‘Teacher and storyteller Stan Fritschy speaks about the five people who died when the English made a mistake.’ Photo: Historisch Centrum Overijssel
The forgotten bombardment: An ‘English mistake’
‘It was an impressive story of how people then and now live with traumatic experiences.’
I am a British national but my mother was Dutch. Perhaps that’s why I find it interesting to gain glimpses of how other people perceive my country.
I have four close friends living near Zwolle in the north east of the Netherlands. Quakers in that community recently organised a ‘Walk of Peace’. One aspect of that walk was to commemorate people who were killed ‘by English bombing’ on 18 December 1944. The bombing cost five lives (all but one were female). The youngest victim was three years old. Dozens of people were wounded, and 200 homes were devastated. This shocking event happened about five months before the Netherlands was liberated from Nazi occupation.
It is uncertain why the middle of Zwolle’s Dieze-West district was bombed. Possibly the Allies were trying to bomb a major bridge nearby. Before 2019 this horror had never been officially remembered, but in that year local people organised a commemoration and a monument was unveiled.
Dutch Quakers explained in their October 2021 magazine that the Netherlands Council of Churches and the peace organisation Pax asked Zwolle’s Peace Platform to organise the Walk for Peace, and they agreed. It was held a couple of months ago. The theme of the walk was ‘inclusive community,’ which was translated into ‘You belong here!’
Marlies Tjallingii, of Netherlands Yearly Meeting, wrote about the experience, which I have here translated.
It was a fascinating experience to explore the district, together with the other members of the Peace Platform. We cycled through the district, making use of our network, church and non-church.
We started and finished the walk at the state primary school, The Springboard. The head teacher, Suzanne Habers, told us about the challenges the school faces. There is a wide range of pupils, with different backgrounds, parents with little education, and parents with a refugee background. The school was enthusiastic. The Residents’ Association was also enthusiastic: ‘We’ll provide coffee, tea, and biscuits, and juices when you return.’ The children in the school themselves decided what they would do, for the school aims to develop talents.
Seven organisations in the district take part. Each group visits four of them, so that the walk, plus short visits, lasts about two hours. And each group has its own route book with a description of each organisation. Fifty-five people take part. It is a lively event with lots of enthusiasm.
On Saturday at one o’clock my husband Sytse and I are at the school, where the children have put their tables outside with refreshments, provided by parents. At two o’clock Suzanne Habers opens the Walk of Peace. She is followed by Michiel van Willigen, the alderman of Zwolle, Maryem Lhajoui, who works for Pax, Geert van Dartel, chair of the Council of Churches, and the town poet Sarah Lucassen, who reads some of her work. It is an enthusiastic start with lots of involvement.
At about 3.30, the groups move off, walking or cycling. I go by bike with Michiel van Willigen and with Khaled, from Yemen, who lives as a lodger with me and Sytse.
Our first visit is to the ‘Cuddle Rabbits’. Renee Pierik, the manager, explains that the last wish of some terminally ill children is to cuddle a rabbit and forget that they will soon have to leave this world. Last year fifty to sixty children visited with their families. Renee and his colleagues also take rabbits to care homes, where people with dementia become quieter when they have contact with the animals.
Then our little group goes to the monument for the people who died in the Forgotten Bombardment. Teacher and storyteller Stan Fritschy speaks about the five people who died when the English made a mistake. He also talked about the people who lived through this and have carried the memory round with them as a secret. It was an impressive story of how people then and now live with traumatic experiences. You can’t see it, but you feel it, but you don’t dare to ask questions about what their secret is. Stan has had much contact with Jacob, who lives close to the monument. Jacob knows a lot about the district and about the bombing. Jacob listens and makes coffee for Stan.
Afterwards I move on with my lodger Khaled to the Stolper (Stumbling) Stones, which encourage pedestrians to pause. They are five copper plates in the pavement. On the plates are the names of the Jewish people who lived here. One woman sold flowers on the market, one man sold bananas, another was a car dealer. Learning about the Holocaust is a totally new experience for Khaled from Yemen. ‘Six million people killed! I never heard of that!’ he says. What words can I use for this inhumane event?
We cycle on to Amnesty International and COC, the oldest pro-LGBT organisation in the world. Then we move on to VWN (Dutch Refugee Work), where Khaled has also been. Miriam Wolf explains that this organisation gives one year’s support to refugees so that they can, for instance, gain Dutch citizenship. Khaled had just a few days ago received help from VWN to assist his wife, who is still in Yemen, to join him in the Netherlands. He then returns to his work, and I return to the school. The groups return with interesting stories about what they have learned.
After a fruit juice and a Syrian snack, we sit outside in a circle to hear Stan’s story. Once more he relates how five local people died when the English bombers made a mistake. Women from the district itself listen to him.
What an amazing afternoon! It feels like a party that we could celebrate together – a peace party with a bit of inclusivity. Four refugees with leave to remain walk with us. I say a warm goodbye to Maryem from Pax. She had told us the story of her grandfather who came here as a ‘guest worker’. He died and was buried here. I forget the Covid rules and give her a big hug.
What a lot is being done in this neighbourhood to create a community!
