Peter

The date is May 10th 1942, exactly 2 years after the German Invasion. The occupation started slowly. It gradually got worse and worse. It started off easily, however, there were certain bedtimes. First it was 1o:00pm and everyone had to be cleared from the streets of Haarlem. This wasn't a problem with Father and I... we had our daily walk in the afternoon and we were already finished with our nightly prayers by 9:00.

That very day we went to the Dutch reformed church in Velsen (not far from Haarlem) where Peter (my nephew) had won the post of organist in competition against forty older and more experienced musicians. Peter had a gift... he loved music and was very talented in playing the piano and organ. He can tell you when someone pressed the wrong key in a very intracate piece of music on the piano. It was now illegal to play Holland's national anthem, "Wilhelmus". After the closing prayers were said, Peter played, at full volume, "Wilhelmus"! People slowly started singing. This was a grave mistake on Peter's part. Wednesday morning Peter's little sister Cocky burst into the shop saying, "Opa! (Father) Tante Corrie! They came for Peter! They took him away!"
We asked who, where, and why but she didnt know... it was three days before the family learned that he had been taken to the prison in Amsterdam.
He was in prison for more than 2 weeks.