Tuesday 14 November 2017

Oma and Opa, Second World War

I recently had an opportunity to speak briefly about World War II with my Opa and Oma, who live in Heerlen, Limburg, The Netherlands.

My oma, Ida Magermans, told me that the Nazi soldiers were a daily sight in the area. She mentioned that when the American soldiers arrived, there was a time when she had put orange flowers on the table to show their support, but then heard shots being fired. Oma and her family rushed down into the cellar, but then oma remembered the flowers. She had to creep upstairs to hide the flowers, which she managed to do, before retreating back into the cellar.

Opa, Jan Havenith, mentioned that the Nazi soldiers took over the school building, which meant that the kids had to continue their schooling at different houses.

Both said that they remembered those years very well, but I didn't want to ask to many questions about this period of their lives. I was glad that they didn't have to suffer the Hongerwinter that occurred in the western provinces during the Winter of 1944/45 as Limburg had been liberated during 1944, while the western provinces had to wait until the May of 1945.

Monday 6 November 2017

Book Review: Writing Your Family History by Deborah Cass

I'm glad that I read this book because it gave me some dedicated time to contemplate about writing my won family history.

However, the book is very basic, relies heavily on examples and extracts, and feels like a first draft due to the many spelling mistakes.

The book considers primary sources, further sources, personal sources, making the most of limited materials, constructing and writing family history, and producing your story. As you can see the chapter headings are really great, but unfortunately all of this material is basic and a quick search online would reveal deeper information on each topic.

Including the index, the book is 121 pages in length, so this contributes to the brief nature of the book. I'd say that it's ideal for people just coming into family history research as it will give them a good idea of what sources are available and what information they may contain. However, if you've been researching for a while, then this book might not be the book to help you write down the lives of your loved ones and ancestors.