"During the war, we stayed in Bergen while most of it was evacuated, because the Germans thought England would invade via the Dutch coast. Our family stayed because my father was the principal of a boys school and they wanted the school open for the farm boys that stayed behind to grow crops. My parents were always worried that the Nazi’s would take my brother, Jan, off to fight in the war or work in German factories, so he had to hide whenever the Nazi’s came by. There were two houses across the street whose tall A frame roofs met each other. We fixed a mattress there for Jan to stay when the Nazi’s came by our house. One day, they came unexpectedly and Mum made Jan go in the root cellar under the playroom. The Nazi’s began to search the house; top to bottom. One soldier came into the playroom. It just happened that Marieke was there and the soldier leaned down to her and talked about how cute she was and how she reminded him of his daughter back home. Then he straightened up and walked out. He completely forgot to search the room and Jan was safe."

Contributed by Joke Haakman