Seite46

So I stayed with a different family until danger loomed again, and I had to take off one more time. Finally I was in hiding with the van Sweeden family, likewise Christian people in Brunssum. They had two girls, Astrid and Greta. Their father had named the girls after the famous stars, Greta Garbo, and Astrid Varnay (an eminent Wagner soloist). There also was a son by the name of Dirk by a previous marriage of Mrs. van Sweeden. He worked for the underground, the Dutch Resistance to the Nazis.

This underground organization procured forged passports, ration cards, and then some. Each month new ration cards were issued. I do remember that these cards or stamps were brought to the van Sweeden residence. Besides me the family hid one more Jewish child, a girl, whose name I unfortunately don’t recall any longer. At the van Sweeden family I experienced the liberation by the Americans. I think this was about November of 1944.