REFUGEE’S STORY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21229, 27 September 1940, Page 5

REFUGEE’S STORY

ESCAPE FROM NAZIS MISERY IN HOLLAND STREETS STREWN WITH BODIES (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, August 7. Here'is the inside story of Holland, told to Henry Buckley by Lieutenant Rodrigues, who formerly assisted him when he was Daily Express staff reporter in Amsterdam. “Leaving Amsterdam was easy—by train for the frontier town. And I simply walked across the frontier in the dark without seeing a single guard. “In Brussels I stayed with friends and heard that tne Germans were looking for chauffeurs to drive requisitioned motor-lorries with troops to France. I was paid ten marks daily, that is to say the equivalent of 200 French francs, and given plenty of food and cigarettes. “Every group of 10 or 12 German soldiers had a spokesman who appeared to have the job of pep talker —something on the lines of the political commissar of the Soviet Army, although he was only an ordinary soldier. These men held forth to their fellows and listeners, explaining that the war would be over by the middle of August, for the>’ would quickly launch an attack against Britain, and all would be back at home by the end of August. “Some soldiers looked pretty sceptical, but they never opened their mouths. Many of them seemed very tired of being in the army, and som» told me that they had not been home for two years. They were excellently equipped and never walked anywhere, always moving in motortrucks.

“After a week of driving a lorry I slipped away at Gravelines and walked down to Calais. I and two Englishmen, one a soldier and the other a civilian, arranged an escape by boat. We found a boat with oars on the beach. But it was hard to get away, as along the entire coast from Dunkirk to Boulogne there were two sentries every 500 yards who maintained d watch day and night. “One dark night we pushed the boat to the water’s edge and then drew lots to see who should go and get food. A Frenchman had promised to bring some but hud not turned up. 1 lost, and this saved my life. “As I came back with the food I lay among the sand dunes and saw my two comrades being interrogated. Then the sentries pushed the soldier aside and shot him.

“I told him earlier to tear up his military papers, but he would not, saying he might be shot as a spy on landing in England. He was suich a nice young man, only 19. “The Germans took the civilian away a prisoner, leaving the soldier’s body on the beach. I crawled away as fast as I could, feeling very sick. “When I got back to Calais I found the Germans had organised a refugee train, for they did not want a floating population watching the endless gun emplacements they were preparing along the coast. We went through Amiens. It was a nightmare on June 13. The streets were littered with bodies. In Paris I joined forces with a Briton and we set off for Marseilles. We crossed the “frontier” into unoccupied territory by the simple process of walking fast out i on to the bridge across the Loire i while a sentry looked the other way. ! He called us back, but while we were | retracing our steps a motor-lorry j came along which the sentry had to ! halt. So we turned again and raced i to the other side, reaching safety, i After that, going easy, I reached j Lisbon.

"My last recollection of Amsterdam, as I walked down the Kalverstraat on the way to the station to begin my six weeks’ trek to liberty, is of meeting an American negro drummer from a jazz band at Hecks Cafe. He was rather the worse for drink and weaving his way along the street murmuring softly but audibly: ‘Po lil Holland. ‘Po lii Holland.’

"Yet I think ‘Po lil Holland’ will prove the most difficult ‘of all the occupied countries for the Nazis to handle, for we Dutch are rugged, single-minded people, singularly resistant to any kind of propaganda. “Today the majority of Dutch are absolutely determined that they wilt

r.ot remain under German control But there is a minority who say: ‘Well, Britain left us in the lurch, and we might just as well save ourselves trouble and accept whatever our powerful neighbours offer us.’ “Unfortunately the first group has been rather weakened by the resentment felt against the House or Orange. “Only a few days before the invasion the Dutch were cheered and thrilled by the Queen’s answer to an invitation to go to America. ‘A Dutch Queen’s place is with her own people.’ “They were not in any way prepared for her departure. No effort was made to explain that this meant the preservation of Holland’s independence. “All the arts of Dr. Goebbels are being turned on Holland today. Every newspaper has a German chief editor in its office. “Jewish journalists were dismissed by telephone after the Germans came in. The Handelsblad them two months’ pay. I don't know what the rest did. “Curiously enougn there are still j two Jewish radio speakers. Just | before the invasion the Dutch, to ! avoid confusion from outside radio transmitters pretending to be Dutch, picked three speakers and made their voices tnoroughly familiar to Dutch listeners. The Germans kept them on. “It is forbidden to listen to foreign radios, though many do. But the few 8.8. C. broadcasts in Dutch I listened to didn’t seem quite to meet the situation. “There are still a few British in Amsterdam. I was able to help one member of a family who was left behind when the rest left. Finally he returned to his post in a Dutch factory and I believe he was not molested. “Some industries are being closed down on the pretext that Germany can supply these goods. The Dutch are encouraged to produce eggs, butter, potatoes and other vegetables and fruit. One of the first thing.' the Nazis did after arriving was to buy and send to the Reich all early vegetables and fruit. Phillips’s radio factory is running normally. The Fokker and Ford works have been taken over by the Germans. “Many thousands of Dutch work- i

ers have gone into Germany to work, especially railwaymen and land workers. I met one who came hoimfor a few days. He said he was well paid, and was contented. Many thousands—l was told 8000 or lO.OOe —of young Germans being trained as airmen are now in Holland. It is interesting to note that such large numbers of new German aviators are being trained. “Almost every night R.A.F. planes drone over Amsterdam on their way j to Western Germany, but they are j \ very high, and German A.A. guns j i don’t shoot. The black-out prevails , but unlike France and Belgium there , ■ is no curfew, so that cafes and caba- - rets go on as usual. Some cabarets are forbidden to German soldiers Some Jewish quarters are also for- 1 bidden to German soldiers, appar 1 ently in order to avoid incidents. ; “One of the most awful sights ol j the brief war, witnessed by a friend \ of mine, was the spectacle of 30,000 i ! Jews, including many Germans, who ! waited at Ymuiden hoping to get ofl * [ ‘ n ,' h f Dutc h liner J, P. Coen. bui j Bn ish naval men took the liner and sank her in order In block the port. I he despair of the Jews was terrible * 1 Many opened veins,,,,thers jumper; j 1 ine pier and drowned themselves '■ when they first saw the German j 1

troops. Actually, the Germans have ignored the Jews so far. “Some German refugees who could not stand the strain of waiting in Amsterdam went to the Gestapo and reported, but were told that the Germans were not interested in them.” "As an artilleryman in the Dutch Army in the Amersfoort sector near tne Zuyder Zee, I saw many parachutists come down. I took part in the capture of 18. They were quite helpless, as we trained a machinegun on them as they floated down, and could only surrender. If they came down where there were no troops they dug themselves in, and u was hard to find them. “Some came down with their fingers cut off, because the trapdoor through which they are dropped automatically by the pilot pulling a lever, as if dropping a bomb, shui too quickly, catching their hands. One I saw suffered a terrible death. To capture him three farmers came out and stuck pitchforks into him a» he came down. I had to finish him off. “The German statement that fewer than 700 civilians were killed in Rotterdam is non sente. Tens of thousands were killed. The centre ol the town was destroyed.”