BRAVE FACE

The inspiring WWII Memoir of a Dutch/German Child

The End of Frits’ Life

On October 18, 2017 at 5:17 in the morning, Frits breathed his last. He died very peacefully in his sleep. We suspect he was in a coma that last couple of hours of his life. He left me very quietly, leaving everything behind. Our children, our home, his clothing, his...

I Fell Into His Grave!

Frederik Evenblij before he became ill. Frits slowly started to tell me about his life. He told me that his father had died of myasthenia gravis in 1942. He missed the loving letters that his dad regularly sent him while he was sick, always ending with the request to...

Frits’ Adventures in De Woude

When Frits was a teenager, he took his bicycle to De Woude, a small island reachable only by ferry. He was to work that summer on the largest farm on the island. He slept high in the loft where the hay was stored. Part of his job was ferrying the steer down this...

A Poem I Wrote Many Years Ago

Het was op een Zaterdagavond in Maart, Op dansles leerde een jongen een meisje kennen, Zijn hart ontvlamde; zij was zijn liefde waard, Hij wilde haar dat echter niet bekennen. Maar een hart laat zich nu eenmaal niet dwingen, Amor won alweer terrein, Zijn hart bleef...

My Husband was Born in the Congo

My husband was born in Leopoldville, the Belgian Congo, later called Kinshasa, Zaire, from two Dutch parents. The world had gone through a world war, followed by a recession. Work was hard to find, but Frits’ father found work in the Belgian Congo as a supplier...