Geertruida Middendorp

Geertruida Elisabeth Middendorp (November 21, 1911 – July 13, 2007) was a member of the LO Dutch Resistance. The LO made counterfeit coupons; it also obtained authentic coupons from loyal Netherlands citizens in the employ of the Dutch Nazis. Other groups conducted raids and robberies to steal authentic coupons from government agencies. And some Dutch civilians gave up their own coupons to the LO during the second world war.She married Hendrick Middendorp ( October 2, 1911 - July 13, 1989) in 1934

The Invasion

Though we had known war was coming, we really didn't know what to do. There was no such thing as trying to get our basements full of groceries. But there was no actual panic that I could detect. Our Army (Leaer), Air Force (Luchtmacht) and Marines (Mariniers) were heavily armed and ready and did engage in some fighting. But they couldn't stop the Germans.German war materials and man power were much too advanced and they were able to implement Blitzkrieg, "lightning war." So when Rotterdam was bombed that was sort of the end, or the beginning of the end. It was rather useless to fight back. We were bewildered, and we didn't know what to think about it, how long it would take. We didn't know what was in store.On May 10, 1940, the German 10th Army, spearheaded by airborne troops, invaded the Netherlands. The rest of the Wehrmacht force committed to "the overrunning of the West" executed rthe Manstein Plan through Belgium and the Ardennes Forest. [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/Dutch.html The Dutch Resistance and the OSS — Central Intelligence Agency ] ] On May 14, 1940, the Dutch commander ordered a cease-fire. Three days later, the entire Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany.The Netherlands had maintained during World War I, a policy of neutrality. While many of their neighbors fell to the Germans during World War I, the Netherlands remained outside of the war. With the advent of World War II, the Netherlands sought to again remain neutral - a hope bolstered by a promise of nonaggression made by Hitler. However, as with so many other promises made by Hitler and the Nazis, this assurance proved worthless. On May 10, 1940, the German army began its invasion of the Netherlands.Despite valiant efforts made on the part of the Dutch military, the Netherlands fell to the Germans after only five days of fighting. After the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch capitulated.Though as ordinary people we were not able to do much to prepare ourselves, the NSB (pro-German people, i.e. National Socialist Movement or Nationaal Socialistische Beweqing) had been well informed. One part of their dirty work entailed filling the second of two fuel tanks on our G.1 planes with water. Once in the air, trying to ward off the Germans, our double-tailed planes actually fell out of the sky when the second of the fuel tanks became engaged. Another common NSB activity was to disable bridges. Indeed, the NSB did many things to generally help the German Army establish itself in Holland.

Activities during the War Years

The individual Dutch person , as was Geertruida & Hendrick Middendorp, horrified and appalled at the spectacle of people being rounded up and taken away to an unknown fate.During this time Geertruida worked at the telegraph a Dutch newspaper firm, around this time Geertruida had become active in the Dutch underground, this would have given her the opportunity to distribute any underground newspapers (especially as their telephone lines had been destroyed by the advancing German's, and use of radio transmitters was much too dangerous because of German direction-finding operations. These newspapers helped counterbalance Nazi propaganda and the German-controlled media. However De Telegraaf was transferred and/or controlled in this time of the SS. The illegal press flourished in the Netherlands during the German Occupation of 1940–1945. The titles are known of almost thirteen hundred illegal papers and leaflets. Some only appeared for a short time, while others were issued throughout the five years of the occupation. A few were handwritten, but most were duplicated, and some were actually printed. The majority of the illegal papers appeared in print runs of a few hundred, but some achieved a circulation of some tens of thousands.Geertruida was active in supplying and hiding Jewish refugees supplying food coupons whenever possible: They had rescued many Jews from certain death at the hands of the Nazi SS.

About 1943, food coupons were introduced. You'd get a stamp book and each coupon would say, "Good for two ounces of butter, one loaf of bread," or whatever. The bread was just like an accordion. You could pull it way out or squeeze it tightly together. (This is called "balloon bread" in America.) The coupons were color-coded. For example, milk was yellow, bread was red, and so on.Geertruida as did her sister began taking in refugees, some of whom were Jews, others members of the resistance movement sought by the Gestapo and its Dutch counterpart, either in Geertriuda's family home or at the "Cafe Monopole Amstel in Amsterdam.'During 1943, 1944, and 1945, when Dutch men walked outside into the streets, they were often captured, not just by Germans, but also by people who were authorized to find them. Once captured, they would be put into trucks and they would be gone! Every time a man showed his face on the street, he could be captured by anyone because we didn't know who was "pro" or "anti." Often the men managed to escape and return home, just to be captured again.'During the occupation Hendrick was sent to Germany as forced labour to work in the BMW factory, he was able to get back to Holland, he became a fugitive, he stayed with Geertruide's sister in the Cafe Monopol Amstel in Amsterdam later he was able to acquire a pass & was given work in the community kitchen in Amsterdam.

The mandatory wearing of the yellow star, which went into effect in late April, 1940, infuriated the Middendorp family as did informer's and collaborators.Many gentiles did try to show their sympathy. The underground newspaper, De Vonk printed 300,000 paper stars with inscription, "Jews and Non-Jews are ones." 23 students at one school were sent for two weeks to Amersfoort concentration camp for wearing such stars. The wearing of the yellow star now made it ever so much easier to identify Jews once the roundups would begin. Knowing this aspect, Geertruida chose to change her own coat to help save a Jew, which some say was very foolish, but, you had to know & meet Geertruida & Hendrick Middendorpto understand why?By mid 1944–45, Geertruida took her two sons over the IJsselmeer by a barge to Freisland to a farm, one to keep the boys safe and the second reason was the coupons she could use to feed the refugees.Geertruida remembered the actual day the war ended. She remembered when Americans started flying over, very low, dropping crates of canned goods, sometimes in fields, sometimes in streets, but without parachutes. They just dropped them. And the English prepared special low-fat, high-nutrition cookies for us.

Reflections On War

It seems to me that the most lasting impressions in life are those you receive as a young Adult They stick with you. And strange as it is was, the older she got, the closer she felt to the war years. So, in general, the war is still always with you. It was embedded deep within and it will stay that way forever:

References

#< http://www.-lib.usc.edu/~anthonya/war/main.htm

ources

* Stewart Bentley, "The Dutch Resistance and the OSS: Of Market-Garden and Melanie", Central Intelligence Agency, [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/spring98/Dutch.html]
* [http://www.-lib.usc.edu/~anthonya/war/main.htm] (broken link June 3, 2008)

ee also

Ten days campaign
De Telegraaf
Persecution of Jews