German soldier Bread (Give it more stick Tomas).
January 28, 2013
They were billeted below ground level in our street. I used to walk past them and it was routine to see their helmeted heads poking up above the edge of the pavement from the basement of the apartments. I wasn’t aware why they were there nor did I question it. It was their helmets which I was most interested in. Why were they wearing them and not us? They are soldiers I was told. What is a soldier? They fight. Why? Ask your father. I am hungry.
Those helmets are back in vogue, especially in the skate board riding world although I have also seen some Harley- Davidson riders with the same sort of helmets. They were a bulbous sort of steel headgear with a lip at the front allowing for good all-round sight. I have never forgotten how they looked like and could not believe they were back in fashion. When the grandkids were over at our place, one had forgotten his special skate board scooter helmet. We thought it best to buy him one.
Parents now-a-days are obsessively angst driven when it comes to children suffering consequences of falls. Our kids would be having broken limbs and proudly getting signatures of footballers signed on the plaster casts. Modern pedagogy seems to want to deny kids the pleasure of all that. Falling is strictly only allowed if all exposed limbs and body parts are covered in shin-knee-ankle pads with steel gloves for hands and heads protected by full face helmets. The manufacturers are rubbing hands in glee.
Anyway, having taken Tomas to Big W he soon found the helmet he wanted. You’ve guessed it, it had to be one of those brand new German style helmets all painted a somber flat charcoal and in my war eyes, very sinister looking. Still, that’s the fashion now and we were not going to argue. Especially since we had also promised that the only take away food allowed would be from the popular Japanese take-away sushi outlets that now seems too have proliferated around the country’s food halls. Our grandkids accepted that as a reasonable compromise if we accepted Tomas’ choice in the Nazi-helmet department. That’s how it is with children now. Everything has to be negotiated. There is no more ‘do as you are fucking told’, followed with a good smack from your loving Gran. Doctor Spock and those Seuss books have a lot to answer for. It will take decades to rectify.
But, going back to those billeted German soldiers below street level with their poking guns and wearing the helmets. We were starved and, as this story has been re-told by my mother so often, I kept walking our street in Rotterdam. I remember those German men being friendly even though I could hardly talk, let alone would have understood their German.
I am hungry again, mum. Yes, but that is because of the war. Why does war make me hungry? I don’t know, ask your father.
It was in the last year and hunger was at its highest in Rotterdam during the winter of 1945. Over 30 000 died of starvation including over 2000 children, there was simply no more food. Yet, a solitary act of kindness in a world of destruction with nightmarish Dante like inferno; one of those soldiers billeted below street level stuck his arm out and gave a hungry child a loaf of dark German rye bread. I was that child and I have never forgotten.
Soon after leaving BigW, Tomas was seen at the Bowral skate park wearing his Goth-like helmet. Up and down he went, getting more confident. Go on Tomas, give it some more stick downhill, you can do it. That’s it! Well done.
He comes home and has his lunch, all red faced and chucks the helmet on the chair next to the door. Bread now comes so easy.
Tags: Rotterdam, German, Nazi, Harley Davidson, Dr Spock, Dr Seuss, Goth, Soldier Posted in Gerard Oosterman | Edit | Leave a Comment
astyages said:
A lovely story Gerard; nice to know that not all German soldiers were heartless bastards!
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gerard oosterman said:
Thanks Asty;
Most were men like anywhere, I suppose. Some good some bad. Most following orders.
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astyages said:
Of course Gerard… it’s just nice to be reminded of that sometimes… it’s so easy to portray them all as monsters, isn’t it…
🙂
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lindyp said:
I look forward to your blogs Gerard and your observations -most of which I agree whole -heartedly-only trouble is -I brought up my children with Dr Seuss books and am now reading them to my grandchildren!
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gerard oosterman said:
Yes, the Dr Seuss remark was a bit flippant, our kids grew up with them as well. I just wrote this for a bit of (foolish) decoration.
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helvityni said:
lindyp, I love Dr Seuss books, and what’s more important, all kids love them…
I have given away most of the kids’ books, but kept some of my favourites 🙂
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lindyp said:
Hope you’ve kept The Lorax -‘ I speak for the trees !’
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sandshoe said:
One of your very most beautifully written, Gez. You make unpalatable material visible without providing trauma with it, very skillful.
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gerard oosterman said:
So glad you enjoyed it.
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Big M said:
My Dad was too young to go to war, but he used to hate the Germans and the Japs. He called Germans ‘box heads’ because of those helmets. Like you, he was in fear of starving to death, even here in country NSW. My dear, departed uncle fought in WWII. He gained quite a deal of notoriety, not for bravery in the face of the enemy, but for jobbing a senior officer who was bullying a weaker subordinate. Uncle was punished by being transferred to a troop ship.
He didn’t speak of it much, but I once met an old fellow who had served on the same boat. He remembered being attacked by a Japanese Zero, which tried to go all kamikazi on them, but missed. He never swore, but told us that they were all fucking, shit scared! He also spoke of the captain as being a ‘complete dickhead’ for trying to engage the Imperial Fleet single handed. The crew mutinied, put the captain in the brig, then joined the Allied fleet (as ordered). He was later released, and nothing further was said. No official record, of course.
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gerard oosterman said:
In most countries if not all, enemies are always hated. We are the good ones and the enemy the bad ones. The conquerors hold their heads high and the vanquished bow down in shame.
My mum hated the Germans but with the new generation things are different. You can’t just keep on nurturing old hatreds. The best would be never to undertake war. Easier said than done. I used to think if women were in power there would be less war, but, look at Maggie Thatcher with the Falklands war, Golda Meir with her hard stand against Palestine, and the female President with all those shoes, Imalda Marcos and others. Perhaps there would be less wars or may be softer wars. I don’t know.
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Rosie said:
I, too, loved this. Much to think about.
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gerard oosterman said:
Chuffed as always with your kind words.
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ytaba36 said:
What a poignant story, Gerard.
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gerard oosterman said:
Thank you. I love your ‘Venice’ obsessions too.
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