Johannes Aalders was born in February in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. He grew up with two younger sisters. His father was vice president of a bank, and until he was five years old, the family resided across from the Royal Palace. His father then moved them into houses provided by his job. Aalders attended a Catholic school that was segregated by class: the “wooden shoe school” was the school that served the lower class. Aalders knew hostilities were rising in Europe because he read magazine and newspaper articles about what was happening in England, and felt the general expectation of doom. With the lasting impression of World War 1, in August of 1939 his parents began buying supplies in bulk. For six months every Sunday his mother would take Aalders and purchase tons of cooking oil, milk powder, salt, and tea. He remarked that during the last two weeks of the war, his mother had an exchange with a German soldier. The German wanted some salt and his mother refused to give him some. The German noticed that Aalders’ little sister was crying for some milk, so the German went out and milked some cows so she could have some milk. His mother gave the German some salt in exchange for the milk. Before World War 2 began, his father was in the hospital due to a stomach issue, so his mom and Aalders did most of the bulk buying. In May 1940, the Germans entered the Netherlands and a few days later arrived in Apeldoorn. There was a large Army base near Aalders’ home, and he recalled being on the street when the Army blew up a bridge, but the Germans still crossed the canal and entered the city anyway. The first time Aalders was aware that they were occupied by the Germans was when three German soldiers came into the town, one walking and two on bicycles. Their uniforms were dirty as if they had been in battle. All the local people came out into the streets to observe the Germans as they stood next to the post office building. Aalders’ city officially became occupied by the Germans. Many things stayed the same for a while; people went to work and school. The relations between the Germans and the locals were fine until the Germans began harassing the Jews in the community. Aalder recalled one Jewish family disappeared and did not return until after the war. They had bought their transit to Spain and remained there through the war. When the war was coming to a close, the Germans and locals could hear the bagpipes of the Canadians coming close to the town.

When the Germans entered Johannes Aalders’ city [Annotator’s Note: Apeldoorn, Netherlands], they occupied his family’s living quarters which were situated above a bank [Annotator’s Note: where his father was vice president]. Aalders took piano lessons from one soldier who was formerly a pianist in Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany]. The locals were not allowed to listen to clandestine news, but there was one German soldier that liked listening to the news. He would come over to the Aalders house and listen to the radio in the evening. Another soldier named Franz helped out his family with food supplies including accusing a neighbor of being a Nazi sympathizer in order to commandeer his chicken for the Aalders family. At the beginning of the war, the Dutch military stayed at Aalders house too. The military soon disbanded once the Germans occupied the city. When the Germans occupied his house, there was an instance where he saw a German coming up the stairs and Aalders, being a young boy, ran to the bathroom, but tripped and broke his tooth. The tooth became infected and had to go the dentist for a root canal. During the German occupation, a Jewish man who worked with his father at the bank hid in the attic. Aalders never saw the man, but knew he was up there. Aalders also had an American friend who was in the Netherlands because of his father’s work when war broke out. He also knew a boy that lived in the woods because his father worked as a forest ranger, but was also a Nazi sympathizer. This boy was later recruited to the youth Luftwaffe [Annotator’s Note: the air wing of the German military] where he assisted with anti-aircraft artillery. Aalders joined the Civil Defense when he was 14 years old. His initiation involved him sleeping in a casket for one night. Aalders recalled his older cousins dressing as girls so the Germans would not force them into their military. His cousin William liked to play tennis and would go out and play in his sister’s white tennis dress. His older cousin also worked for the underground, and sometimes got Aalders to help him find supplies. On one occasion, Aalders and his friend were gathering helmets and other supplies when a German soldier saw them. He pointed a gun at them, but Aalders escaped, but was then captured. The Germans put him in a barn and called for the military police. While they tried to escape from the barn, an older German, confused as to why they are in there, kicked them out of the barn. Aalders and his friend knew that Germans had ammunition dumps in the woods. He and his friend walked in the woods and gathered rocks and sand, but were caught by some Germans. The German threw a bag of gravel up in the air which went everywhere on him. The German marched Aalders and his friend back to town.

[Annotator’s Note: can hear a dog panting in the background throughout the segment.] Johannes Aalders [Annotator’s Note: a citizen of Apeldoorn, Netherlands during German occupation] and his friends liked to find things around town that might have some value, including different kinds of equipment. [Annotator’s Note: video break at 0:54:05.000.] Aalder often observed B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] as they flew over his city in formation. He made shoe soles out of the tires from a downed British plane. He took other supplies from the plane including metal, and the propeller. Aalders ate a lot of potatoes during German-occupation. He also shot pigeons with a BB gun and ate them for dinner. One time he found a keg of butter [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee tries to get up and show interviewer something at 1:03:44.000]. Aalders and his friends always carried tools so that they could take artillery pieces apart. He took a machine gun and ammunition out of a B-17. He and his friends found a strafed truck and dragged the bodies into the woods. They collected all the artillery shells out of the trucks and stored them in the cellar. During the Battle of Arnhem, the Canadians attempted to defend the city, but ended up reverting back. Aalders joined the Civil Defense which consisted of training in helping wounded out of the train, and helping the doctors and nurses in the hospital.

Johannes Aalders [Annotator’s Note: a citizen of Apeldoorn, Netherlands during German occupation] recalled that some American airmen that came into town when their B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] was shot down at the edge of town. One of the Americans was shot by a German soldier near a bridge. Another soldier walked into town and had a cup of tea with a local before he was arrested by a guard. Aalders joined the Civil Defense which consisted of training in helping wounded out of the train and helping doctors and nurses in the hospital. He was taught how to bandage, how to use tourniquets, and carry injured people to the hospital. He continued to go to school, but it was held in the railroad station. They would be sitting in the station and then all of a sudden his class was strafed by airplanes. The students used bags of sand to help protect themselves. His brother-in-law was hiding during a strafe but was injured in the head. He survived but he was never the same after the incident. Aalders remarks about an instance when the Germans had pea soup in a wagon pulled by horses. The Canadian artillery hit the wagon and pea soup was everywhere. Aalders and many of the locals despised a particular Gestapo [Annotator's Note: German Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] man. He came into the school one day and took Jewish students out, and they were never seen again. He knew several families that were sent to a labor camp. He and his friend went to the countryside to get provisions. They would make “tasty flaps” which consisted of ground up rye, dry milk, and sugar beets. One day, they were out in the countryside collecting provisions and saw people pulling a large cart with a big bag of potatoes and a dead body. The next morning the cart was stolen. Aalders and his friend crossed a bridge one day and saw a bunch of Germans. They began to run, and when the Germans told them to stop, Aalders friend did, but Aalders continued to run. The Germans stole all the provisions from his friend.