Echt bijzonder om hier de onderduikgegevens van mijn opa en oma te vinden.

Kind van Elisabeth Meta

Hello Mirjam,
I am the granddaughter of the family who hid your grandparents. My grandparent's names were Harmen and Wiepkje Zijlstra. They lived at the property which now has the address Richard Jungweg 2, Rotsterhaule, Fryslan. They immigrated to the U.S. in 1952. I live in Stillwater, Minnesota. I have a couple of photos with your grandmother in them.

Hello Phyllis,
My name is Des. I am the grandson of Elizabeth Meta, and Mirjam is my aunt. My family and I would love to get in touch with you.

Hello Des,
I am so pleased that you have contacted me!

Four of my aunts and uncles that were children in the household are still living, all in Minnesota, U.S.A. - Romke, Haije, Bonne, and Trintje. Romke, the oldest, is now 95 years old. And Trintje, the youngest, is now 85 years old. She is helping me to learn Dutch! They are all healthy and still living in their own homes. Meindert, my father, was probably still living at home when your great-grandparents first arrived there, but then went to Germany in December 1942 as a zwangsarbeiter and worked as a cow milker near Freckenhorst for the rest of the war. Lutske, the oldest daughter, was also still home during the war. She died last year of Covid at the age of 96.

Near the end of the war, probably around January 1945, Romke was called up for the arbeitsinzet. But he dove under and joined the other four Jews when they needed to be in the hiding place.

As maybe you already know, the hiding place was a small box in the haymow--4 feet tall by 10 feet by 6 feet according to Romke’s memory, 8 feet by 8 feet according to Haÿe’s. But you had to crawl on your hands and knees through the chicken coop to get into it. The last person into the hideout was designated to be Ome Lex, your great-grandfather. He had to crawl backwards and, using a broom, brush the crawl marks out of the dirt and dried chicken manure as he went. Then he had to back into the hideout and move a plank over the small access hole.

Alexander was always called Ome Lex, and Gesma was always called Tante Geesje. This was in case the young Zijlstra children would accidentally talk about them in school or church. The listeners would simply think it was their Uncle and Aunt who had come to visit.

There are many more stories. Thankfully, each of the children wrote down their memories of that time, which were collated by an aunt into an unpublished manuscript named "Through the Chicken Coop." It is on my to-do list to provide a copy of it to the Fries Versetsmuseum in Leeuwarden. You also need to receive a copy.

Besides that manuscript, Bonne wrote a memoir (in English) in which the early chapters talk about the war and hiding the Jews. And I am writing a paper or book about my father which includes many of these stories with added detail and historical context. I am 64 years old and retired in early 2019.

Of course, I am also interested in any stories you might have. And what your questions might be.

I will end this entry with a story about my Pake Harmen, the father of the household that hid your great-grandparents. His daughter Trijntje (called Tena here in the U.S.)tells the story of how at a party for him for his 100th birthday, her sister-in-law "said to Dad, 'Harmen, why do you think God is letting you live this long?' Dad thought for a split second and said, 'Because I took care of God's people.' Dad lived to be 106 years old."

Hi Phyllis,

Your stories have touched me deeply. We know very little about our family in the Netherlands. I would like to share with you my email. If you can send me an email to this address: sothatwecankeepintouch@gmail.com — then I can email you back on my personal email. (I’d rather not have my personal email on here.)