Five Brothers and a War

Finishing School

After the war’s conclusion, life slowly began to normalize. Schooling had to be restarted, but this was a complicated process. No schools were in session during the last six months of the war, but many students either did not attend at all, or attending only sporadically for other weeks, months or even years. Compounding the problem was the state of the school facilities. The war had damaged many schools, necessitating a major reconstruction process. But the schools also needed to be located where the children were, and that meant that neighborhoods had to be rebuilt—a process that would take many years. Available houses were packed with relatives, friends and even strangers. The effect of that was a redistribution of students, and an overburdening of schools in those areas. Kees went back to the school around the corner, the Dalton HBS, where he had a year to go. He finished in 1946. Bertus was a different matter. He had failed the North American equivalent of Grade 8/8 th Grade (Canada/U.S.) twice, which made him two years older than his classmates in the best of circumstances. The physical differences between 15- and 17-year-olds is very significant, and Bertus was tall for his age. On the psychological side, this was humiliating. Compounding the problem was the chaotic nature of school hours, where classes would rotate from mornings to afternoons on a weekly basis. Staffing schools with qualified teachers created another issue. In order to manage all of the problems, schools tended to keep classroom hours per student to a minimum and to stress homework. While this was right up Kees’ alley, it was exactly what Bertus hated. The classes he liked were not stressed, while the ones he hated were. He did not like a single teacher, and could not relate with his younger classmates. This all meant that once again, this time in a lower-demand school, his grades were going to be abysmal again. Bertus was not looking forward to facing his father with this ongoing predicament. Grades were due by the Christmas break of 1945, and Bertus grew more nervous by the week. He decided to hide his report card from his father. Leendert began asking Bertus for his report card. Bertus would tell his father that with schools still trying to get back on their feet, reports would be delayed. Of course, that left him with his next problem, because the report cards had already been issued to students to take home to their parents, who would have to sign them before returning them to the school. Bertus worked through this by forging Leendert’s signature. While he felt awful doing so, he turned in the report card to his teacher, who put in the pile with all of the others and sent them to the office for processing. Bertus was relieved that he had gotten away with it thus far. Leendert, however, was not an idiot, and apparently questioned Bertus’ explanation for the lack of his report card. Kees had gotten his on time, and things just did not add up. Early in January 1946, Bertus was leaving his school at the end of the afternoon session when he noticed the family car parked in the street out front. The car was empty though.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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