Lest we forget...

By Mom

Prior to our trip, we knew that we would be seeing some historically significant sites from both the First and Second World Wars. In order to prepare, the kids did some book studies and other research about World War 2 in particular.

The books we read were:

A Boy in War by Jan de Groot

This was a really good accessible read for all of the kids. It's an autobiographical account of a Dutch Canadian's experience as a 10-13 year old during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (Zeke)

A great introduction for Zeke. It got him really interested in seeing the secret annex when we got to Amsterdam.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Toby)

A fictional story set in Sweden about a young girl and her family helping to hide Jewish friends and neighbours. Explores literary themes appropriate for this age group.

Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine (Vangie)

A account of a young girl named Hana Brady living in Czechoslovakia at the beginning of WW2. Although written for children, the content was a little too graphic for Vangie.

This is a fictionalized account of a true story which details Hana's parents being taken into custody, the transfer of her and her brother to life in a Jewish ghetto and eventually to Auschwitz, where Hana is exterminated. In retrospect, I should have switched the books assigned to Toby and Vangie.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Eli and I)

Excellent book.

Although we didn't plan it this way, the weekend we arrived in Holland was Liberation Day (May 5), commemorating the day that Holland was liberated by the Canadian forces. For the next week, we noticed lots of monuments decorated with flowers. We also visited the Groesbeek Canadian War Memorial and cemetery. It was quite impactful.

In Amsterdam, we had the opportunity to visit the Anne Frank Haus. All of the kids went through it, although Vangie avoided some parts. After reading the accounts of the concentration camps in Hana's Suitcase, she was very sensitive about seeing and hearing accounts of concentration camps or the war. She handled herself really well though and patiently waited for the rest of us to go through some of the exhibits.

Later, on our way to Groningen, we stopped to see a memorial about a "hidden village", small huts dug into the ground out in a forest, that the Dutch Resistance used as a hiding place.

When we returned, some of the things we'd seen, sparked a lot of memories for Eli's mom, and she told us many stories about her experiences as a girl during the occupation of Holland during the war. It was all an incredible learning experiences for the kids and especially poignant for us as Canadians of Dutch heritage.

In the end, we decided not to visit a concentration camp memorial when we were in Germany. We'd seen so much already that we didn't feel it necessary to do on this trip...I think another trip to Germany might be in order in a few years. We also wanted to have time to visit the WW1 battlefields in Belgium. More on this below.

Memorial in Rijsberegen, NL

Memorial in Utrecht

Amsterdam, Dam Square

Amsterdam, Memorial dedicated to homosexual people who were targeted for extermination under the Nazis.

Anne Frank memorial in Amsterdam

Memorial in Groningen.

At the "hidden village".

On the last few days of our trip, we visited the area of Flanders and the town of Ypres, where many major battles occurred during WW1. The Flanders Fields Museum was very informative and impactful and especially demonstrated the devastation that was suffered all all sides of the war. The museum is in the town of Ypres, which, we learned was destroyed during the fighting but most was restored after the war to its original appearance. We stayed over in Brugge the night we visited but it would have been great to have stayed in Ypres, where they still play the Last Post every night at 8 pm at the Menin Gate.

The Menin Gate, Ypres (Ieper)

The Canadian war memorial at St. Julien.

At the main Allied Cemetery in Flanders.

After visiting Brugge, we decided to make the short drive to the Vimy Ridge Memorial. This turned out to be one of our biggest highlights of the trip. The memorial itself was absolutely incredible. We unfortunately arrived a little late in the day and weren't able to spend a lot of time in the small Visitors Centre but did get the chance to take a guided tour of the underground trenches that are still there. It turned out that our guide was from Toronto, but had his family roots in Zanzibar, Tanzania! What a small world.

Heading down into the trenches.

Inside the trenches.

The ground is still pitted from shells and trenches.

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