Interview mr. De Zeeuw

Mr. De Zeeuw was eleven years old when the war began.  In 1942, the family had to evacuate from Cornelis Drebbelstraat in IJmuiden. (The block was part of the Patrimonium Housing Association and was situated at the current location of the Radarstraat.) The family were supplied with an address to relocate to. However, the parents did not care for the preppy, upper class environment  and instead preferred to move to Beverwijk. Some of their furniture was also transported to Beverwijk and was stored at the local Catholic church on Romerkerweg.  A year and a half later, the family moved again, this time to Pelsstraat in Velsen-North, moving in with relatives.  During that same period, the son, De Zeeuw junior, got a job as an apprentice at the steel mill [Hoogovens]. After Dolle Dinsdag (Mad Tuesday - September 5,1944, a day of Dutch celebration in the mistaken assumption that liberation was imminent) they again had to evacuate, this time in a big hurry. On September 20, the De Zeeuw family moved to nearby Westzaan. After the war, Mr. De Zeeuw senior’s employment at the port enabled a relatively speedy return to IJmuiden, in September 1945, in fact.  

Mr. De Zeeuw also talks about his wanderings in the dunes, and in the German bunkers both during and after the war. In the torpedo boat bunker as elsewhere, he found neat stuff such as trousers from German marine uniforms and a really cool little caliper.