Wartime Encounter is a little book (only 147 pages long) written by Harm de Blij, which tells, in the words of Peter Gould, “of a time, place and circumstance that must never be forgotten.� This time: the second world war. The place the Netherlands. The circumstances: occupied by one of the most ruthless, brutal forces / ideologues the world has ever seen; the Nazis.
De Blij was only five years old when the war started, 10 when the Germans capitulated. Before the war, the De Blij family was – in essence – one happy family. Little Harm was constantly surrounded by music (his parents were both gifted musicians), love and – in a good way – quiet. They lived in Schiedam, close to, even a suburb of, the Netherlands’ second largest city of Rotterdam.
This idyllic childhood comes to an abrupt end by the sounds of Nazi airplanes flying over, dropping bombs on Rotterdam: destroying the inner city completely – only the Church remained standing – and killing as many Dutch citizens as possible. The destruction caused the Netherlands, whose forces fought back passionately up till that time, to surrender.
Life changed instantly: the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, in which Harm’s father played, was not to assemble for a long time to come. Some members were killed May 14. Others were not allowed to play in the orchestra any longer because they were Jews (the persecution had begun). Financial problems forced the De Blij’s to move.
De Blij describes how life changed, not just for him, but for the Dutch people as a whole: opposition was oppressed, signs of patriotism forbidden, Jews were persecuted, those who helped Jews were arrested, and, finally, one could not trust anyone outside of one’s immediate family.
With a sad undertone De Blij describes how he was not allowed to talk to anyone about family affairs. The NSB (Nationalist Socialist Union) came into existence, existing out of traitors and Nazi collaborators. Many an NSB member spied on his own neighbors. Not only did they spy themselves, they also used their children. Children have, as De Blij explains, the tendency to brag about their parents when those parents do something patriotic, say being active in the resistance. So, NSB members told their children to tell them whenever when of their classmates brags about such activities by his or her father and / or mother. As De Blij writes “many a father was taken away� because children said too much.
The author describes family life during the horrors of world war 2 with visible respect and love for his parents who tried to give little Harm as much a normal life as possible. When he writes: “I marvel to this day at my parents’ ability to create for me a childhood as normal as it was. Only intermittely did I realize how fearful they were� – he words the feelings perfectly of so many people who were a child when world war two broke out. No matter how difficult the circumstances, parents try to make life as normal as possible for their children in extraordinary times and, by doing so, normal people become extraordinary parents.
The longer the occupation endures, the more Jews are persecuted. De Blij writes: “Soon, an endless column of Dutch Jews, most dressed in black and carrying suitcases and bundles, bean to move along the main road from Amsterdam, heading west. Those marches went on for days, then weeks. Villagers who tried to hand the marchers some food or drink were beated back by Nazis patrolling the route. I asked my parents who the marchers were and where they were going; these were not just young men who could serve as laborers but oldsters, women and children my age as well. My mother put her finger on her lips. There was no answer. Between us, standing on the sidewalk, and those people walking in the street was a chasm of death.�
Harm de Blij’s father was not safe. The Nazis held razzias trying to find men who could / should go to work in Germany. One morning the Germans came, Harm was sent to a safe place and watched the Germans marching into his home in search of his father. They came out without him; it seemed that father De Blij had made an hideout for himself. The family wondered for years why the razzia started at their home. They stopped wondering when they filed for emigration (after the war):
“’Before you depart, Mr. De Blij,’ said the Dutch official handling his case, ‘I think you may want to see this, which is part of your dossier.’ It was a letter written by a colleague in my father’s orchestra, someone of whose NSB sympathies he had been unaware. The letter described my father as a ‘dangerous terrorist’ capable of doing ‘severe damage’ to German objectives in the Netherlands, someone who should be ‘eliminated’ at the earliest opportunity. My father was dumbfounded; but what was especially painful was that the individual who had written that letter to the Nazi authorities now occupied a good position in a prominent Dutch symphony orchestra.�
Such was life in the Netherlands: both the Nazi occupier and other Dutch citizens could not be trusted.
De Blij describes more events like this, seemingly remembering it as if it happened yesterday: the bombing by the allied forces of the airport of Soesterberg, the destruction of a village home by the Nazis in retaliation of resistance activities, which was a mild revenge: not long before this happened, the Nazis wiped out the entire population of the village of Putten; 400 men, women and children executed.
After, say, the first 30 pages, the story has captured the reader. It takes a little while to get started, but once it does, one does not want to stop reading until one has finished the book in its entirety. De Blij’s account of the second world war sounds familiar to me (and others whose parents or grandparents lived during this war): the growing hunger and despair, the doubt: liberation appears imminent, but will the Netherlands be liberated in time? How many people have to die before the allied forces have arrived? By the winter of 1944, the biggest enemy is not the Nazi occupier as such anymore, it is hunger (caused by the Nazis of course). People from the bigger cities travel through the countries, walking for days, even weeks, in search for food. De Blij describes how he and his father were terribly worried when mother De Blij left on a quest for food as well and did not return for days. Finally, finally, she arrived home, with food normally not enough for one week. The family, however, was delighted: they would do much longer with it.
Father and mother De Blij lost weight. And not a bit. His father only weighed 120 points at a certain moment, his mother 90. De Blij remembers how, once, a miracle happened: their dog Bobby (of whom De Blij writes with great love and affection) came home on day with an egg, still whole, not broken. They shared it with the four of them: yes, the dog was not forgotten.
This hunger, this struggle for survival lasted until, at long last, the Netherlands was liberated. May 4 1944: an acquaintance came in and announced that the Germans had capitulated. De Blij describes the joy this caused perfectly, remembering again, everything perfectly. Peace had arrived and little Harm had now more time and opportunities, to do something with his new found love… geography.
A marvelous warbook as it is, Wartime Encounter is more than that: it is also the story of how a young boy found something he loved doing more than anything else, in the midst of war. Darkness surrounded Harm de Blij, but he found light: not in religion, not in political philosophies, but in geography.
Once the allied forces landed in France, father De Blij colored part of a map of Europe red. He showed it to his son and explained that the map would become more and more red, until the Netherlands was red as well and they would be liberated. Soon little Harm started imagining how life was in the ‘red area’. How did the people there live? What did they do? They were liberated, they were not hungry… What did the world outside the Netherlands look like?
In the last chapters of Wartime Encounter this part of the story, how Harm discovered geography, plays an increasingly important role. When reading these chapters, and the way De Blij writes about geography, one cannot help but to fall in love with geography as well, this despite the fact that Harm’s geography teacher right after world war two, was not one of the most inspiring teachers in the history of mankind, to put it mildly.
The moment that Harm decided that geography was his ‘thing’ arrived when he attended the Baarns Lyceum. His teacher was very inspiring to Harm and taught his course with a passion and love for his profession that inspired not just Harm, but more of his classmates to become geographers. Harm, now a teenager, went home and told his parents that he would like to become a geographer. ‘Have patience’, they essentially said, you’re a bit young to make such an important decision’. But, young or not, Harm decided that he would dedicate his life to geography and we, looking back now 60 years later, can safely conclude that he made the right choice.
All in all Wartime Encounter starts off a bit slow, but becomes better quickly and truly captures the reader. In the end, WE is a great book, telling the story of one of the most interesting – albeit horrible – times in the history of mankind, as experienced by one of the most generous and humble – despite being very successful – people I have had the pleasure to come to know through my blogging. Harm de Blij’s account is filled with love for his parents for whom, in essence, this little but valuable and impressing book was originally written. The focus on geography in the latter chapters adds to the story, making it a book about world war two, a loving family, and about how one little boy discovered something he loved doing.
In short: I highly recommend Wartime Encounter to all of you.
Correction: You can order WE at HudsonRiverPublishing.com for $12.95.
You could order the older edition at Mr. De Blij’s website where it still says that he will “send an autographed (and dedicated, if desired)” copy for $25. I assume that you can buy the new edition at his website as well and for less money, but I am not 100% sure so I have asked Dr. de Blij about that.
Cross posted at my own blog.
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