Five Brothers and a War

Jan’s Enslavement in Germany

The work was very tough, and he was required to work long hours per day, seven days per week. When the son of the gardener came home on leave from the army, the food given to Jan was of poor quality, and usually old leftovers. Over the first months, significant difficulties were encountered. The farm Jan worked at was on the route some Dutch youths traversed between their residences and their factory. Once they found that Jan was Dutch, they would banter back and forth. Banter would then lead to the passing of news, especially if it was good for the Allies. When the Battle of Sicily was underway, during the latter part of July and first part of August 1943, the news passed between the young men on their appointed route and Jan. Unfortunately, some of this activity was witnessed by the German growers and Jan was accused of espionage. The next day he was taken to the arbeitsambt ( “Work Office”) to give an explanation of his political interests. But just as he was about to be reassigned to a factory job, another gardener came into the office and the two gardeners struck up a conversation, which turned out to be very fortunate for Jan because he was promptly reassigned to the other grower, thereby avoiding factory work again. As importantly, it meant that his living conditions would be far better than he would have gotten—which would have been in a concentration camp, with all of the disease, lack of hygiene and lack of all privacy. Jan was taken to the Braun family farm, where he continued until the end of the war. It also turned out that both his job and his living conditions were better at the second farm than at the first. But the Germans were now losing the war, so the overall environment was deteriorating. There was an increase in Allied bombings, both in terms of frequency and intensity. That also meant an increase in the need for flowers (funeral wreaths and flower arrangements), for digging of graves, and for digging and construction of air-raid shelters to allow for areas of refuge as the bombing got closer. All of the work had to be completed by Jan and his two co-workers—a Frenchman and a Pole. But Jan was very proficient in German, and this was a distinct advantage for him. He got his own room in the attic area of the house, which he considered a luxury. He was asked from time to time to speak, in German, to the local Evangelical Church about Holland. Jan found that to be a good distraction from the normal routine. And he found a girlfriend in the daughter of the farmer.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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