EN 
NL 
From 'Stampersgat in wartime'
I lived in Stampersgat at Gastelsedijk F90C (now Dennis Leestraat 45) during World War II. My father and mother were both in education. For me, the first signs of the war were the overflights of planes and the many V-1s and V-2s. On one of them, at a certain moment, the engine failed and then we had to wait to see whether it would crash nearby or continue flying. We would often sit in the cellar listening anxiously. Along the Mark, behind our house, trenches were dug and bunkers built. The ships in the Mark were bombed.
All this was in late 1943, early 1944. I was 5-6 years old at the time. Radios bicycles and winter coats were picked up by a German truck because they were requisitioned. However, my father had a home-made radio under the floor that was secretly listened to with headphones. This was, of course, very dangerous.
We also had two German soldiers billeted there for a while. I later heard from my mother that these were very neat soldiers who also sometimes brought something. All crockery and other precious things were placed under the floor because of the bombing. Only a statue of the Virgin Mary remained lonely in the room. Coincidentally, a shell landed exactly under the floor and destroyed all the crockery. In the room where Mary stood, nothing was broken.
From the liberation, I still remember the jeep containing two liberators and, in the back, my sister Toos and two daughters of the Luyken family. I am just standing in the doorway, looking over Corry Luyken's shoulder.
At some point we had to evacuate and went to my aunt and uncle in Oud Gastel. Along the Gastelsedijk there were many bomb craters and some dead horses. At Toon Claassen's farm, we had to cross the meadow over a beam or emergency bridge towards Oud Gastel.
Back at Stampersgat, not much remained of the front of our house. One day, when we were back in the cellar, we heard the neighbour shouting, "We are liberated!" We impulsively went out through the corridor between the two houses, and when we reached the street, several bullets flew around our ears. There were still some Germans in the church tower and they fired precisely at the movement in that corridor. I still have a bullet from that passage in my possession. Of the liberation, I still remember the jeep containing two liberators and my sister Toos and two daughters of the Luyken family in the back. I am just standing in the doorway looking over Corry Luyken's shoulder.
