A SACK OF POTATOES by Antoine Vanner
Groenhorst, outskirts of Amersvoort, The Netherlands
November 11th, 1954
Courage meant survival for many – but others relied on greed...
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| About Antoine's story |
When family and others told me of their experiences of living under Nazi occupation in the Netherlands, 1940-45, what struck me most were not the physical realities, dreadful as they were, but the psychological impact on both individuals and society as a whole. It was the realisation that, almost overnight, all previous certainties had disappeared and everybody was subject to an absolute tyranny with arbitrary power over life and death.
It was worsened by awareness that the existing structures of the Nation State had not only proved totally inadequate to resist invasion (it had capitulated after five days) but that these structures – including civil governance, bureaucracy and police forces – became, to a great extent, active tools of the occupying power. A significant minority of the population collaborated actively and envisaged a future role for themselves in a Germany-dominated Europe. Almost a hundred thousand joined the NSB, the Dutch Nazi Party, and its various affiliates and others fought in the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front.
That 80% of the Jewish population was murdered (compared with 45% in neighbouring Belgium) was in no small part due to the role played by Dutch bureaucrats, the national and municipal police forces and railway officials.
The landscape was not suited to guerilla warfare or easy hiding of fugitives. Given the savagery of the penalties, resistance, however minor, demanded courage of an almost insane level and thousands did rise to the challenge and pay an appalling price for it.
For many however, the occupation was an opportunity to gain petty power and aggrandisement, rewards for betrayal and black-market profits.
Loyalties and trust broke down, sometimes even within families. Recognition that fellow citizens were complicit in the oppression was devastating and disillusioning for many. Survival was a valid objective, but each had to make their own decision as how much they must bend to circumstance.
May we never be faced with such choices!
And in the last nine months of the war, when the southern third of the country was already liberated by British, Polish, Canadian and American forces, the suffering in the remaining two-thirds would reach a horrific climax.
And it is stories heard about survival in
this last period that inspired “A Sack of Potatoes.”
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| read a snippet |
A SACK OF POTATOES by Antoine Vanner
Groenhorst,
outskirts of Amersvoort, The Netherlands
November
11th, 1954
Courage meant survival for many – but others relied on greed
Saskia had the Renault to herself
for the whole week.
“You
keep it,” Her husband Dirk had said. “Joop will give me a lift. We’ll be
working late each evening. I won’t need it. If we can, we’ll be back late
Saturday afternoon.”
And
then be gone again at dawn on Monday, as it had been for months. For this was
the largest contract that Dirk and her brother had yet taken on, the electrics
of a large pumping station in the North-East Polder, supporting land
reclamation from what had been the Zuider Zee. They were living, with fifteen
employees, in wooden huts on site, working twelve-hour days, eight on
Saturdays. They’d established a reputation for completion within budget and
ahead of schedule that would virtually guarantee further work – not just more
pumping stations, but the new villages planned to arise on the rich farmland
that would replace the present endless vista of mud and silt.
Antoine Vanner spent four decades
in international business, latterly at senior executive level, and lectured in
academia afterwards. He lived through military coups, a guerrilla war,
negotiations with governments, storms at sea and life in mangrove swamps,
tropical forest, offshore oil-platforms, and the boardroom. He has lived and
worked long-term in eight countries, has travelled widely in all continents
except Antarctica and is fluent in three languages.
He
has a passion for nineteenth-century political and military history and has a
deep understanding of what was the cutting-edge technology of the time. His
knowledge of human nature and his first-hand experience of the locales – often
surprising – of the most important conflicts of the period provide the impetus
for his chronicling of the lives of Royal Navy officer Nicholas Dawlish and his
magnificent wife, Florence. There are thirteen volumes so far in the Dawlish
Chronicles series, the actions set in the period 1858 to 1915.
Vanner
now lives in Britain with his wife, Eva Lagassé (a journalist by background),
their dog and five horses.
Website: www.dawlishchronicles.com
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/4sB0MUR
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e-book & paperback from Amazon or order from any good bookstore |
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great anthologies featuring various authors |
I appreciated how Antoine placed the promise of post-war hope alongside the scars of occupation. Knowing what Saskia and Dirk endured made their success feel hard-earned while the title took on a deeper meaning as I read.
ReplyDeleteNot my sailing era (I write early 1700s) but Antoine's novel bring life at sea vividly to life.
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