Five Brothers and a War

van Pelt Football

When Bertus entered high school, he was immediately asked to play for the school’s “varsity” team—an honor that was overwhelmingly reserved for the top grades with the older boys. Kees was also on that team, but he was two years older. By all measures, Bertus was a top-performer, and likely would have ended up in Holland’s top flight football league. Two major things stood in his way: the just-mentioned fact that the Dutch Reformed Church (and therefore Leendert and Maria) frowned heavily on playing football on Sundays, and Adolf Hitler had plans for Holland that had the effect of dampening recreational activities. When the Germans showed up onMay 10, 1940, Bertus was almost 12, and when they departed, he was almost 17. The last two years of the war were far more restrictive than the first three, particularly with the Germans hunting down all able-bodied males between the ages of 17 and 42. That meant that not only were players targets for German slavery, but so were the spectators, many of whomwere in the target demographic group. When the war ended, football was not a top-priority for use of scarce resources because many people were starving, unemployed, and without homes. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to live with friends, relatives, or even complete strangers, as a result of the destruction of so much of the nation. After the war, Bertus began his three-year stint in the Koninklijk Nederlands Leger, (“ Royal Netherlands Army”), and by then life had demands more important than football. However, with army units being competitive with one another, Bertus’ soccer ability was highly appreciated as he played for his company, battalion and division teams. Football was just one avenue for the van Pelt boys to be competitive. Competition came in many forms, including chess. One of four radio channels in Holland at the time, AVRO, held an international chess tournament that not only captivated the nation (and the world for that matter), but also the van Pelt boys. The tournament was held from November 6 through November 27, 1938 in a number of Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Groningen, Zwolle, Haarlem, Utrecht, Arnhem, Breda and Leiden. It pitted Paul Keres (Estonia), Reuben Fine (USA), Salo Flohr (Czechoslovakia), Mikhail Botvinnik (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), Max Euwe (Holland), Samuel Reshevsky (USA), Alexander Alekhine (France) and Jose Raul Capablanca (Cuba) against each other. Keres and Fine tied for first place, with the Estonian, Keres, winning on tiebreak by virtue of his score in their individual games. For as competitive as chess is, the organizers did not set up a playoff system, with a champion determined solely through the double round-robins. Many of the matches were considered to be great, and certainly the van Pelts took a great interest in honing their chess skills after the tournament concluded. But, as chess is a mental game that reflects intellect, wins and losses reflect intelligence. Losing is not just a matter of losing a game, it is losing on a very personal level. When cards are played, losses can be blamed on luck. When chess is played, losses must either be blamed on intelligence or skill level. In any event, within a testosterone-driven household, losses were not taken lightly. Kees and Bertus played chess for endless hours, and the level of acrimony never diminished. Games were high-tension and cut-throat.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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