Five Brothers and a War

Leen and Kees— Onderduikers

As the farm community had been under strict supervision of the Nazis, there would always be the danger of them showing up unexpectedly. The Germans had a small contingent of soldiers stationed in a village ten kilometers down the road. With their experience in Den Haag with razzias, the first thing the two brothers did was to create a hiding place in the midst of the hay bales stored in the loft of the barn. They re-arranged the bales such that an air inlet was created at the inaccessible back of the stack. They had a moveable bale to create an entry into the space, placing it in such a way that a quick pull would close the access behind them. Ultimately, the Germans did not come by, so the preparation work was unnecessary for anything other than their relative peace of mind. Leen and Kees settled into their new routine with Leen helping the old folks in the house and Kees helping JanKees with whatever he needed. Leen also helped with the cooking, which, on the whole, went rather well. However, there was one notable example of things not going as well when Leen decided to make pudding for dessert. He mixed all of the ingredients without much thought, then cooked up his mixture until it was the thickness he desired. It was only when he served the dish and everyone took a spoonful that he realized that he had mistaken the salt for being sugar. Most farmhouses in Holland had the family living area, the milk processing and storage area, as well as the space occupied by the animals, all under one roof. So it was easy to go from one space to the other. This farmhouse was no different. Being a “city slicker”, Kees had never worn the farmer’s customary footwear, klompen (“clogs—wooden shoes”). To avoid ruining his own shoes, which he needed to use to go to church, JanKees loaned some of his. Kees wore a size 10 and JanKees wore at least a size 14 shoe, so Kees had four sizes left over at the heel. Cows are not very particular where and when they relieve themselves. The farmer, no doubt, wanted to introduce Kees to the realities of farming. Kees was used to cleaning up after chickens, rabbits and cats, but the difference in scope with cleaning up after a cow, much less 50, was profound. On the first day of his new farming assignment, Kees had not noticed the cow behind him lifting her tail. The extra space in his borrowed footwear quickly became a virtual urinal. The understandable shock caused him to jump to get out of range, but he had not counted on the level of slipperiness all of the mess on the barn floor had created, so he promptly landed on one of the fresh piles. A real farmer knows not to get into that situation, but more importantly, also knows not to walk into the farmhouse in a disgusting state. Kees, not being a farmer, had no idea of farm etiquette, so he just walked through the doors leading to the milk storage room, then into the house. Horror appeared on every face present. JanKees, reacting with amazing haste for such a large man, picked Kees up by his still-clean shirt collar and threw him as far as he could out the door. The cleanup outside was neither fast nor fun. But it did teach Kees a lesson. Before long, he was able to milk cows morning and evening. He was on his way to becoming a real farmer.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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