An Introduction to the Project
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature’s inexorable imperative.”
— H. G. Wells
The year was 1932. In Berlin, Germany, Jenny Broekman sat in her language class wondering how long it would be until the bell rang. Her teacher was an old, grumpy German man with a Van Dyke-styled beard. Flecks of spittle flew from his mouth with every other word that he spoke. Jenny was not fond of this man, nor was he fond of her. He was what they would have called a nationalist back then; in todays world, we would call him a xenophobe and a racist. He hated foreigners because, in his mind, anyone from outside of Germany was part of a grand conspiracy to drag Deutschland down, and that they could not serve to make his country a better place. He especially hated Jews. According to his world view, all the problems Germany faced following their defeat in the Great War could be traced back to the Jews, a group of people who did not seem to be affected by the horrible economy as much as most other Germans. Unfortunately for Jenny, she fell under both categories.
This anti-semitic, nationalist view point was far too common in Germany at this time, and though she was just 11, Jenny was already feeling the effects of it. For instance, her ornery teacher refused to give her an A because according to him, it was not possible for a foreigner to speak German at an exceptional level. No, Jenny was not German; she was Dutch. Many people today might not even know that the Dutch are separate from the Germans; after all Germany is called Deutschland. But just try telling that to someone from Germany or the Netherlands; you’ll find yourself the target of a loathing glance or worse. They take their heritage very seriously.
Jenny was the only daughter of Anton and Anna Broekman. Anton, born in Leiden, Netherlands in 1895, was a sales manager for Philips. When he first started working for them, he was assigned a position in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where he was accompanied by his wife. Anna was also born in 1895 in a small town on the border of The Netherlands and Germany named Hengelo. In 1921, Anna gave birth to their daughter, Jenny, in Eindhoven. No, Jenny was not short for anything; that was her full name. When Jenny was six, Anton received a promotion that took him to Berlin, Germany. At the time, this move was great for the family in many ways. Because inflation was so high, there were laws in place prohibiting foreigners from buying or renting property under a certain value. These laws, along with the relative strength of Dutch currency, allowed them to buy a large house in a nice neighborhood. Along with the house, they were able to afford private German and English lessons for Jenny and a maid to look after her.
For several years, they lived charmed lives. Anton was very good at his job and was offered many perks from Phillips, notably a chauffeur to and from work each day. Anna, though she came from a small town, excelled in the metropolitan atmosphere of Berlin, quickly becoming quite the socialite. Jenny, already fluent in Dutch, became proficient in German and English through her private lessons and the school she attended. The teacher that she so disliked ended up getting seriously injured in a train accident, keeping him from his job, so the school hired a new teacher that Jenny adored. Most of her favorite memories came from spending time with her maid, Marta. Marta was from a pretty prominent family and had many connections. She would take Jenny to see many of the sights Berlin had to offer including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, and the Berlin Cathedral. They would go on walks along the Spree River and visit the local shops. When Jenny did well on her tests, Marta would take her to get her favorite meal: wiener schnitzel and sauerkraut.
But this idyllic lifestyle could not be allowed to continue for much longer. A dark cloud was rolling over Europe, and Anton could sense it. Anna did not want to believe that another war was coming. She enjoyed her new lifestyle too much to give it up easily. Unfortunately, she was in the vast majority of the population. The National Socialist German Workers’ party, otherwise known as the Nazi party, was an ever-growing political movement gaining followers who were disappointed in the Reichstag (the German government in between wars) for not being “tough enough” and who were tired of the wrecked German economy still being in shambles. Adolf Hitler had written his book, Mein Kampf, several years prior. In it, he attacks the Jews with false claims of them being the reason for Germany’s problems. Many in the Jewish community ignored the man, shrugging the book off as mere propaganda, never imagining that the anti semitic ideas brought forth in it would ever actually be acted upon. Jenny’s young political opinions were mainly molded by Marta, her maid. One of Marta’s brothers was a representative in the Reichstag. Marta would tell Jenny about all the goings-on in the congress; she learned of the different parties and how they were fighting for different ideals. Marta’s brother was absolutely opposed to the Nazis, fighting hard to curb their influence. Unfortunately, the power of individuals in the Reichstag was weak, ultimately leading to it being disbanded after Hitler was named chancellor in 1933. But in 1932, not many could ever see this happening.
Anton was one of the people who could sense the imminent danger. Both of his parents were practicing Jews along with Anna’s mother. The Broekman’s did not practice Judaism themselves; in fact Jenny would often go and sit in the Lutheran church and listen to the sermons. They even celebrated Christmas instead of Hannukah. However, he knew that their lineage would be more than enough to incriminate them, and he couldn’t bear the thought of putting his family in danger. He knew that an exodus was in order.
Jenny Broekman would go on to be the mother of my father. Thankfully, they did manage to leave Germany unharmed, or else I would not be here today. I feel like one of the great injustices of my life is that I never got the opportunity to meet her. She died in May of 1998, just four months before I was born. Growing up, my parents would speak of her ever so fondly, recalling memories and stories from years passed. Everyone I met who knew her would have nothing but great things to say about her. I couldn’t help but feel proud to call her my grandmother. But for all the praise she got, I never really knew too much about her life. I knew about many of her traits: she was kind, incredibly intelligent, spoke Dutch, German, and English fluently with some French thrown in as well, would go out of her way to help others, always treated friends like family, and was unusually tall for a woman, standing at six feet tall. But people’s traits are molded by their life experiences. Without understanding what a person has seen, heard, and done, you cannot really know who they are.
Yet I still never asked about her. That is until I got into this class. When I found out what the class was about, I was intrigued. I hoped to learn more about my family’s history and where I come from; however, I am getting so much more than that. I have been presented an opportunity that I never dreamed I would have. I get the chance to meet my grandmother for the first time.
No, of course it will not be a face to face encounter, that would be impossible. Instead, I can get the next best thing. About two years before she died, my parents had the insight to sit down with her and a tape recorder and simply let her talk. In the several hours of tape that were recorded, she dictates her life story starting with her early childhood in Holland and Germany and then continuing with her move to America, joining the Dutch Army and serving in England and Holland, meeting my grandfather, and more.
To me, this is so much more than a project. This is an incredible chance to meet someone who lived such an incredible life, someone who’s blood runs through my veins, and to learn from her experiences and opinions. For this project, I want to learn more about how the trials in life shape individuals and families and how these hardships can lead to blessings. I want to find out how the actions of the people that came before me changed the way my life has unfolded. Due to the nature of my interview, I will not be able to directly ask her questions. However, these are the questions that I plan on finding the answers to in her tapes:
- What are your earliest memories of Eindhoven?
- Did you have a good relationship with your family outside of your parents?
- Was religion important in your life?
- How did you feel about moving to Berlin?’
- After the move, how well did you adapt your new home?
- Did you like school? What did/didn’t you like?
- How did your parents adapt to the move?
- What are your favorite memories from Berlin?
- How aware were you of politics at the time?
- Where did you go after Berlin?
- What was the trip to America like? Were you scared?
- Where did you first live in America?
- How signifigant of a change was this to you?
- What was school like here compared to in Europe?
- When/where did you meet my grandfather?
- Did you experience discrimination as a woman in the education system?
- What caused you to want to go back over to Europe during the war?
- How scary was it being so close to a war zone?
- What was your overall experience of seeing a war zone like?
- Did your relatives make it through the war alright?
Working Bibliography
Harsch, Donna. German Social Democracy and the Rise of Nazism. The University of North Carolina Press, 1993. Print.
Foot, M.R.D. Holland at War Against Hitler: Anglo-Dutch Relations 1940–1945. Frank Cass and Co, 1990. Print.
Levine, Peter. Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience. Oxford University Press, 1992. Print.
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women at Work. 2011. Web.
Gellately, Robert. The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933–1945. Oxford University Press, 1990. Print.
