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How would you feel if your home town was suddenly invaded by foreign soldiers?
How would you react to hearing bombs falling?
How do parents provide for the family when there are very severe shortages of food and supplies? Questions come up with very few good answers.
From Tyranny To Freedom is my personal story of survival with my family in Rotterdam, Holland, during five long years of Nazi occupation. War is such a horrible thing when one is stripped of identity, threatened almost daily, and suffer from sickness and hunger because some fanatic decided that he wanted things done his way. Hitler imposed his will on all the Dutch people. How can one explain that to a young boy living in a nice country such as Holland?
My parents did amazing things to keep our family of five alive and safe. My father protected us the best he could. He worked with the Dutch Underground and helped to hide Jewish people. My mother did so many, creative things to help us. My parents were real heroes.
The curfews and other restrictions were horrible. To see neighbors taken away and sirens going off doesn’t allow for a very secure environment for any child or adult. What goes on in a mother’s heart when she never knows when her husband or oldest son might be taken away to be forced to work in a German war factory or perhaps be taken to a concentration camp while she’s left with two young children?
My parents lost a lot of weight because they were always the last to eat, if there was anything left. Food was scarce - very scarce. How does one survive, cooped up in a small apartment without electricity much of the time? What do you do between long dark curfew hours?
There were a lot of rumors about the Allied forces coming closer and they never materialized. But, somehow, freedom did come in the nick of time after five long years. It was very dramatic! These freedom fighters, who also wore green uniforms, were so different. They changed my life totally.
After the war, I had to go see this country where these wonderful people came from. We had no money for me to visit America so the struggle to go across the Atlantic Ocean took on a life of its own.
I am very grateful to be an American now and I want you to experience what it is like to be freed from tyranny. I love this country but I am concerned about her future, considering what has been happening lately.