Five Brothers and a War

Bertus in the Resistance

Even before Dutch newspapers stopped publishing altogether, they stopped publishing facts when the Germans controlled all media and killed anyone who dared to defy them. Late in the war, when electricity was cut off, the van Pelt’s daily routine of bringing up the hidden radio from the backyard shed had stopped, so their sole source of information was from one of the illegal “newspapers”—typically two-page mimeographed flyers. As it happened, one of those was produced by a family friend, whose office was located in the midst of a variety of Nazi-occupied office buildings, as well as within one of the “red light districts” in Den Haag. Bertus helped the friend by picking them up from that person’s office and dropping them off at his house for distribution to others. He asked Bertus to be a “courier” (with the permission of his parents) because no person between the ages of 17 and 40 could be seen in public, much less around so many Nazis. Having a 16-year-old young man, who was in good physical shape was a distinct advantage. Bertus would stuff the flyers in his schoolbag and go on his way unnoticed. The safest way to the friend’s home was through the “red-light district”, even though there were a lot of German soldiers around. But he figured that they were too preoccupied with the local girls to pay any attention to him, which apparently turned out to be true. He was never stopped, and thus dodged another series of “bullets”.

the war

Despite operating under threat of death, underground newspaper publishers continued to produce a variety of products.

Five Brothers and a War

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