Dutch and German Immigrants The Prins Family - Pier 21

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Every year, in the late part of the summer, the greengrocer came by withcrates filled with green and slicing beans. Everyone in sight was enlistedto snip off bean-ends, breaking or slicking beans, after which they weresalted away in wooden barrels and stored in the basement for later use.I also remember the “kant” (quay) and the harbour where the trawlersreturned from their fishing trips. After unloading their catch of fish, theywere pulled to the other side of the harbour, refitted again with ice, coaland victuals (and a few bottles of liquor I suppose), and made readyagain for another fishing trip lasting 10-12 days.Opa Prins, in his earlier days, owned more than then trawlers, butduring and after the depression quite a few were sold for scrap. I stillremember that he had six or seven, but that number had been reducedto two when the war started. His office was located on the quay with awarehouse and a machine shop. Anotehr warehouse close to the otherharbour (The Haringhaven) was destroyed in the war during an Allied airaid.Opa had two employees working in the warehouse fixing fishing nets anddoing other jobs. In the corner of the yard was a liquid tar pit used tosoak the fishing nets. I never found out how deep that pit was but I wasalways scared to fall in and kept my distance. Thinkin gof it now, it stillscares me. When it was quitting time I made sure to be out of thebuilding so I wouldn’t be locked in. There were wonderful objects storedin the warehouse, from lanterns to cork balls and wooden loadingchutes. Uncle Jack once used a chute to make a beach sailing boat, itsure went fast.The two trawlers Opa still owned when the war started were the Perseusand the Penelope. The Penelope was built by Hellyer’s Bros. In 1895 inHull England and was bought by Opa’s company the Praxis in 1911.During the war she stayed in Ijmuiden and started fishing again July 17,1941, under strict control of the German occupying forces. These shipsoften came under attack from the RAF and accidents did happen. ThePenelope left Ijmuiden for the last time on January 31 1942. The nextday she was attacked and sunk. According to the book description,Master Frans van der Kuil (husband of Aunt Antje) perished with hisship but according to Klaar, he survived that attack with a hand wound.The Perseus, built by Welton & Gemmell & Cook in 1897, was bought bythe Praxis in 1911. This ship left Ijmuiden’s harbour on May 8, 1940,with the oldest Master Teun Groen in command. Two days later theGermans invaded Holland and ship and crew fled to England andremained there during the five war years. They continued fishing duringthose years with Fleetwood England becoming their home harbour. After
the war, the Perseus sailed back home to Ijmuiden and was kept fishingfor a few more years. In June of 1951, she was sold for scrap.I have a copy of a painting of two of Opa’s ships, the IJM 44 Plejaden andanother one, easy to recognize by their blue-white flag marking on thesmokestack. Beside the Holland series of ships, the Praxis had shipsnamed after the Greek gods and all started with the name P. A fewnames come to mind like Plejaden, Pan, Pluto, Pollux and then of coursePenelope and Perseus. I have a small wooden model of the Perseus,made by Klaar Prins. He is my Uncle really, but we were so close in agethat I never got around to it to calling him Uncle, I don’t think he minds.In the family video he is the guy you see so bravely trampling throughthe snow.Aunt Antje lived a few houses down the street from Oma, and I went tovisit her quite often to roam upstairs where they had a closet full ofchildren books; names like Kik Trom and Pietje Bell come to mind. Withher son Jan, I practiced my skill with the air rifle, aiming at a target thatwas nailed to the fence.Uncle Antoon played soccer for the 'Stormvogels', at that time a firstdivision club. He was a good player once chosen as a reserve player forthe national Dutch soccer team. Soccer was played every Sundayafternoon except for the summer months. Once a week a game away,next week a home game. When they played at home, he always let mecarry his equipment bag so I would get in for free. After the gameeveryone congregated at home to chew over the game more than once. Apicture of him and the 'Stormvogels' can be found in the book'Nostalgisch Gezicht op Velsen Zuid & Ijmuiden' by Piet de Greef. Acrossfrom Kennemerlaan 7 was a smoke shop where people met whenStormvogels played in another town. As soon as the game was finished,they crowded in front of the shop window and craned their necks to readthe scores which the store proprietor wrote on a blackboard.Often in the evening if the weather was good, kids out of theenighbourhood played in the Jacob van Heemskerkstraat, but when itwas eight o’clock, Oma called me home, gave me a bowl of custard andthen off to bed. Once in bed I could read for a while until she cameupstairs to turn off the light in the bedroom. On Tuesday night therewas a comic entertainment program on the radio from eight till nineo’clock. I liked to listen to that program, but it was off to bed for me. Iused to sneak out of bed, sit on the stairway steps to listen ‘til caughtand then back to bed. Sometimes she gorgot to turn off the light andthen I kept reading until I fell asleep. The light in the hallway alwaysstayed on because I was afraid of fire. The reason for that was probably
Page 1 and 2: The Prins Familyby J. PrinsDutch an
Page 3 and 4: and Willem the youngest son provide
Page 5 and 6: got together with other bakers in t
Page 7 and 8: school supplies. Even so, some supp
Page 9 and 10: After Uncle Klaas finished his five
Page 11 and 12: My earliest memories go back prior
Page 13 and 14: Memories of my Aunt Nel Traa-PrinsA
Page 15 and 16: He came to stay with the Prins hous
Page 17 and 18: Two sons, Joe and Kippie, were argu
Page 19 and 20: Klaar came along with my dad to ass
Page 21 and 22: In Egmond where they both lived, pe
Page 23 and 24: When I was sick, a few times I had
Page 25: If there were no black horses avail
Page 29 and 30: En zo hebben ze elkaar gekregen.Tra
Page 31 and 32: 4. 1941-1945Family NeervoortStyn de
Page 34 and 35: hair with a cute face, even then al
Page 36 and 37: Jack and Klaar disappeared into the
Page 38 and 39: were too heavy loaded. An ideal che
Page 40 and 41: The streets were crowded with excit
Page 42 and 43: In the mean time, several marriages
Page 44 and 45: seawater, I didn’t hesitate too l
Page 46 and 47: flowers and looked at them as if th
Page 48 and 49: about living out of a suitcase! The
Page 50 and 51: them all. I got hired on with appro
Page 52 and 53: the bus I met three other Canadians
Page 54 and 55: ·living in Wisconsin, USA3. Johan
Page 56 and 57: Once back I IJmuiden, I visited wit
Page 58 and 59: In the summer of 1960 I had been a
Page 60 and 61: Robert was born December 20th 1964,
Page 62 and 63: so desired. In February 1968 I boar
Page 64 and 65: piece of land from Carl Schneider f
Page 66 and 67: approximately 120 ton/day plant and
Page 68 and 69: not. There was a pilot strike on an
Page 70 and 71: children, Herman and Marja in Strat
Page 72 and 73: First visit outside Ijmuiden was to
Page 74 and 75: talking away and pointing out all t
Page 76 and 77:
dinner was more formal with always
Page 78 and 79:
During a later period in her life s
Page 80:
I am sure that I speak for all of y
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Dutch and German Immigrants The Prins Family - Pier 21

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