Five Brothers and a War

Help for Marie

Stress was taking its toll on Marie. Aside from the pressures of dealing with five boys, there was a war that reduced every simple action into some form of trauma. The normal issues of parenting boys ranging in age from 22 down to 14 were made so much worse with the constant threat of death, and the constant uncertainty not only regarding the country as a whole, but the individual freedoms that could be taken away at any time. Jan already had a run-in with the German “justice” system, and any of the boys could have similar or worse situations at any time. Understandably, she was getting more exhausted by the day. While the boys tried in their own way to do their share work in order to relieve the pressure, there was only so much that was possible. In the end, each one of them likely was still a net drain on Marie’s taxed resources. Leendert tried to do his part to help relieve some of her stress by suggesting that they hire a housemaid to do much of the menial work, thereby allowing a bit of a break for his wife, during the daytime hours. Hiring a maid was more risky than one might think though. In placing an ad in the “help wanted” section of the newspaper was not as simple as one might expect. Aside from the fact that the papers were all Nazi-controlled, and therefore could be used for their own purposes, people had to be very careful not to allow an NSB or other Nazi-sympathizer into their homes. The idea of having a person know about the family hiding place could put the entire family at great risk, to the point of imprisonment and the confiscation of all worldly possessions. But they did place the ad, knowing that they needed to be very careful in their choice. One very pretty blond girl came calling while Jan was playing the Dutch national anthem on the organ in the dining room. “Ah,” she said, “music after my own heart.” She was also concerned not to get mixed up with the wrong crowd. She had no desire to work for NSBers. Marie liked her but had strong feelings about having a pretty young woman join a household with five boys, all dealing in some way with adolescence. She looked at it from the point of view letting the fox into the chicken coop, although the reverse was far more likely—where a young chicken would be placed into a den of hungry foxes. While Marie was not “worldly” by any stretch, she did know her offspring well enough to see the problem. She summed it all up in two words: “No way!” was the verdict. Leendert was worried about the health of his wife, and did not come to the same conclusion. On top of that, he had put up with five boys, and having a young woman in the house would be a wonderful change of pace. He liked her personality, and the total cost of having her around was reduced by having her live in her own house. He likely also felt that shaping the boys into being able to deal with girls was a responsibility he could not shirk. Little did he know that they not only could handle the opposite sex, but they were not new at it. Being a very accomplished and successful salesman himself, Leendert must have found great delight in seeing his boys have their first crack at salesmanship. The boys listed every

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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