Open Writing

We received extra rations of clothes and food when we became engaged to be married. In December 1940 that was a welcome present.

We rented a house on the Groenburgwal, a narrow canal in the centre of the Amsterdam, and with the help of a friend we fixed it up. It was almost ready. Barely furnished, but cozy.

At the flower market we bought some pine branches and pine cones, and when one came in the front door one was greeted by the strong smell of pine.

During the day the canal was very pretty, with the tower of the Zuiderkerk in the background. However in the month of December it gets dark early, and when there were no stars it was pitch black on the narrow canal, due to the blackout. It was in fact so dark that I couldn't see where the edge of the water in the canal was. So on my way home I walked very close to the houses, and shone the circle of light from my electric torch down to the ground directly in front of me. I walked slowly and was very relieved when I reached our blue-coloured stone front stairs. Up three steps to the front door. When I closed the door behind me I felt safe at last.

I never mentioned this to anyone because I thought it would sound a bit childish. That was, until Wim Bosch, a friend of ours, stumbled right into the water as he walked down from the bridge. After calling for help for many times he was fortunately pulled out of the water by two German soldiers. Then I thought, see, that could have happen to me too!

Our marriage was planned for December 24th at eleven o'clock in the morning. Juul and Freek, two of our friends, promised to have coffee and rolls ready at our place, when we came back from City Hall with our family and friends. The wedding ceremony made me laugh. It was a civil ceremony and a group ceremony, so together with two other couples we were treated to a routine speech from a civil servant responsible for these things. He talked about the new untouched paths we were about to discover after the wedding vows. Considering the fact that one of the brides was quite pregnant, this didn't seem very appropriate to me. The ceremony didn't take very long, and afterwards we all walked back to our house together in good spirits.

At first our house was rather full, but our family left quite soon, so that we were just with our friends.

Juul came to me and said 'I have a surprise for you, come to the kitchen for a minute'. She showed me a sizeable package of cold cuts, and said 'See what we saved for you from our rations!' She looked so proud that I didn't tell her what I thought which was: 'so that's why there was so little meat on the rolls!' She also gave me a bottle of red wine and said 'This is for you two, from Jo and me, to celebrate your wedding day.'

After everyone had left we sat together in the one large armchair we owned. I said to Co, 'That wasn't so bad was it?'

'No,' he said. 'But this is much better, and the fact that we have two Christmas days and three nights to do exactly what we feel like is even better!'

I didn't say anything but tightened my arms around his neck as an answer.

We didn't leave the house that Christmas. For a few days we lived only for each other. In a world in which there was no war.

© Ans Redelaar