World War II Era Keepsakes
My mom was born on March 10, 1943 in Holland. These pictures show her as an infant with her parents. My mom is the firstborn in her family and she must have been a bright spot in an otherwise dreary and frightening time in history. At this time, Holland was occupied by the German Army. My grandfather was an officer in the Dutch Army and in addition to this, he and my grandmother were actively involved in hiding Jews. These things put my grandfather on the German's watch list and shortly after these pictures were taken, he was called into German headquarters for questioning and sent to a prison camp. My grandmother bravely campaigned for her husband's release (unsuccessfully), continued to hide Jews, raised her young daughter on her own and still found a way to keep a few treasures to pass down to her posterity. The oil lamp in this picture is the very one that she used for light throughout the war. To this day, if you look inside the lamp, you can see the buildup of oil that is evidence of it's use (see picture below). The monogrammed napkin holder was used by my mom as a child. The silver spoon would have certainly been valuable enough to trade for food or other necessities that were scarce. And that little, flat clip is a bookmarker, again valuable because of it's silver. (Close up of these three items below) I feel lucky that these items have been passed down from my grandparents to my mom. They serve as a reminder of my heritage and they help me feel a connection to my grandparents who are no longer with us.
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Photo shot with SHOTBOX and my Samsung Galaxy S5 Smartphone.
