2. The May Days of 1940, when the Germans invaded the country

On 10 May 1940, I woke at about 5 am to the heavy drone of planes flying low over our house.  I had never heard anything like it before.  I went to my parents' room to wake them.  

Mother got out of bed.  

Father just said, "Well, then, war must have broken out," before rolling over and going back to sleep.

He had to get up early every morning to get to his office in Amsterdam and he didn't like to be woken up earlier than necessary. That morning he left for work as usual around 7 am, as if it was a perfectly normal day.

The rest of us saw the world somewhat differently.  People were milling about in the streets.  The police came to arrest members of the NSB (National Socialist Movement).  

The NSB were considered to be traitors and troublemakers.  

That day, and also the next couple of days, we didn't go to school. 

Radio announcements became ominous.  Every day the German army penetrated deeper into The Netherlands.  There was fighting as far west as The Hague and Rotterdam.  The front came terrifyingly closer.  

It had been decided that the fortress of Naarden was to be defended, whereupon our neighbourhood, the Rembrandt quarter, would be in the direct line of fire.  The entire area was to be evacuated the following day. Months before, everybody had prepared for evacuation by packing a suitcase with essentials.   My sister and I each had a little green backpack.  My parents considered taking a taxi to Haarlem in order to move in with Mother's parents until the danger passed.  Haarlem was considered to be safer than Naarden. 

In the end, nothing came of my parents' plans.  The Dutch army capitulated on May 14, by which time the German army was already in Amersfoort.

After that, the turn of events completely reversed.  Members of the NSB were freed from jail, we went back to school, and life appeared to return to normal.

Shortly afterwards, two little girls came to stay with us.  Their father, an army sergeant, had been wounded in the fighting in Grebbenberg and was in hospital in Wageningen.   His wife wanted to visit him daily and could only do this if somebody looked after the daughters.  After a couple of weeks, the patient was discharged and the girls went home again.