Comments on: Alie Touw’s War

By: Milou

Milou — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 20:13:15 +0000

What an amazing piece. I really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing it!

By: Marie-Anne Knight

Marie-Anne Knight — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 06:04:28 +0000

My mother lived in France during the occupation and also remembers food shortages.

Once the Americans liberated her home town, she remembers running to a local school that the Germans had used as a storage facility, especially for food storage. Everyone was running there to take as much food as possible back to their families. She could not believe what the Germans had hoarded when so many people around them were going hungry.

By: Sofi

Sofi — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 01:05:35 +0000

Bless her heart.
Courageous good hearted people.
The people who own the Dutch grocery store put a card in the window every Nov11.
To thank Canadians for helping liberate them during the war.
Also for helping to get them food.
They have never forgotten and they passed their gratitude on to their children.
The Dutch suffered terribly during the occupation.

By: Carol

Carol — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 18:43:23 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing woman’s story. My family lived in Belgium for a time, while my father worked across the border in The Netherlands — we spent many days exploring that country. I’ve had the privelege of living in Berlin for the last 14 years, and going to Belgium on countless business trips. The suffering in both countries during both wars is so little appreciated by people in other countries. I know that growing up in the US, we were taught only the barest minimum about the part either people played in defeating Germany. Resistance in France? Sure — heard about it all the time. Resistance in other occupied countries? Not at all. Thank you so much. Really looking forward to the next installment.

By: Saba

Saba — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 18:42:33 +0000

I wish that many more Americans could take the opportunity to visit European countries and get to know some of the residents who survived WWII. Our country has been heading off into a hateful direction, and some naively support militarism and dictatorial strongmen. Alie cautions us as to the stakes of madness. If we continue to hate rather than seek peace, the enemy troops may one day be billeted in Kansas or Wyoming.

Meanwhile, blessings to you, Alie. I celebrate that you have found peace and contentment.

By: Leslie A Eaton

Leslie A Eaton — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 18:14:59 +0000

When I read your posts and the experiences of the people you interview, I cry with their struggles, applaud their successes, and my faith in the humanity renews. Thank you.

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 16:02:20 +0000

What a tale of hardship and bravery. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Sue.

By: Ruth Fleming

Ruth Fleming — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 12:41:53 +0000

What an incredible story, and what courage. Alie thank you for sharing this with us. I look forward to the next instalment. We should all be a lot more grateful for what we have, and more generous to others who have little.

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 12:16:54 +0000

Easter greetings from Boston,

GA, what a profoundly moving narrative of Alie’s war experience. The Dutch suffered so much during that time, as did most of Europe. So many little details of her account remind me of parts of Ann Frank’s story – about going out to the farms for food, the mistrust among neighbors, the desperation of the enemy.

Although I never thought of it this way, I find that what she believes about “housekeeping” is profoundly true:

“Alie understands that the culture of keeping house is the basis of a civilised life, she knows this because she has experienced the disruption when a family home is destroyed and the domestic world is displaced by chaos and violence.”

Alie, thank you for sharing your story…

By: Peter, The Hague

Peter, The Hague — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 11:52:38 +0000

I am a Dutch man living in The Netherlands and enjoying the posts on Spitalfields already for many years and sharing many of them on Facebook. So interesting to read this life story of this remarkable Dutch woman. Arnheim during the war was an inferno, the Allies and Germans fought hard over the bridge over the River Rhine and destroyed most of the city. Audrey Hepburn lived in Arnheim (Arnhem in Dutch) during the war. I hope someone who knows Ali Touw gives her my regards and greetings from The Netherlands.