Middle School
Worksheets
Escaping Starvation in Holland
Holland is a region in northern Europe and is part of the Netherlands. Jan (pronounced yawn) Willem Van Belle was born in October 1931 in Ridderkerk, Holland. He was the first-born boy, so custom demanded he be named after his father's father. Jan's father worked as a carpenter while his mother stayed at home to take care of her children. Jan remembers a simple and carefree life growing up in Holland. His family lived on a dead-end street called Burgemeester Kruiff in a brick row house. (A row house is simply a tight, long row of two story houses with no space between them. Each house shares a side wall with the house next to it.) Jan remembers as a child being entertained by his neighbors. His father would not allow a radio in the house, but Jan could hear the neighbors' radio playing after he went to bed at night.
It was hard to heat their entire house in the winter, so only a few rooms in the house were used when the weather turned cold. Jan and his family spent most of their time in the living room which held the stove, several closets, and their dining table. After dark, his mother would sing songs or tell the children stories until his father came home from work.
Jan attended an elementary school organized by the church. The school year began in May, with only a few weeks off for summer vacation. Jan remembers seeing Holland's large storks building nests on the rooftops of nearby buildings through the open windows of his classroom. Jan and his classmates lined up their wooden shoes outside the classroom and entered in stocking feet.
When he was old enough to consider enrolling in high school, Jan was given special classes after school to prepare. Jan studied less than the others, so his teacher told him he probably would not pass the test. As it turned out, Jan was the only one who did.
By the time Jan entered high school, attendance was sporadic because of the Nazi occupation of Holland. Jan remembers being awoken on Friday morning, May 10, 1940, to his father's shouts, "The war has started!" Immediately after that, he heard bombs exploding near the Rotterdam airport. His breakfast on the day the war broke out in Holland was radishes and bread.
