Five Brothers and a War

Den Haag Razzia

the ages of 17 and 40 to immediately go into the streets to await their orders. Then the houses were searched. Anyone who did not comply would be arrested, and all the household possessions would be confiscated. The people who were gathered were all then herded through the city, and ultimately sent to Germany. Knowing the tactic used in Rotterdam, the van Pelts prepared. Each evening all lights switches were turned on, and the vacuum cleaner was plugged in and turned on. Therefore, as soon as the electricity was turned back on, the entire house lit up and the vacuum cleaner made an enormous racket.

The Electrolux vacuum cleaner used to sound the alarm of a German raid on the house.

Maria ensured that before going to bed each evening, she had three sets of cutlery and china left in the sink. At no time could there be unexplainable dirty dishes or clothes anywhere. The only acceptable scenario was one that gave the impression that only three people were in the household. At about 4:00 am on November 21, the entire van Pelt household was startled awake by the lights and the vacuum cleaner. Leen, Piet and Kees instantly shot down the two sets of stairs, into the dining room, and down the hatch into the crawl space. Maria followed, and closed the hatch and placed the vases and other paraphernalia on top of the hatch to hide it thoroughly. Bert was responsible to cool the beds just vacated by the three boys, and then to make them up. Leendert, Marie and Bert went around the house to do one last check to ensure that everything was in order. They then prepared for the inevitable knock on the door. Not answering the door would not have been an option, because the door would simply have been kicked down. As the minutes ticked by, the stress level increased. Twenty-five minutes passed before that knock occurred. When Leendert answered, he was handed the following flyer:

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

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