The Children of Adriaan Beukenkamp and Alida von Gorcum: Lourens Beukenkamp (Part 2)

This story is the last in a series about the children of Adriaan Beukenkamp and Alida von Gorcum. Adriaan was the eldest brother of my great-grandfather, Gerhardus Beukenkamp (later George Beck), so Adriaan's children were my great-grandfather's niece and nephews. 

Adriaan Beukenkamp married Alida Johanna van Gorcum in Amsterdam on August 22, 1907. They had four children together.

1. Marinus Gerhardus Beukenkamp, b. 1910 in Vienna, Austria; m. Anna Elisabeth Keur; d. 1971 in Leipzig, Germany
2. Janna Gerhardina Beukenkamp b. 1911 in Vienna, Austria; m. Hendrick Coenraad Nienhuys; d. 1993 in Suffield, Connecticut, USA
3. Radboud Lourens Beukenkamp, b. 1914 in Graz, Austria; m. Jantina Ette Mensinga; d. 1993 in Shalimar, Florida, USA
4. Lourens Jacobus Beukenkamp. b. 1920 in Zaandam, The Netherlands; m. Margaret Smit; d. 2007 in Dothan, Alabama, USA

In my previous post, I shared what I know about the youngest Beukenkamp child, Lourens. This is all thanks in large part to the autobiography Lourens wrote. Here, his story continues.

Lourens Jacobus Beukenkamp

Lourens married Margaret "Greetje" Smit on May 18, 1943. They were elated to finally be wed, but the war and all its related hardships were at their peak. Shortly after the newlyweds moved into their home in Veenendaal, Lourens received an alarming notice. Here, I quote from Lourens' autobiography:

Although the Allied air forces became more noticeable by bombing the harbors and ships and shooting at the trains, Veenendaal remained relatively quiet. The German occupation forces were there but did not interfere with daily life too much until... one day I was advised that I and many other young men had to report to the "commandantur," the German headquarters. And from what was happening elsewhere I knew that it meant that they would enlist and order me to go to Germany and work in their war industry. This industry was depleted of the German workers who were all in uniform and fighting at the Russian fronts.

That was a shocker. Quick acting was needed. I knew a fellow with a truck who still had a permit for moving. The next day our furniture was loaded and we took off for Rotterdam (Hillegersberg) and moved in with father and mother Smit again.

Employment was difficult to find. Lourens took a job as a ticket seller at a circus. He and Greetje spent some months traveling around in a circus car with the circus as it moved from city to city, but eventually the Germans ordered an end to performances. Lourens and Greetje returned to Rotterdam. The war ground on and every night there were sirens as allied planes flew overhead. Citizens had to stay indoors to avoid falling shrapnel. Shortages increased, as did hunger.

Food, clothing, coal, gasoline, coffee, tea, soap, flour and a lot of other things were not available anymore. People would travel by bicycle to the farmlands to trade with the farmers for eggs, flour, a chicken, a bottle of milk, vegetables, beans for soup, etc. They would trade with money, golden rings, a can of kerosene, blankets, you name it. Anything they hoped a farmer could use was being offered for food.

The conscription of Dutch men and Jews intensified in Rotterdam.

One morning Pa Smit left the house to go to his office and returned immediately. He had discovered that the Germans put a ring of soldiers around the city and rounded up every man between 18 and 55 years of age. These people were put on transports to Germany for work in the industry or on farms. In addition, all Jews had been ordered to wear a yellow star with the word "Jood" (Jew) printed on it on the breast of their clothing. This round-up or as we called it "razzia" also served to catch Jews not complying with this order and it was also hoped that they could catch a good number of the ever growing resistance numbers.

Mr. Smit and Lourens evaded capture by placing a sign on the house door indicating there was severe illness inside, and then rowing out onto the lake behind the Smit house and hiding in the reeds on a small island. 55,000 men were rounded up and sent to forced labor in Germany. After that, any men that remained needed a special document issued by the Germans demonstrating that they were allowed to remain in Rotterdam. Mr. Smit helped fabricate printing plates to create false documents, and he and Lourens distributed them around town. Lourens' brother Radboud was deeply involved with resistance activities in Rotterdam, and Lourens assisted with tasks like this. Despite the resistance, the Germans continued to tighten their grip, and hunger grew worse for the Dutch. Lourens and Greetje became desperate for anything that would pass as food.

We started to look for abnormal sources of food and found it by eating tulip bulbs, some kind of weeds I picked, and making bread from spinach seeds. Especially this last one did not taste too well, it became a lump in your stomach, but it was food. On our coupons we could get one small loaf of bread per week. I became an artist in slicing this loaf so that we had over thirty thin slices. We put some of the "home made" beet syrup on it, or a bit of surrogate honey which we had and that had to last us through the week.

Dutch citizens in line at a soup kitchen, winter 1944. Source

Most of Rotterdam no longer had electricity or gas, and water pressure was only available occasionally. Bikes and boats had been confiscated. Lourens' downstairs neighbor, a mother of two young children, was also desperate for food, and Lourens would take her out into the country to beg at farms while Greetje watched the children. They knocked on the doors of farms and asked for food. They hid in barns, evading Germans, and were sometimes able to get vegetable soup or milk from the farmers and bring it back to the city.

In the midst of this near-starvation, Greetje became pregnant and then had a miscarriage. She became pregnant again in the winter of 1944, at the height of the Dutch famine that had resulted from German blockades. Then, Greetje's parents announced plans to divorce and asked Lourens and Greetje to move elsewhere, which was a stressful and emotional situation for all of them. The young couple managed to find another place to live, and carried on searching not only for food, but for cloth and yarn that could be used to make baby clothes. On February 16, 1945, Greetje went into early labor and gave birth to twin boys. The eldest, Roderik, was allowed to go home from the hospital after a few weeks, but the other child struggled, and eventually died on April 6th. Lourens and Greetje were heartbroken, but also consumed with caring for Roderik, and struggling to provide enough nourishment to Greetje so she could feed him. However, good news was finally on the way.

In March 1945, American forces captured the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, a critical moment that signaled the impending defeat of the Germans. 

In April 1945, Canadian and American forces pushed into The Netherlands. German soldiers began deserting, some trying to buy civilian clothing before fleeing Rotterdam, according to Lourens' autobiography. At the beginning of May, rumors began to fly that the Germans were going to surrender. British bombers were able to fly over the north of Rotterdam and drop food bales to civilians. The war was coming to an end.

May 5, almost exactly 5 years after the war started in Holland, the end was there and the Germans in Holland capitulated. Canadian and American jeeps, small tanks, Harley-Davidsons rolled into town and were soon followed by convoys of trucks with more food, medical help, and believe me they were welcomed with open arms. It is not possible to describe the feeling everyone had. There were a number of Dutch Nazis or collaborators with the Germans and if caught by the people they would not be treated too friendly. Men and women would be shorn bald and beaten up.

The elation was unbelievable. Young people were climbing on the armored cars and tanks with flags and flowers. The soldiers were handing out cigarettes, chocolate bars and the streets were filled with happy people. German soldiers stayed in their camps and were rounded up and brought to internment areas.

A Canadian Sherman tank in Veenendaal, 1945. Photo: The Utrecht Archives

Peace did not necessarily mean more stability for Lourens and Greetje. Lourens still did not have regular employment, and finding housing was difficult. They moved in with friends, and then with Lourens' father, Adriaan. However, Adriaan's wife, Tante Stein, did not want them in her home and was cruel to Greetje, who was now pregnant again and on mandated bedrest. Lourens' eldest brother, Marinus, rescued them from Tante Stein, and allowed Lourens and Greetje to live with his family in Helmond until they were able to move into their own home. At six months, Greetje miscarried their baby girl, another devastating blow for the couple.

Lourens got a job as a textile mill regulation, working for the Dutch government. Then, in Spring 1946, as the economy improved, he became plant manager of a new textile plant in Veenendaal. It was a good job, but it meant moving again. Due to a housing shortage, Lourens and Greetje were separated for several months while he worked and looked for a home in Veenendaal, and she cared for Hendrik in Helmond. In August 1946, they were reunited and moved into a fixer-upper in Helmond.

... we made ourselves comfortable in our new surrounding and with a reasonable salary the future looked good. Christmas was approaching and we bought a small tree and together cooked and baked all day to prepare a luscious dinner. We made a Profiterol, a dessert made of a lot of small cream puffs which were built in a cone-shaped mount, glued together with caramel (burnt sugar) and filled with cream. Little Roderik was much interested in all the lights on his first Christmas tree. And we consumed the results of our many hours hard work by candlelight in about 40 minutes. We had it good.

It was not that easy, however. Greetje was struggling. Having lost two babies and suffered through miscarriages, endured the acrimonious divorce of her parents and resulting loss of a relationship with her mother, all while constantly moving and caring for a baby, she was in a fragile mental state. She became seriously depressed and often unable to function. Lourens and Greetje's relationship deteriorated and he left their home and moved in with Marinus. Fortunately, Greetje's father convinced her to see a psychiatrist and after months of regular therapy, her condition improved remarkably. Lourens came home and by the summer of 1947, Greetje was pregnant again. 

Lourens had started his own textile business during this time, focused on hand weaving. By the fall of 1947, he had some 10 people working for him, and prospects were strong. On February 22, Lourens and Greetje welcomed a daughter, Janna Marina, whom they called Marjanneke. Less than a month after her birth, Janna contracted meningitis, and she died on March 17. 

Life went on, despite their sorrow. Lourens and Greetje moved again. Roderik started Kindergarten. Lourens started a band, eager to once again play an instrument. Greetje became pregnant again. On May 25, 1948, she gave birth to a boy, who she and Lourens named Boudewijn. Despite some initial struggle with jaundice, Boudewijn thrived and was healthy and strong.

Lourens' company encountered growing pains. As it became more successful, larger textile competitors began to block access to materials, and then demand bribes to secure necessary supplies. Lourens closed the business, having made a profit. In the Spring of 1950, Lourens' brother Radboud helped him get a job at a woolens factory in Leiden. The family moved again. 

In 1953, Lourens and Greetje began to seriously consider moving to America. Lourens' brother Radboud was now living in Washington, D.C. with his family. His sister Janna was living in Massachusetts with her family. Political tensions at Lourens' factory heightened, and it became clear that there would be layoffs and restructuring. In May 1955, Lourens and Greetje informed Greetje's father that they were leaving The Netherlands. When the day came, Pa Smit drove his daughter and her family to the Rotterdam Harbor to see them off.

Lourens, Greetje and their two boys arrived in New York aboard the ship Black Falcon on August 30, 1955. They settled in Suffield, Connecticut, where Lourens' sister Janna lived with her husband, Hendrick Nienhuys and their four daughters. Lourens took work as a textile engineer at the Bigelow Sanford Carpet Company and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1961. He joined the Masons fraternal organization, and served as master of the Apollo Lodge in Suffield. In retirement, he moved to Dothan, Alabama, likely to be closer to his sons, who had moved south. 

Lourens died on November 30, 2007 in Dothan. He was 87 years old. Greetje survived him by a decade, dying in Hendersonville, Tennessee on September 27, 2017 at the age of 98. For two people who lived through horrific deprivation during World War II to survive to such advanced an advanced age is truly remarkable. I am so grateful that Lourens recorded his life's story, and grateful that his grandson shared it with me. Knowing his story, and its happy ending, is wonderful.