Five Brothers and a War

Bruynzeel

After the war, the marketplace changed dramatically for Bruynzeel. While one would expect that with the amount of reconstruction necessary, there would be a very high demand for all construction products, including the doors, kitchens, flooring and veneer produced by the firm, the reality was that architectural design had become less ornate and more utilitarian. Rooms were more open in order to make construction quicker and less expensive. The demand for doors dropped, but the modular kitchen concept was in high demand, and the flooring did well too. Immediately after the war, Bruynzeel also started a logging company in Suriname, where Leen would eventually work. In 1947, a criminal investigation of the firm was undertaken to ascertain whether the relationship with the Germans rose to the level of complicity or even treason. Innumerable employees were interrogated. Everardus Sante, a salesman working for Leendert told the investigators, "At the instigation of the Sales Manager [Leendert] van Pelt, who acted on behalf of the board, I had attempted to conclude orders for Schiphol airfield. I can state that this did not happen on my own initiative. The result has been that I got [German] orders for parquet flooring, concluded on behalf of day care centers and recreation halls for German officers to the Schiphol airfield, Schellingwoude airport and a residence for German officers in Harderwijk. I would estimate the total number of square meters of flooring for these projects at about 2,500. These deliveries were voluntarily established and I was unaware of any coercion from the German side.” What is interesting is the moral conflict involved in attempting to preserve an individual’s own life and those for whom that person is responsible. The conflict occurs in the question of the extent to which a person should get along with evil-doers. In the last months of the war, Leendert did business with black market operators, who were trying to “launder” money gained in working around the German’s rationing system, where people were forced to pay exorbitant prices for needed food or supplies. Those funds, always in cash, could not be explained and had to be disposed of before they were discovered— either by the Germans or the Dutch when the Germans were defeated. In doing so, Leendert kept his workers busy, and kept them earning money. He did more than that though when he assigned more workers than were needed for longer than they were needed to work on those projects. He also told the black marketeer to provide lunches each day to the workers, who were suffering from the effects of the Hongerwinter , along with everyone else. He did do business with the German army. Business during the first couple of years was apparently very good, judging by the number of employees working for Bruynzeel. As the war dragged on, and as the Germans tired of the Dutch passive and active resistance, the mood changed, and there was no more business with the Germans. The black market filled that gap. There is also no question that the owners and board members knew what was going on. Leendert had a special relationship with Wim Bruynzeel, spending a chunk of each Saturday talking things over in the head office in Zaandam. It is inconceivable that Wim

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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