War Diaries (May 14) (nonfiction)
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Diaries
Elisabeth Jacoba van Van Lohuizen-van Wielink: May 14, 1940
At 7 o’clock, suddenly an extra message on the radio, a moment I’ll never forget. The commander in chief had decided to cease all hostilities. Rotterdam was as good as destroyed by the bombardments; if they didn’t cease fighting, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Utrecht would meet the same fate. I was so overwhelmed, I wept.
We weren’t free anymore, and this, if we understood correctly, as a result of betrayal by our own people. We couldn’t believe it, yet it was true. Everyone was glad no more people would be killed, but still. To become part of Germany, how awful! What will the future bring? Poverty for our country. A heavy ordeal for everyone and an uncertain future.
Elisabeth Jacoba van Van Lohuizen-van Wielink was a Dutch citizen who began keeping a diary immediately after the German invasion during the Second World War. She and ultimately wrote 941 pages. Her husband was a pharmacist and optician who owned a grocery store in Epe, near Apeldoorn.
- Dutch War Diaries @ NY Times
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- Dutch War Diaries @ NY Times