The small Dutch town of Lemerlerveld was an important location for the Dutch resistance during the second World War. The courage and kindness of the citizens of this town is a symbol of what made the people of Holland great in the midst of some of the greatest evil the world has ever known. On this Bevrijdingsdag, Dutch Liberation Day, we honor this small town and all the good it did for so many people, including my parents, Nardus and Sipora Groen as chronicled in the book Jew Face.
As if her adorable beauty and charming acting skills weren’t enough, it turns out there are even greater reasons to be a fan of the late Audrey Hepburn. Living in the Netherlands during the war, Hepburn would perform underground to raise money for the Dutch resistance and on occasion even help by being a courier . And showing her understanding of the human condition, she would later in her life recall the horrors of what she saw and in retrospect remembered as a young girl with this statement: “I have memories. More than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on to the train. I was a child observing a child.”
Saturday May 5, is Dutch Liberation Day. In honor of this day and indeed the heroes of Holland, specifically spoken about in the book Jew Face, this site will be focusing on relevant topics starting tomorrow May 4 until Monday May 7.
THE FOLLOWING IS A SMALL EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK JEW FACE. IT IS THE BOOK’S PROLOGUE
PROLOGUE
The date was Friday, August 13, 1943, and it felt like the worst moment
of Sipora’s young life. She knew that the Germans were in the building
and getting closer to finding her. She had already been through so much
and she knew that the situation was going to get a lot worse before it got
better. Her will to live was being taken over by despair. She was not the
type of woman who would ever do anything to speed up her own death,
but she also did not feel like running or fighting. So she decided that she
would just wait on the third floor and when the Nazi soldiers located her,
she would willingly leave with the rest of the patients and hospital staff . At
least then she felt as though she could do some good by making the sick
and elderly patients a little more comfortable.
Nardus, however, had no intention of allowing this to happen. As had
been the case since the beginning of the Nazi invasion of Amsterdam, he
instinctively knew that whatever Jews were not murdered instantly would
instead suffer greatly through torture, experimentation, rape, or brutal
slave labor. Since he found Sipora before the soldiers did, he knew he had
to get her out. And to a man like Nardus, it did not matter what Sipora
thought of this idea. It was going to happen his way. And that was that.
When Sipora saw Nardus, she had already sunk so deep into
hopelessness she wasn’t even able to feel any sense of relief. And she was
determined to let him know.
“I am just going to wait here and let them take me too,” she told
Nardus. “They will need a nurse for the trip. If nothing else, I can make
them feel more comfortable.”
Some moments define an individual, and other moments can define
a relationship between two individuals. In many ways, what was about to
take place would define much of Nardus and Sipora’s relationship. True to
his nature, Nardus was not suggesting or asking what would happen next.
What he was doing was telling Sipora what would happen next.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said in his straight-to-the-point manner, “since
you are going to your death anyway, and that is your plan, I will throw
you out the window right now myself. At least then you will die quickly.
Either way you will die.”
Sipora was crying now. “What’s the point?” she said. “There’s no hope.
My family is gone; your family is gone. They’re even taking sick and old
patients from here and transporting them out of the city.”
Knowing that he needed to remain calm and in control, Nardus made
it very clear to Sipora what was to happen next.
“Get up and let’s get out of here. We will find a way to survive this. All
you have to do is trust me and listen to what I tell you to do.”
Although what she was experiencing felt like hell, Sipora was at least
able to move now. What made the difference was that someone else,
someone she was growing to trust more and more by the day, was taking
control and leading her in what at least felt like a better direction.
Neither Nardus nor Sipora had any idea what was to come next, but it
did not matter. The only thing that mattered now was that Nardus would
never allow either one of them to just sit and wait to be killed.
At this moment, which signified all the drama, horror, and significance
of the times they were living through, these two people were thrust together
in a way that set the tone for all that was yet to come.
Holland's Heroes 