The Plantinga Family:
Our Story

POSTED September 11, 2000
DRAFT: Family members are invited to read this draft, make corrections, and send in material for inclusion.


Forebears

Anje hardly knew her grandparents. Her grandmother on her father's side is the only one she knew fairly well. Pake Thede's father died at a relatively zzz young age. Thede was the oldest of the children. He was then 13 years old, zzz ch and his mother had a number of smaller children. They had operated a painting business, and his younger brothers became painters. Thede was sent out of the house for the remainder of his upbringing. He was placed with a family in Ee -- his uncle and aunt. In that family he learned the butcher's trade. The Bakker family in which he originated lived in nearby Engwierum.

The grandmother Anje knew was named Anje Schreiber (ch sp), and she was named after her. A man from Zeeland managed her painting business after her husband died, and he stayed with her until she retired. Eventually Pake Thede's youngest brother took the business over. This brother, named Berend, eventually emigrated to Canada and settled in St. Thomas, Ontario. Some of Thede's other brothers had established painting businesses of their own. There was also a brother Ytzen zzz ch sp who spent his adult life in a mental hospital in the province of Groningen. Anje never saw this man. Tina Zijlstra (wife of Fokke, the baker Theo used to work for during his second year as a Calvin College student), was his daughter.

There was also a brother named Filippus ch sp who had fallen from a tree and was never quite right after that: he had sustained brain damage. Before his accident he had been a painter, and he was not able to accomplish much in the way of work in his later years. Anje and Peet loved it when he came over, because he was a funny talker.

Anje's grandmother in Engwierum was not a pleasant woman. Beppe Jeltje urged her to visit there from time to time, but Anje did not like to do it. It should be remembered that this forbidding grandmother had lived a hard life. Nellie knew her too and was afraid of her. This grandmother died shortly before Folkert and Anje emigrated to Canada.

Anje knew her grandfather on her mother's side only slightly: she was five or six years old when he died. This grandfather was a carpenter. Anje remembers visiting him in Ee when he was in declining health but still living at home, where a special bed had been brought in for his use. At that time he was remarried; his original wife had died when Beppe Jeltje was only five years old. His second wife died shortly after he did. Anje had called her Beppe, and she was a very friendly woman.

Beppe Jeltje had five number of sisters; she was the second youngest. The oldest one, Tante Anna, emigrated to the USA; Anje never knew her. zzz link prev. All of the other sisters eventually went to other provinces to live. Beppe Jeltje had one brother, named Petrus; he died by drowning when he was fairly young.

The second wife gave birth to two sons, Jan and Klaas, who also became carpenters. These two brothers built Pake Thede's butcher shop and house in Ee. During the war Jan was living in Leeuwarden, and he played a role during the efforts to get Don to the hospital in early 1945.

----- Anje was closer to her mother's family than to her father's family, and she had more good memories of them. Two of Beppe Jeltje's sisters stand out in this regard, One of them lived in Amsterdam, and Anje enjoyed visiting her -- Tante Riek (officially Hendrika). She was married to man named Sikko ch sp. He was called Omme Co ch sp. Later Anje found out that these two were cousins. Years later when Folkert was having some problems with his nerves, he went to this uncle and aunt in Amsterdam for a short time of rest and refreshment.

The other sister (older than Tante Riek, who was just older than Beppe Jeltje) was Tante Hiltje and she lived in The Hague. She was married to Cornelis (another Omme Kees) Van Vulpen. Anje did not go this aunt as often as she went to Amsterdam.

Anje remembers a trip when she was about six years old to The Hague. The trip started with a horse and buggy that took them to Metslawier, where they boarded a train. After further connections they wound up on a "snelltrein" (high-speed train). After a week in The Hague they went on to Amsterdam to the other Tante.

Also living in The Hague was Beppe Jeltje's youngest sister, Tante Griet, who was married to Henk Blanchard. Anje did not have as much contact with this aunt and uncle as with some of the others.

There was also an aunt who had lived in Friesland and eventually retired to Amsterdam. At that point Beppe Jeltje was the only sister left in Friesland. There were seven children in all.

The daughter of the aunt who moved to Amsterdam later in life married Jakob (Jaap) Algera, who became a professor at the Free University. This man was imprisoned in Buchenwald during the war. He survived, but he was never the same. Anje often visited at their home.

----- Anje does not know much about the Plantinga family. Folkert did not talk much about them, and he did not visit them often. They came from Birdaard, which is halfway between Dokkum and Leeuwarden. There was an Omme Folkert, after whom Folkert was named. This man spent stretches of time in a mental hospital. There was an Omme Kees, and he had a drinking problem. There was also an Omme Jakob, after whom Jaap, Folkert's brother, was named.

Anje never met Folkert's grandfather and grandmother on his father's side. Folkert himself did not talk about those grandparents much. They had probably died by then zzz check with Rick. Folkert did have a good relationship with a female cousin name Wiepkje, ch sp who was married to a man named Simon. They lived in Holwerd, and Folkert and Anje visited them on a trip back to Friesland.

The Terpstras lived in and around Ee. There were twelve of them (three brothers, and nine sisters), and Beppe Yttje was the oldest of them. Broer Terpstra, her father, was opposed to his daughter marrying a teacher: she should have married a farmer instead.

Broer Terpstra was very tall, and also very stubborn. He did not allow conversation at his dinner table: "We're here to eat, not to talk."

Broer Terpstra's wife committed suicide when Anje was young; she does not remember much about it. Yttje Regnerus (a friend of Nellie's from Smithville days) is a cousin of Folkert's on the Terpstra side and knows more about this matter. zzz check with Nellie for details

The Terpstras were funny people and were fluent and amusing talkers. Jaap had a close relationship to a number of the Terpstra aunts.

Kees talked more about the Plantingas of Birdaard than any of the others.

When Pake Thede built his butcher shop and house, it was right next to his uncle who had taught him the trade; later his cousin took over the bsuiness. Eventually two more respective sons took over the two establishments. Berend did not like this arrangement.

In general, the people of the two tried to patronize both butchers. Schreiber sp? was the other butcher, and they were also Gereformeerd. But Anje maintains that Pake Thede was thought to have the better product.

In 1984, Anje and Peet were both in the Netherlands. They went with Berend to Ee and looked at the old home. The current occupants invited them in, and Berend showed them the very spot in the retail part of the butcher shop where Pake Thede fell dead on March 26, 1952. Berend was with him at the time he died. Back in those days Pake Thede was already retired. Berend had taken over the house and the business after he got married. Pake Thede did some work for him on occasion, and on this cold day he had made deliveries in Engwierum and collected money. Beppe Jeltje said it was too cold that day, and that he should not do it.

Pake Douwe was enlisted to break the sad news to Beppe Jeltje. Pake Douwe was usually enlisted for such a task. When Beppe Jeltje saw him coming, she expected bad news, but not about her husband. She thought ti had to do with Anje, who was then expecting Ed.

Anje almost drowned during the period when her family was still living in its earlier house. (This was the second of the four home occupied by Pake Thede and Beppe Jeltje during their marriage; Anje was born after they moved to this second home.) The work took place in a shed attached to the house. A law came in the 1920s that required that the killing area be separate from the store area: there had to be a wall between the two. This necessitated a move on the part of Pake Thede. Anje remembers the old house and believes she was born in it but is not sure. She does remember that her younger brother Berend (five years younger) was born there. On the day of his birth she was sent over to some neighbors named Van der Meer (people who later were connected with Folkert's family through marriage). Later in the day her father came by with the news that she now had a little brother. She had no idea that a child was on the way! The lady Anje stayed with that day was like a second mother to her, and she loved to go there.

The near-drowning incident took plave before Anje started school. The family had a piece of rented ground which they used for a garden. Pake Thede went there one day to do some gardening. Anje went with him, and so did her girldfriend, Aaltje Buwalda (sister of Koos). There was a deep ditch nearby, and Pake Thede warned the girls to keep away from it. The water in the ditch was clear, and one could see all the way to the bottom. There were beautiful yellow flowers growing on the very edge of the ditch. Anje tried to reach some, and fell in. She went all the way to the bottom. Aaltje started screaming, and Pake Thede came running. He plucked Anje from the water and carried her home. Anje was worried that her mother would be angry with her because her clothes were wet, but her father assured her that she had nothing to worry about on that score. Anje was put to bed to warm up, and while there she sang "Ik zal eeuwig getuigen van Gods goedertierenheid" (Psalm 89: Forever will I sing of God's mercy). This became a famous story in the Bakker family. Anje always loved to sing.

Then it was time to go to school. For grades 3, 4 and 5, she had Pake Douwe, her future father-in-law, as her teacher. There were only three rooms in the school at the time. Grades 1 and 2 were combined as well, also grades 6, 7 and 8. Mr. Haverkamp, was the principal, and he taught the three higher grades, Anje had Mr. Vander Kooij for her first grade teacher. He left and was replaced for grade 2 by another teacher whose name she does not remember.

Folkert also studied under his father. Pake Douwe was very strict with hs son when they were in the classroom, but more easy-going at home. In the house Beppe Yttje ruled with a firm hand. For one year, Anje and Folkert were in the same room under Pake Douwe (she was then in grade 3, and he was in grade 5), and a few years later they were together under Mr. Haverkamp.

When children misbehaved, they had to stand in the corner, or sit on the back bench. Anje remembers that Folkert got in a lot of trouble in school and often stood in the corner. In those days Folkert already had his eye on Anje, and he protected her. Anje did not realize this, but Folkert told her about it years later.

It was a simple life in the village. Anje had a happy childhood. It was so cozy in the house with Pake Thede and Beppe Jeltje. On the weekend children were allowed to take a book home. On Saturday evening she was would stay up a littler later than usual and read. She especially enjoyed the books of Anne De Vries. Years later Theo was involved in the translating and publishing of some of those same books.

On Tuesday mornings Anje had to help her father with meat deliveries. Sometimes these chores resulted in her coming late to school. Mr. Haverkamp would get very angry about this. Pake Thede went to talk with him about this matter, and settled it.

Teenagers were not then what they are today. That period of life was called the "bakvis" stage, and it was thought to begin after school was done (grade 8). That's when the opposite sex came into view for many of the young people. On Sundays the boys and girls would walk together in groups and begin to talk. At that time Anje became more aware of Folkert.

After Anje was finished with school, she did take some sewing courses in the summertime, which usually meant traveing to Dokkum. For the rest she helped out at home.

Pake and Beppe Plantinga often opened their home to visitors. Piet Idzinga was a young man from another town who often visited them and became a good friend of Folkert. In time he became interested in Anje. Folkert said to him: "You won't get her -- she is reserved for me."

Piet was a photographer. Later he was one of Folkert's colleagues in the underground. He was arrested by the Germans but released. During the war he made and distributed pictures of the royal family. When Folkert died, Piet sent Anje a long letter. On one of the trips to the Netherlands (the time Rick came along), Folkert and Anje visited Piet and his wife.

Young people's meetings were split along boys and girls lines in those days. Occasionally tere was a rally for both genders. On one such occasion Anje went to such a meeting in Dokkum. A young man there was hoping to meet Anje and spend some time with her. Folkert knew about his intention, and he also tried to warn this rival away. The young man in question was a brother of Pete Brouwer of Hamilton, an uncle of Eileen's and a member of the church Anje attended in Hamilton in her later years as w idow.

Anje was not allowed to go out until she was sixteen. While Folkert was waiting fir Anje, he did take another girl out. They sang in the same choir in those days: after choir was over, he could walk her home.

The War Years

Folkert already had his military training behind him when the Netherlands was drawn into the war. When Folkert trained as a volunteer, he boarded with people in Amerongen.

None of his other brothers volunteered. Why did Folkert volunteer? Anje says he always wanted to try something different. The rule was that only the oldest son was required to serve. Thus Oenze, Folkert's older brother, and Anje's brother Peet were called up. But late in the 1930s, when Nazism in Germany was clearly posing a threat to the Netherlands, volunteers were called for, and Folkert was one of them, serving some three or four months.

When the war started, Anje was spending a week in Leeuwarden, at the home of an uncle and aunt. The idea was that she would do some shopping while she was there, since there was not much to be had in Ee. She was planning to return on Friday of that week. She had arranged to meet Folkert in Leeuwarden, and then the two would return to Ee together.

On the evening of Thursday-Friday, zzz May X, Germany invaded the Netherlands. Anje waited for Folkert that day, but he did not show up in Leeuwarden. Finally Anje biked back to Ee by herself.

Folkert was not in uniform during the five days of active fighting. Both Peet and Oenze had been called up when there was a mobilization before the attack. Anje claims that neither one was involved in battle during the five days. Some time after the Dutch capitulation, they both returned to Ee.

On the very first day of the war Ee already had to take in evacuees. A man and his wife were assigned to stay at Pake Thede's house. Anje does not remember them as having been nice people. The fighting between Germany and the Netherlands lasted a mere matter of days, and when it was over the evacuees could return to their homes.

Rick says that when the German forces first appeared in Ee, Folkert stood out on the street staring at them, whereas many other people stayed discreetly indoors. Anje has no recollection of this and does not remember when the people of Ee first saw German military forces. zzz check with Rick.

Once the fighting had stopped, there were many evacuees from Arnhem. Folkert and Anje got two sisters. Martha was 14, and her sister was 17 or 18. The older one did not behave well, and was later placed elsewhere. In 1944 there were children from Amsterdam to be housed. A girl from Amsterdam named Gerda stayed with Anje for the rest of the war. The two girls became good friends. After the war Gerda's mother came to Ee to pick her daughter, but the girl did not want to go with her; she wanted to stay with Folkert and Anje. Folkert looked her up once after the war, but Anje never saw her again. Gerda had a younger brother Gerrit, who stayed with Pake Thede and Beppe Jeltje for a while.

Through Rinsma, an obliging boarder, the family was provided with extra milk and butter. Hunger and malnutrition were not a problem for Folkert and Anje and the members of their household. Rinsma arrived at Folkert's home when Don was born. Folkert and Anje did not know him before then. Rinsma became a dear friend and was deeply devoted to the family. Rinsma had a girlfriend, who as preparing to become a minister and did eventually became one. Folkert and Rinsma used to argue about this, for Folkert did not approve of women in office. Yet they were great friends.

Rinsma was assistant director of a dairy operation just outside of Ee. Throughout most of the war, he did not need to hide, because his job was classified as important to the war effort. Only at the very end of the war did he regard it as necessary to hide. At that point both Folkert and Rinsma would spend the night in the dairy.

There were no German soldiers stationed in Ee. The nearest detachment was a good half hour's bike ride away.

The first year of the war was not too difficult. The electricity was cut off in about 1943. Deprivations became more numerous as the war went on. Yet the people in Ee did not have difficulty finding food, unlike the people in the larger cities to the south. But in the early years, there was much less hope that the Germans would eventually lose the war.

Anje does not recall receiving an ordinary newspaper during the war, although there were some illegal publications in circulation. She does not recall actually seeing such publications, but Folkert presumably had access to them. Anje thanks Folkert did not tell her everything he knew in terms of war news. The idea was that Anje should know as little as possible in case the Germans came around asking questions. People told a lot of white lies in those days.

The other source of news was the illegal radio. In the front of the house was a small room, which could be heated during the winter. In the corner of that room was a wooden floor with a carpet over it. Under that floor was a radio. Every evening at 6 p.m. they listened to that radio. A Dutch-language broadcast would come from England, and it was the main source of war news. A lot of people had such a radio. People on the street would talk war news. Anje does not think there was a traitor in Ee informing the Germans what was going on.

Anje was happy that Queen Wilhelmina escaped the clutches of the Germans and made her way safely to England. She addressed the Dutch people by radio at that time. Anje does not recall addresses from the queen during the war. There was news about the royal family.

At the very end of the war Anje did not hear much news. Folkert would pick up news through his underground connections. At the very end, they did not always listen to the radio. When the Germans came to Ee, they would congregate at a garage which was only two doors down from the house occupied by Folkert and Anje.

The Germans would often come down the road singing their national anthem (Deutschland ueber alles ...). Some years later the immigrants found the same tune in their hymnal (Sing a new song to Jehovah). Most of them refused to sing it.

It is sometimes said that one man's misfortune is another's good fortune. We see this illustrated in the circumstances that made it possible for Folkert and Anje to marry, even though there was a war going on.

Folkert had a small business in Ee -- supplying farmers with things they needed, including feed for their animals. There was another man with a similar business in town. His name was Johannes Hoekstra, and he was an uncle of Koos (wife of Kees Plantinga), and also of Rev. Jelle Nutma, whom the family came to know later when he served in Canada, e.g. as Nellie's minister in Smithville. Hoekstra was a jovial man -- full of laughter and jokes. But one day came a shocking report: Mr. Hoekstra had hanged himself. No one could believe it.

His wife was a Spriensma -- an aunt of Siebren's. Unlike her husband, she was anything but jovial. Likewise, Siebren's father was a very strict man; he even forbade Siebren to see Yttje, Folkert's sister, whomheeventually married. Anje thinks he did not even attend their wedding. zzz check with Douwe S.

For a while Mrs. Hoekstra continued to live in the house she had occupied with her husband, but the business had to be sold. Folkert took over the business, and Pake Thede bought the house, with the intention of renting it to Folkert and Anje once they were married. Thereby he paved the way for them; otherwise they would not have beenable to proceed with marriage under wartime circumstances.

The wedding took place on May 29, 1941. There was a wedding ceremony at church at about 5 P.M. in the afternoon, conducted by zzz check with Mom. In accordance with Dutch law and custom, this church service was not the official, legal cermony. It was preceded by the official wedding at the town hall in Metslawier sp zzz at about 2 P.M. In between the two weddings there was a family gathering (mainly nearby relatives) in Dokkum. And then, that evening there was a reception in building next to the church, a building which was owned by the church and used for various types of meetings and activities. At that time the curfew was 11 P.M. Later in the war the curfew became earlier and earlier; eventually it was 7 P.M.

Folkert's business did not prosper during the war years. His involvement with the underground came a little later; Anje thinks it started in 1943.

Peet was picked up by the Germans in 1943, when he was visited his fiancee, Anje, in zzz Doezem sp. At that time Folkert still had a telephone in his home. The word got to Ee when Peet's fiancee Anje phoned his sister Anje. The Werkman family in Doezem had a telephone in their home because they operated a small post office in addition to the shoemaker business.

Back in Ee, Anje then had to go to the home of Pake Thede and Beppe Jeltje to give them the bad news. Pake Thede had long feared such a thing and had often warned Peet not to go to Doezem. There was an N.S.B. man (a Dutch Nazi) living in Doezem, and the family suspects that he tipped off the Germans that Peet was around. Willem Werkman, Anje's father, was also picked up, but he was released after a few weeks.

After Peet was arrested, he was first taken to Groningen. from there he went to Amersfoort, where he stayed for a week or so. From there he was shipped to Germany.

First Peet was held in the city of Groningen. He was then sent on to another site in the Netherlands (not Westerbork). Eventually his family in Ee was informed that a blanket and some other supplies were needed, for he would be going to Germany for forced labor. Folkert and Anje (Peet's fiancee) went to location X zzz ask Winnipeg to bring the requested supplies. They walked around the outside of the camp for a long time hoping to see Peet and talk with him, but they never catch a glimpse of him. Folkert's family thought it was foolish and dangerous for him to make such a trip, for young men were being picked up constantly. After a while Peet, along with many other prisoners, was taken to Germany in a train normally used to transport cattle.

Oenze was arrested by the Germans in late 1944. On that same day a lot of men were picked up in Ee. The Germans found out that weapons had been dropped in the vicinity of Ee, and they wanted to catch the people receiving them.

Early that morning a man went through Ee sounding the issuing warning about the coming raid. He also came to Folkert's house, knocked on the window, and told Folkert to get away quickly.

On the day Folkert was warned to hide because of raids, the SS was involved in the operation. On other occasions it was the regular army. On the day of the big raid, the local Gereformeerd Christian school was used as the provisional jail. (There was also a Hervormd Christian school in Ee.) Because the school was near Anje's home, she could see arrested men being assembled there. Later that day the men had to walk to Dokkum.

That day Berend managed to hide in a specially constructed hiding place in Pake Thede's house, and the Germans did not find him, although they came very close. Pake Thede was enormously relieved, and soon as it was safe he went to Anje's home to inform her that Berend was safe. Berend used the hiding place more often, but that occasion was his closest call.

The men who were caught had to walk to Dokkum, and from there many were shipped to other points. After some time Oenze was released, and he returned home in February of 1945 covered by fleas.

Nellie remembers one occasion when the Germans came to the door while Anje was busy bathing Don. It was about 9:30 A.M., when babies had to be bathed, according to custom. Nellie, then a two-year-old, was instructed to answer the door. She said to Anje that the "poepen" (a nickname for the Germans, perhaps invented by Folkert) were here. On another occasion she remembers how they ransacked the house and got into a supply of wrapped dished, which Folkert and Anje were apparently storing for someone. They did not find anything suspicious.

It happened that Folkert was hiding guns in his own small house -- a detail that Anje was not aware of until 1995, when she returned to the Netherlands to take part in the 50th anniversary of the liberation. The guns were hidden between walls and were never found. After the war, this fact was generally known in the family, but Anje did not know about it.

Only during the last winter did Anje become aware that Folkert was in the underground. She did not know the identity of any other member of the underground.

Dr. Jarel Ruinen was our village doctor. Pake Douwe stopped by one morning to inform Folkert and Anje that Dr. Ruinen had been arrested; he was picked up from his office while he was seeing patients. Folkert had warned him repeatedly to go into hiding, but he refused. By that time Anje was aware that Dr. Ruinen was also in the underground.

It was said that Dr. Ruinen's fingers were broken before he was killed, but Anje says we do not know this for sure. As far as we know, he did not betray anyone.

OPEN SPakeCE

In February of 1945 Don had to go to the hospital in Leeuwarden for the first time. Rinsma arranged for a truck to transport Don and his mother, accompanied by Beppe Yttje, to the hospital. When the threesome arrived in Leeuwarden, it turned out that the hospital had been taken over by the Germans. Some of the hospital's normal operations had been transferred to a series of large homes elsewhere in the city. Don was therefore brought to makeshift hospital quarters and left in the custody of the staff there. An uncle of Anje's who lived in Leeuwarden managed to get Anje and Beppe Yttje on a boat bringing freight to Dokkum. From there they walked home to Ee (a respectable distance). When Anje finally got home, Rinsma was there to greet her, but Folkert was not.

Don stayed in that hospital for about three weeks. Anje went to see him there once on her own, traveling by boat all the way from Ee to Leeuwarden. She also returned by boat. Her uncle lived right by the spot where the boat docked.

When Don came home from the hospital, it was probably in a truck, with Rinsma making the arrangements.

Anje remembers the Saturday morning, April 14, when the Canadians came into town. They came from the east and first went through Dokkumer Nieuwe Zijlen (the Dutch name for this place), where the Germans had established their local detachment. The Canadians came in tanks and other vehicles. The appearance of the tanks was somewhat frightening, even though the Canadians were the liberators. There was much waving and cheering; the people were delirious with joy. The soldiers gave chocolates and cigarettes to the people.

Once the Canadians took charge, the people of the underground could make themselves known.

In was dead still on the Friday night before. It was very tense. A German on a bicycle came to Anje's door. He was a deserter, and he wanted to sleep at her place, but somehow she got rid of him.

Beppe Yttje knew that Folkert was in the underground, but Broer did not know it. He came on the morning of the fourteenth to warn Folkert that there was something afoot in nearby Engwierum, where Broer was at that time principal of the local Christian school. Broer went on to his parents' home, and there he heard about Folkert's involvement. Later that day Anje received a chocolate bar from Folkert, via an underground messenger (a man named Visser, on whom Folkert had bestowed an amusing nickname). She had not seen chocolate for years. The messenger also brought greetings and the assurance that Folkert was all right. But during the skirmish taking place that day or the previous evening, a man named De Graaf was killed, while fighting alongside Folkert.

Years later Folkert encountered this man's daughter, Mrs. Wilma Miedema, living in Hamilton. She was a member of the Immanuel Christian Reformed Church, where Folkert and Anje were members as well. One Sunday they were invited to her place for coffee. During the conversation, Mrs. Miedema found out that her father had fallen in battle right next to Folkert. Folkert was able to fill in some details of her father's death.

----- On April 14 the family did not know whether Peet was still alive. Once during the previous winter there had come a small note of a few lines as a sign of life.

FILL IN

Peet made his way to Groningen, arriving there on Saturday, zzz May 18 or 19. He found his way to the home of Dr. Stenger, a very kind man who been their doctor in Ee many years before. From there he was able to make a phone call to Doezem, where his fiancee lived. This town, in the province of Groningen, was a bike ride of almost two hours from Ee. It happened that Pake Thede was in Doezem that day, visiting Peet's fiancee. Anje made her way to Groningen the city, and brought Peet to Doezem.

The next day, on Sunday afternoon, Folkert and Anje biked to Doezem, with Folkert holding a spare bike which Peet would then use to return to Ee. Nellie was along on this occasion.

When Peet got back to Ee and told his family what he had experienced, he said on the very first day that he was not planning to stay in the Netherlands. What he had experienced of the Russians made him fear for the future. -----


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