Five Brothers and a War

School

The van Pelts attended a number of schools. This was due, at least partly, to the fact that there were a number of van Pelts. The schools they attended were all in fairly close proximity to each other, and were certainly closer to the Tomatenstraat than to the Margrietstraat, which was due to the newness of the Margrietstraat neighborhood. The rest of the city was far more established, and therefore had more schools. Leen was nine, Piet eight, Jan six, Kees four and Bertus two when the van Pelts moved to Den Haag. So at least Leen and Piet attended Rotterdam schools before they moved. When the kids did go to Den Haag schools, they all started in the Prins Mauritsschool on the Resedastraat. This was a modern school, having only opened in 1926.

Prins Mauritsschool, Resedastraat, Den Haag. The was largely destroyed in World War II. It was subsequently rebuilt and then reopened in 1951.

They next went to the Heldringschool , which was divided into two floors. The ground level was used for primary education and the second floor as a high school, under the MULO banner. Jan was the only one to go through both primary and secondary schools there.

van Pelt

O.G. Heldringschool, Fazantplein, Den Haag. The school was recently demolished and then rebuilt.

Five Brothers and a War

Page 425