Interviews > HOLLAND

Johanna Cornelius Maria Bakker (born 1937)

1.     How old were you when the war started?
I was three when the war started in 1940. North-Holland, where I lived, was liberated in '45. I was seven. North-Holland was liberated half a year later then the South. In that time, we had a hunger winter.

2.      Did you know what was happening?
No, in the beginning I was to young to notice. Later I noticed some of it, because of our lack of food, I was hungry.

3.     What kind of food did you have in that time and did anything change during the war?
I know that at some point we had large pots of flowerbulbs on the table, and on the stove there were sugar beets simmering. In that time people ate everything they could get.

4.     How was the economy during the war? Did your family have enough money?
My father worked at the hoogovens, where they made steel, so we had an income, but there was nothing in the stores. My father went to North on a bike with wooden tires, there were a lot of farmers there. He traded his signet rings for food, like wheat, beans, flour and fruit. When he did that we had enough to eat for a while.

5.     Were you in school during the war, and if so, what changed?
When I was five, I should've went to kindergarten, but the Germans had taken over all the schools so I couldn't go. When I was six, I went to primary school in Beverwijk, but only half of the time, because the Germans were there. I didn't have a good base, because I'd never developed motorial skills and on top of that I was left handed. There was a shortage on books, pencils and notebooks. Everything stood still because of the war. I repeated first class.

6.    Were you afraid, and were your parents afraid?
My mother was terrified when there were razzia's(German raids) or bombardments. If her husband was to be taken, she and her children would be left without an income. When there were bombardments, we had to sit under the table with all the doors en windows closed and the lights out, so the plains wouldn't know where to throw the bombs. The radio would be on with the queen giving a speech how we should be brave, or we would get information on how the front was doing. At those moments it was dead quiet and everything was dark.

7.    What was the most signifigant change that was caused by the war?
The rebuilding. Everything became lively again, stores were resupplied, houses were rebuilt. I remember the liberation, everyone was so happy. There were droppings of food in cans, Swedish cookies. It's been in fashion for a long time to save those cans. New clothes were new for me, before when clothes got too small they just got fabric sown on. I got pretty tall and my skirts all had pieces sown on to them.