August is Summer Reading Month in Daily Nutmeg, and Daphne Geismar is this week’s local author. Please enjoy this excerpt—featuring a history primer followed by relevant recollections of different family members—from Geismar’s book Invisible Years: A Family’s Collected Account of Separation and Survival during the Holocaust in the Netherlands (David R. Godine, Publisher, 2020).
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After Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, France and Britain declared war on the hostile nation. The Netherlands remained on the sidelines. German forces occupied Denmark and Norway in April 1940, and on May 10, they launched a crushing assault on the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. In the Netherlands, many thousands made for the North Sea ports seeking passage to England; many hundreds committed suicide. The Dutch soldiers fought tenaciously, but the bombing of Rotterdam, on May 14, led to the decision that the Dutch soldiers in the Netherlands surrender to the Germans. The kingdom of the Netherlands would continue the war as an ally of Britain, with Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch government in London…
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CHAIM
After the German invasion of Poland and my warning dreams that followed, it was clear that what would have been done in biblical times under such circumstances needed to be done now as well: leave the endangered country. A misplaced sense of responsibility, however, kept me from doing so. At the time, I had an important task at Rotterdam’s Air Defense Command. All of the material in the wartime first-aid station had been set up by me; it was systematically organized in the stockrooms of the Municipal Pharmacy in such a way that my presence was the only way to guarantee that it would be dispatched quickly. In addition, I supervised significant supplies of wartime reserve medications, which under my repeated insistence had been put in place two years earlier. Later on, I knew that my sense of duty had been misdirected. Under the Nazi threat that accompanied the “normal” war, the Jewish citizen ran a far greater risk than any other resident, much greater even than the communist.
JUDITH
Pappie declined emigration certificates to Palestine (Israel) for the whole family, explaining that in times of danger to one’s country, one does not leave one’s post. Had we gone then, there would be no story to tell.
MIRJAM
For us, the war started May 10th, with sirens going off and my parents telling us to run to the basement because the Germans were invading Holland. My father had to go to work because he was head of first aid in Rotterdam. We couldn’t have lights on; we were scared. My parents said they would take care of us—that nothing would happen to us, and we’d stay together. We totally believed it. There were Dutch soldiers stationed in front of our house. They came in to use our bathrooms. My mother made them coffee and tea. On the fourth day of the invasion, they told us we had to get out of Rotterdam because the city would be bombed.
HADASSAH
One of my most vivid memories was the bombing of Rotterdam, which our whole family watched from the outskirts of town.
JUDITH
It was a very unnerving and scary experience to see a burning city.
MIRJAM
When we went back to our house, a lot of things had been stolen. We didn’t know if it was Dutch or German soldiers who did it. I saw my father sitting on the steps crying. This was the first time I was afraid. When you see your father cry, it’s very scary.
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Invisible Years: A Family’s Collected Account of Separation and Survival during the Holocaust in the Netherlands
by Daphne Geismar
David R. Godine, Publisher, 2020
Where to buy: RJ Julia | Bookshop | Barnes & Noble
