Five Brothers and a War

Wim van Rossum

family members were professional fruit and vegetable growers in Loosduinen. While that fact is what allowed Jan to claim that he too was a “gardener”, and therefore avoided work in the German munition factories, it also meant that the van Rossums dealt heavily with the Nazis. There was a question about whether their involvement amounted to complicity, or indeed whether they were closet NSBers. In any event, when Wim returned to Den Haag, he chose to not go home, as he felt that it was far more dangerous than staying with the van Pelts. His parents knew of his presence in the city, but agreed with his assessment as to safety. There were only two van Pelt brothers living at home at the time of Wim’s presence, as Leen and Kees were in hiding in Ottoland and Jan was enslaved in Tübingen, Germany. Only Piet and Bertus were there. As has been mentioned, the winter of 1944/45 was extremely cold, and there was no electricity at all. So when Wim stayed with the van Pelts, there was nothing to do. To avoid re-capture, he could never leave the house, so they all stayed inside and played games— card games and board games, mostly. As the sun went down, and the cold became even more harsh, people went to bed to stay warm. Wim and Bertus shared a bed during that time to stave off the cold. Finally, the Germans were being defeated, and then the risk level dropped. The Germans in Holland were essentially cut off from their logistical support from the Fatherland. The troops were ill-fed and ill-equipped in the western part of Holland. The razzias had stopped, and the Germans did not expend any unnecessary fuel or other resources to maintain the level of tight control they had done previously. So Wim went back to his home and his family.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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