399 00:31:54,954 --> 00:31:59,041 the film's message was sharpened by inserting local material. 400 00:31:59,125 --> 00:32:02,794 (Dutch newsreel) These assimilated Dutch Jews 401 00:32:02,879 --> 00:32:05,005 are and always will be strange elements 402 00:32:05,089 --> 00:32:08,759 in the organism of the host people, no matter how hard they try. 403 00:32:08,843 --> 00:32:11,762 (narrator) The Germans were now putting into eftect 404 00:32:11,846 --> 00:32:15,057 their plan to destroy all the Jews in Europe. 405 00:32:15,975 --> 00:32:19,394 The local population had first to be won over to cooperation, 406 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:21,521 or at least to acquiescence. 407 00:32:21,606 --> 00:32:24,274 There were 140,000 Jews in Holland. 408 00:32:24,359 --> 00:32:29,112 ln May 1942, they were ordered to wear the yellow Star of David. 409 00:32:29,197 --> 00:32:32,199 By that autumn, they were being rounded up 410 00:32:32,283 --> 00:32:34,618 and on their way to concentration camps. 411 00:32:34,702 --> 00:32:37,704 lt was forbidden for Jewish people to go to the movies, 412 00:32:37,830 --> 00:32:40,082 to go to the park, to go to anything. 413 00:32:40,166 --> 00:32:43,794 But my brother discovered it was for a long time possible 414 00:32:43,878 --> 00:32:47,047 to rent a boat and do some sailing on the Amstel. 415 00:32:47,131 --> 00:32:49,800 One Saturday a little boy fell in the water 416 00:32:49,884 --> 00:32:54,137 and immediately my brother jumped after the boy and brought him out, 417 00:32:54,222 --> 00:32:58,767 and it was the son of a Fascist living in our street. 418 00:32:58,851 --> 00:33:01,603 The mother of that little boy 419 00:33:01,688 --> 00:33:08,652 was very, very thankful to that Jewish boy who saved her only son, 420 00:33:08,736 --> 00:33:13,991 and she said to him, "lf l ever can do something for you, 421 00:33:14,075 --> 00:33:15,993 then come to my house." 422 00:33:16,077 --> 00:33:19,663 And he went away but... 423 00:33:19,747 --> 00:33:25,210 He was not yet downstairs, immediately he went back, and he said, 424 00:33:25,294 --> 00:33:28,338 "You said something maybe l can use." 425 00:33:28,423 --> 00:33:31,091 "Please write me a note that l saved your son." 426 00:33:31,175 --> 00:33:34,511 "That's the only thing l ask." She said, "l'll do that for you." 427 00:33:34,595 --> 00:33:36,388 And l remember her letter, 428 00:33:36,472 --> 00:33:40,350 in which she wrote that that boy saved her only child, 429 00:33:40,435 --> 00:33:44,354 with German greetings, Heil Hitier, she wrote under that letter. 430 00:33:44,439 --> 00:33:47,315 And l remember my mother, she was so mad at him. 431 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,609 She hit him. She said, "You are crazy." 432 00:33:49,694 --> 00:33:53,363 "Why did you do that for? Now they know your address." 433 00:33:53,448 --> 00:33:55,824 "Maybe they are coming tomorrow." 434 00:33:55,908 --> 00:33:59,453 She didn't realise they had all the addresses. 435 00:33:59,537 --> 00:34:01,329 And... 436 00:34:01,414 --> 00:34:04,750 Well, one day we were actually hauled, all of us, 437 00:34:04,834 --> 00:34:06,585 and were brought to the theatre. 438 00:34:06,669 --> 00:34:09,588 There were tables and there were people writing things, 439 00:34:09,672 --> 00:34:11,715 and there were sacks, and there was... 440 00:34:11,799 --> 00:34:14,468 lt was terrible. But anyhow... 441 00:34:14,594 --> 00:34:19,431 There was a man looking at us, looking... 442 00:34:20,475 --> 00:34:22,184 "ls that your family?" 443 00:34:22,268 --> 00:34:26,271 "All right. You can go home, all of you." 444 00:34:27,315 --> 00:34:30,859 And this was really unbelievable, 445 00:34:30,943 --> 00:34:34,571 to walk on the street again at six o'clock in the morning, 446 00:34:34,655 --> 00:34:35,822 to be free again. 447 00:34:35,907 --> 00:34:41,661 But for the first time, now we were absolutely safe. 448 00:34:41,746 --> 00:34:44,956 We were in their hands and they sent us home. 449 00:34:45,041 --> 00:34:48,877 We were tired, but we never go to bed. No, my mother made coftee. 450 00:34:48,961 --> 00:34:51,463 We felt so safe, yes. 451 00:34:51,547 --> 00:34:54,674 They hauled us from our house, you know how many times? 452 00:34:54,759 --> 00:35:00,013 1 1 times they played that game of cat and mouse with us. 453 00:35:00,098 --> 00:35:04,684 We knew exactly how it went. Then the man came, he sent us home. 454 00:35:04,769 --> 00:35:07,604 The last time he said it was now long enough, 455 00:35:07,688 --> 00:35:11,691 that game ten times, 1 1 times, for only one child. 456 00:35:11,776 --> 00:35:15,278 The whole family Koopman must go to Vught now. 457 00:35:16,072 --> 00:35:18,448 (narrator) Loads of Jews in goods wagons 458 00:35:18,533 --> 00:35:22,035 arrived at transit camps at Vught and Westerbork. 459 00:35:34,507 --> 00:35:37,300 Their names and papers were checked by clerks, 460 00:35:37,385 --> 00:35:39,678 some of them themselves Jews. 461 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,890 Then they were sent east, supposedly to be resettled. 462 00:35:43,975 --> 00:35:49,229 ln fact, to be gassed and cremated in Sobibór and Auschwitz. 463 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:56,236 The Resistance called for strikes and sabotage. 464 00:35:56,362 --> 00:36:01,533 Railwaymen and police, under German control, did not respond. 465 00:36:01,617 --> 00:36:04,411 The trains ran on time. 466 00:36:07,123 --> 00:36:13,378 Of Holland's 140,000 Jews, 105,000 perished. 467 00:36:14,964 --> 00:36:20,093 (Van Der Deen) l came there on the platform and there were 24 people - 468 00:36:20,178 --> 00:36:24,181 young and old, ladies, children, men - 469 00:36:24,265 --> 00:36:28,226 chained together in an iron chain. 470 00:36:28,311 --> 00:36:32,272 And they were, of course, transported to Germany to be gassed. 471 00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:35,650 Four Germans were there - three at one side with Tommy guns, 472 00:36:35,735 --> 00:36:38,528 and one on the other side of the group. 473 00:36:38,613 --> 00:36:42,240 l was alone, it was 12 o'clock, 474 00:36:42,325 --> 00:36:45,911 you were in the midst of a city on a railway platform. 475 00:36:45,995 --> 00:36:49,915 What could you do? lf l could, by surprise, 476 00:36:49,999 --> 00:36:52,792 shoot down the three, the other man was there. 477 00:36:52,877 --> 00:36:55,587 With my pistol, l was helpless. 478 00:36:55,671 --> 00:36:57,547 But even when you got all four, 479 00:36:57,632 --> 00:37:02,302 what can you do with 24 people who are all linked together 480 00:37:02,386 --> 00:37:04,930 in the midst of the day after a shooting party 481 00:37:05,014 --> 00:37:08,183 in a place that's crowded with Germans? 482 00:37:08,267 --> 00:37:10,852 So you walk away. 483 00:37:10,937 --> 00:37:14,564 And that is absolutely terrible, 484 00:37:14,649 --> 00:37:17,400 and if you have that experience, 485 00:37:17,485 --> 00:37:23,740 you have a new stimulus to risk yourself for the few possibilities we had. 486 00:37:23,824 --> 00:37:26,534 l stayed for a long time in Vught. 487 00:37:26,619 --> 00:37:32,290 Till the last Jewish prisoners, l stay in Vught. 488 00:37:32,375 --> 00:37:34,459 And... 489 00:37:34,543 --> 00:37:40,715 Well, you see, Maurice, the boy who tried to save us, 490 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,885 must leave me, which was terrible. 491 00:37:43,970 --> 00:37:47,931 My parents after four weeks, but he after... 492 00:37:48,015 --> 00:37:49,933 Nine months, we stayed together. 493 00:37:50,017 --> 00:37:54,938 And he took care of me like my father should have done, or my husband. 494 00:37:55,022 --> 00:37:56,898 l had not a husband at that time. 495 00:37:56,983 --> 00:38:00,443 lt was touching, the way he tried to take care of his sister. 496 00:38:00,528 --> 00:38:03,363 He worked in the night. He was very left-handed. 497 00:38:03,447 --> 00:38:05,740 He tried to sew things for other prisoners 498 00:38:05,866 --> 00:38:11,413 just to get a little bit more food - that dreadful food - for his sister. 499 00:38:11,497 --> 00:38:17,419 And after nine months he had to go, and l should have gone with him, 500 00:38:17,503 --> 00:38:20,964 but it was not allowed because l had roodvonk. 501 00:38:21,090 --> 00:38:24,342 l don't know... scarlet fever, l had that. 502 00:38:24,427 --> 00:38:28,638 And that was one of the dirty things of the Germans - 503 00:38:28,723 --> 00:38:32,684 when you were sick you couldn't go to the gas chamber. 504 00:38:32,768 --> 00:38:34,894 No. First you had to recover. 505 00:38:34,979 --> 00:38:37,480 They gave you the illusion nothing happened 506 00:38:37,565 --> 00:38:39,941 because they don't send you on a transport 507 00:38:40,026 --> 00:38:42,485 when you are sick. So l had to... 508 00:38:42,570 --> 00:38:44,779 My brother, he came to say goodbye to me. 509 00:38:44,864 --> 00:38:47,073 l was looking at him and l was thinking, 510 00:38:47,158 --> 00:38:51,661 "For heaven's sake, he can't go, not in these poor clothes." 511 00:38:51,746 --> 00:38:57,250 He was small, you see, and l gave him one of my jackets, 512 00:38:57,335 --> 00:39:01,671 and l was thinking, "lt's closing the other way around, but who cares?" 513 00:39:01,797 --> 00:39:06,468 And l gave him a pair of my boots. And... 514 00:39:06,552 --> 00:39:13,850 l looked at him when he walked away from the barrack, at his back, 515 00:39:13,934 --> 00:39:16,936 and from the back he looked like me, 516 00:39:17,063 --> 00:39:21,274 and l was sure l'd never see him again. 517 00:39:21,359 --> 00:39:23,443 l was sure. 518 00:39:24,653 --> 00:39:26,821 We failed as a nation. 519 00:39:26,906 --> 00:39:30,450 We didn't make one milieu with the Jews. 520 00:39:30,534 --> 00:39:36,956 We did it, a part of the group did it, of the Netherlands, far too late. 521 00:39:37,041 --> 00:39:39,793 We had been neutral in the First World War, 522 00:39:39,877 --> 00:39:43,004 we thought we should be neutral in the Second World War - 523 00:39:43,089 --> 00:39:44,756 all this stupid nonsense. 524 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:50,261 And then, having a sense of protest 525 00:39:50,346 --> 00:39:53,765 isn't the same thing as translating it to relevant action. 526 00:39:54,350 --> 00:39:56,393 (marching music) 527 00:40:02,149 --> 00:40:04,234 (narrator) As the war went on, 528 00:40:04,318 --> 00:40:06,069 the Germans stepped up appeals 529 00:40:06,153 --> 00:40:09,364 for recruits to fight with them in Russia. 530 00:40:09,448 --> 00:40:12,450 ln all, 25,000 Dutchmen volunteered - 531 00:40:12,535 --> 00:40:17,080 in proportion to its size, the biggest contingent from any occupied country. 532 00:40:18,916 --> 00:40:21,543 Only half returned. 533 00:40:42,940 --> 00:40:46,067 At the same time, German decrees forced able-bodied men 534 00:40:46,152 --> 00:40:50,447 to report as conscript labour to work in German war factories. 535 00:40:55,995 --> 00:40:58,496 Rather than be separated from their families, 536 00:40:58,581 --> 00:41:01,291 tens of thousands now tried to go into hiding. 537 00:41:04,295 --> 00:41:08,006 Police spot checks on papers made draft-dodging difticult. 538 00:41:08,132 --> 00:41:11,009 Another problem was the ration-card system 539 00:41:11,135 --> 00:41:14,721 administered by Dutch civil serVants. 540 00:41:14,805 --> 00:41:19,309 One of their tasks was to keep a vigilant lookout for irregularities. 541 00:41:19,393 --> 00:41:23,188 This was because the Resistance, now bigger and better organised, 542 00:41:23,272 --> 00:41:27,984 forged stamps and stole ration books to feed the growing numbers in hiding. 543 00:41:28,068 --> 00:41:33,573 (woman) We had special organisations providing people with hiding places, 544 00:41:33,657 --> 00:41:35,992 and they knew our address. 545 00:41:36,076 --> 00:41:43,166 So when they had somebody who had to be hidden at once, 546 00:41:43,250 --> 00:41:46,002 they knew they could always bring them to us 547 00:41:46,086 --> 00:41:50,006 because we always had two sleeping places 548 00:41:50,090 --> 00:41:55,470 reserVed for such urgent cases, you see? 549 00:41:55,554 --> 00:41:59,432 And most of the time they were people who didn't stay long, 550 00:41:59,517 --> 00:42:02,519 sometimes for a weekend, and then, in the meantime, 551 00:42:02,603 --> 00:42:07,273 they tried to find another safer place for them where they could stay. 552 00:42:07,358 --> 00:42:10,193 (man) ln a small room, l think... 553 00:42:10,277 --> 00:42:16,908 Well, some... four yards, five yards, 554 00:42:16,992 --> 00:42:22,872 there were nine people, l think, sometimes 1 1 , 555 00:42:22,957 --> 00:42:29,254 and people from other surroundings. 556 00:42:31,006 --> 00:42:33,883 We hadn't to do a single thing. 557 00:42:33,968 --> 00:42:38,763 Peeling potatoes, that kind of thing, you could do. 558 00:42:38,847 --> 00:42:42,475 Reading books from the Christian library. 559 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,519 l played chess with my wife. 560 00:42:44,603 --> 00:42:52,527 l studied chess with the books my friends sent from Amsterdam. 561 00:42:52,611 --> 00:42:59,242 But it was horribly like hell itself, 562 00:42:59,326 --> 00:43:05,123 as Sartre puts it in Huis Cios, 563 00:43:05,249 --> 00:43:12,672 sitting together with people who you get to dislike more and more 564 00:43:12,756 --> 00:43:15,008 every minute of the day, 565 00:43:16,427 --> 00:43:20,013 with all tensions. 566 00:43:20,097 --> 00:43:26,769 And the only one way of escape was going to sleep. 567 00:43:29,648 --> 00:43:32,066 Early in the morning you went to the bureau. 568 00:43:32,151 --> 00:43:34,235 We had a Bible institute at the bureau. 569 00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,031 lt was very good because we were hiding all our explosives and weapons 570 00:43:38,115 --> 00:43:41,367 behind the library of the Bible institute. 571 00:43:41,452 --> 00:43:45,288 And then at nine or nine-thirty, you had to be there, and not later, 572 00:43:45,372 --> 00:43:48,374 for that would already be... 573 00:43:48,459 --> 00:43:51,544 well, uncertainty in the group - "Where is he?" 574 00:43:51,629 --> 00:43:57,800 And then we tried to do what was the programme of the week. 575 00:43:57,885 --> 00:44:00,511 The RAF dropped plastics. 576 00:44:00,596 --> 00:44:04,474 So we got such a plastic bomb, 577 00:44:04,558 --> 00:44:10,480 and found a beautiful German lorry and put it in. 578 00:44:10,564 --> 00:44:15,693 You have to destroy something inside that bomb, 579 00:44:15,778 --> 00:44:19,697 and then in half an hour's time it will explode. 580 00:44:19,782 --> 00:44:24,035 Now, we had no training in that, and we didn't press too fast, 581 00:44:24,119 --> 00:44:27,622 and after nearly an hour, it still didn't explode. 582 00:44:27,748 --> 00:44:32,543 So we went back to the bureau we had and made another bomb, 583 00:44:32,628 --> 00:44:35,296 and pressed that a little bit better. 584 00:44:35,381 --> 00:44:37,674 lt was a little bit risky to put it in 585 00:44:37,758 --> 00:44:42,345 because if the other one would trigger oft just by a little movement, 586 00:44:42,429 --> 00:44:45,973 well, l couldn't tell you the story then. But it didn't. 587 00:44:46,100 --> 00:44:50,687 And half an hour later the two of them went together, and it was a real fire. 588 00:44:50,771 --> 00:44:53,856 You need some joy to go on 589 00:44:53,941 --> 00:44:56,359 because we had other days also 590 00:44:56,443 --> 00:44:59,028 when some of the friends would never come back. 591 00:44:59,113 --> 00:45:01,864 (Bruin Slot speaks Dutch) 592 00:45:01,949 --> 00:45:05,410 (translator) There were several illegal newspapers in Holland. 593 00:45:05,494 --> 00:45:07,370 (speaks Dutch) 594 00:45:07,454 --> 00:45:11,249 (translator) Once, the Germans had taken 40 of our people prisoner, 595 00:45:11,333 --> 00:45:15,211 they'd been put in Vught concentration camp. 596 00:45:16,755 --> 00:45:19,799 They interrogated one of them and then released him 597 00:45:19,883 --> 00:45:22,135 and sent him to us with this message: 598 00:45:22,219 --> 00:45:25,096 "lf you close down the paper..." - 599 00:45:25,180 --> 00:45:29,308 this was near the end of the war, probably 1944 - 600 00:45:29,393 --> 00:45:35,356 "lf you stop producing your paper, then we won't shoot these people." 601 00:45:35,441 --> 00:45:37,525 (continues in Dutch) 602 00:45:47,703 --> 00:45:52,415 (translator) We called a meeting and talked it over very carefully. 603 00:45:56,420 --> 00:46:00,339 We reached the conclusion that we had to go on. 604 00:46:08,682 --> 00:46:11,642 (Van Der Veen) As soon as some of your friends are shot, 605 00:46:11,727 --> 00:46:13,436 you take things more serious. 606 00:46:13,562 --> 00:46:17,273 lf you know that this man is penetrating into the underground forces 607 00:46:17,357 --> 00:46:20,276 and you can shoot him and save so many lives, 608 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:25,490 it is terribly difticult and a terrible responsibility. 609 00:46:25,574 --> 00:46:29,911 We had the orders to kill a couple, 610 00:46:29,995 --> 00:46:32,872 a dangerous couple. 611 00:46:32,998 --> 00:46:35,541 We were asked to shoot them on the streets - 612 00:46:35,626 --> 00:46:39,420 when they crossed a bridge, to shoot them there and run away. 613 00:46:39,505 --> 00:46:42,965 But we had a school very near to that place, 614 00:46:43,050 --> 00:46:45,635 and there were so many people on the streets, 615 00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:49,639 that we thought, "Let us bring them in that school 616 00:46:49,723 --> 00:46:52,517 and kill them in the cellar." 617 00:46:52,601 --> 00:46:58,189 And as soon as they came in that cellar and the light was on, 618 00:46:58,273 --> 00:47:01,234 we saw that the wife was pregnant. 619 00:47:01,318 --> 00:47:04,153 And then we couldn't do that. 620 00:47:04,238 --> 00:47:09,325 So we arranged - the commander of our group and l - 621 00:47:09,409 --> 00:47:11,828 that we should threaten them. 622 00:47:11,912 --> 00:47:14,997 And we did so. The man first. 623 00:47:15,082 --> 00:47:18,292 We gave him a hell of a time, l promise you. 624 00:47:18,377 --> 00:47:20,294 But just threatening. 625 00:47:20,379 --> 00:47:26,884 And then his wife also, but in relationship to her situation. 626 00:47:27,010 --> 00:47:32,014 We took the risk of their promises, 627 00:47:32,099 --> 00:47:36,143 of stepping out of that practice and waiting till after the war 628 00:47:36,228 --> 00:47:39,146 when people could do with them what was necessary. 629 00:47:40,899 --> 00:47:43,609 (narrator) Spring 1944. 630 00:47:43,694 --> 00:47:48,114 The second front, leading to the longed-for liberation. 631 00:47:48,198 --> 00:47:51,158 The Germans put up posters warning that Allied invasion 632 00:47:51,285 --> 00:47:53,286 would mean death and destruction. 633 00:47:53,412 --> 00:47:58,499 "Mother, is this the second front Father was always talking about?" 634 00:48:02,671 --> 00:48:04,589 But the invasion came, 635 00:48:04,673 --> 00:48:08,801 and by the autumn of 1944 the Allies were racing north. 636 00:48:08,886 --> 00:48:11,262 On September 13, the first Dutch city, 637 00:48:11,346 --> 00:48:14,098 Maastricht, in the extreme south, was liberated. 638 00:48:14,182 --> 00:48:18,060 Resistance fighters arrested Nazis and punished women collaborators. 639 00:48:21,481 --> 00:48:24,400 But while the southern tip of Holland rejoiced, 640 00:48:24,484 --> 00:48:28,863 the rest of the country impatiently waited for their liberation. 641 00:48:30,407 --> 00:48:33,701 Days later, their hopes were dashed - 642 00:48:33,785 --> 00:48:36,913 the Allies were beaten severely at Arnhem. 643 00:48:43,337 --> 00:48:46,380 The Dutch government in exile called for a railway strike 644 00:48:46,465 --> 00:48:48,799 to deny supplies to German armies. 645 00:48:48,884 --> 00:48:52,178 Railwaymen, who had hesitated before, now came out in force, 646 00:48:52,262 --> 00:48:55,389 bringing all transport to a standstill. 647 00:48:55,515 --> 00:48:57,934 The Germans retaliated by cutting oft 648 00:48:58,018 --> 00:49:01,771 all supplies of fuel and food to cities in western Holland. 649 00:49:05,025 --> 00:49:07,026 Soon people were scavenging 650 00:49:07,110 --> 00:49:11,280 along silent and deserted railway tracks for bits of coal. 651 00:49:12,699 --> 00:49:17,244 Shops ran out of food. Prices soared on the black market. 652 00:49:17,329 --> 00:49:20,039 People kept alive by eating tulip bulbs. 653 00:49:24,336 --> 00:49:27,630 Despite the privations, the strikers held firm. 654 00:49:28,799 --> 00:49:33,636 Using forged securities, their wages were repaid by the Resistance, 655 00:49:33,720 --> 00:49:36,764 which was by now also hiding 300,000 men 656 00:49:36,848 --> 00:49:39,558 wanted by the Germans for forced labour. 657 00:49:40,227 --> 00:49:43,062 There was no electricity or gas. 658 00:49:43,146 --> 00:49:48,901 Houses left vacant by Jews were stripped of wood for use as fuel. 659 00:50:03,667 --> 00:50:05,793 As the winter got worse, 660 00:50:05,877 --> 00:50:10,131 the Germans relented and allowed emergency soup kitchens. 661 00:50:28,567 --> 00:50:32,695 Still, it was clear that many would starVe 662 00:50:32,779 --> 00:50:34,822 unless Holland was liberated. 663 00:50:36,158 --> 00:50:41,495 (man) l did ask my friend Bedell Smith to ask General Eisenhower 664 00:50:41,580 --> 00:50:44,498 could they not start a separate action 665 00:50:44,583 --> 00:50:48,711 to liberate the rest of Holland, 666 00:50:48,795 --> 00:50:51,422 where we had got up to the Maas 667 00:50:51,506 --> 00:50:55,259 and then up to Nijmegen, and that was it, 668 00:50:55,343 --> 00:51:00,765 and the rest was really getting in worse and worse trouble this winter. 669 00:51:00,849 --> 00:51:03,893 Well, at that time, pretty soon, 670 00:51:03,977 --> 00:51:09,982 almost simultaneously, the German counterattack came in the Ardennes, 671 00:51:10,067 --> 00:51:13,444 which upset almost everything one had hoped for. 672 00:51:17,866 --> 00:51:20,576 (narrator) Hitler now stripped Holland bare. 673 00:51:20,660 --> 00:51:24,663 From Rotterdam alone in two days in November 1944, 674 00:51:24,748 --> 00:51:30,294 50,000 able-bodied men were rounded up and removed to Germany. 675 00:51:32,214 --> 00:51:34,090 (speaks Dutch) 676 00:51:34,174 --> 00:51:37,635 (translator) When the doorbell rang there were two Germans. 677 00:51:37,719 --> 00:51:39,678 They both came upstairs. 678 00:51:39,763 --> 00:51:43,766 One stayed at the top of the stairs and the other one came into the room. 679 00:51:43,850 --> 00:51:45,309 He looked round the room, 680 00:51:45,393 --> 00:51:48,938 and the two men who were there had to get dressed and go with them. 681 00:51:49,022 --> 00:51:52,650 And we, being women, were crying of course, both of us - 682 00:51:52,776 --> 00:51:57,947 one woman with a baby in her arms, another hanging on her skirt. 683 00:51:58,031 --> 00:52:01,033 And l can still remember vividly the one German 684 00:52:01,118 --> 00:52:04,829 who was inside the room, he was crying. 685 00:52:04,913 --> 00:52:07,581 Tears were streaming down his face and he said, 686 00:52:07,666 --> 00:52:11,877 "l am so terribly sorry that l'm not alone." 687 00:52:11,962 --> 00:52:14,880 "l'd love to be able to help you, but l can't do anything 688 00:52:14,965 --> 00:52:17,967 because there's someone with me and l don't know him." 689 00:52:18,051 --> 00:52:22,012 He couldn't do it. He'd have tried very hard to leave those two men there 690 00:52:22,097 --> 00:52:25,224 because he thought it was terrible. 691 00:52:31,356 --> 00:52:34,066 That was the first time l'd ever seen a German cry. 692 00:52:34,151 --> 00:52:38,320 He really cried, big tears rolling down his face. 693 00:52:42,868 --> 00:52:48,164 (narrator) That winter, 16,000 Dutch men, women and children 694 00:52:48,248 --> 00:52:50,207 died of cold and hunger. 695 00:53:27,871 --> 00:53:30,956 Still the liberators did not come.