A proces that will end in a book that can offer an insight into Jan’s life and times and the choices he made. And show – through what he had to experience – how precious freedom and democracy are. Continue reading The book and the proces
It makes me wonder how much information about the fate of Nazi victims and occurrences during this era is as yet unavailable as the information is locked within a language. Continue reading Unlocking language -Second World War Research
Sporen van zijn reis zijn echter gedurende de afgelopen decennia teruggevonden door verschillende familieleden. Op dit moment vervolg ik hun zoektocht en weef alle beschikbare informatie samen tot een zo gedetailleerd mogelijk verhaal. Continue reading De zoektocht naar Jan van Boeckel (in Dutch for a change)
I, however, am spending all my time perusing archives. Hours and hours of intense detective work. Old letters, reports, testimonies and orders. Books, articles and papers. In French, German, Flemish and sometimes in Russian (which I cannot decipher). The delicate material at times nearly crumbling in my hands. Continue reading A needle in a haystack in Brussels
Jan van Boeckel spent two and a half months at the Citadelle de Liége in the summer of 1944. He was transferred there from the Saint-Léonard prison on D-Day, the 6th of June 1944. Continue reading Lüttich Zitadelle – The Liège Citadel
After a long search I was able to locate him at the end of last year. Theo never forgot Jan, and was extremely glad that I contacted him. I interviewed him about Jan and everything they had experienced together. Continue reading Losing a connection to the past
Many hours have also been spent in walking to and through the various locations I have been able to unearth in all the documents, spots where Jan had stayed during his Belgian sojourn. Continue reading Pilgrimage 4: Wallonia
This is a very short note to my most loyal readers. There is not much time to write blogs during this pilgrimage. The chapters for the book about Jan van Boeckel are very slowly taking shape. In the mean time … Continue reading Pilgrimage 3: If dunes could speak…
A sense of humour is one of the best survival tools, and the van Boeckels had loads of it. Talking to Jacqueline and Ineke, two of the youngest van Boeckels, they forever tell their painful childhood stories laced with the jokes that were prevalent in the family. It still makes them laugh out loud. Continue reading Processions in the Hunger Winter
After the mobilisation of the Dutch military in 1940 Jacqui had seen the war unfold. Dutch soldiers passing through the street to join up with their company in the dunes, her sisters offering them tea and sandwiches. And then suddenly Germans in the street Continue reading A child’s eye
Before Jan joined their group in the forests of Compogne, the Maquis d’Engreux had experienced trying times. Life was dangerous and volatile. Let me return to the beginning of 1944, when Theo and Jan had not yet arrived. Continue reading Partisans de Houffalize, Maquis D’Engreux
After defeating the Dutch army in 1940, and bombing Rotterdam to cinders, Holland was occupied by the Germans. If living under these circumstances was hard for the average Dutch man or woman in the early years of the war, 1942 was a hellish year Dutch Jews and anyone suspected of working against Hitler. Continue reading 1942: Devilish dilemmas
What Jan really experienced we will never know, and we never will know the thoughts he had and the choices he had to make. But armed with both Arthur ‘s accounts and the witness reports by villagers, labourers and prisoners I am able to clear some of the fog created by the Nazi regime ever so slightly. Continue reading Being a Number: KZ Saal an der Donau, Ring-Me
mogromo 