Dutch and German Immigrants The Prins Family - Pier 21

Uncle Jack and I went to the harbour, we saw the aft and the front bowof the boat sticking straight out of the water. They had brought in afloating crane and first lifted the front end out of the water. There wereno bodies in there. Then they lifted the aft part and found nine bodies,but not my dad. He was never found, the only thing they recovered washis jacket. The nine men were originally buried in the cemetery on theHavenkade. Aunt Annie Zwart told me that the remains were lifted in theseventies and reburied in Germany.According to Aunt Nel the pastor of our church, pastor Moleman, at firstrefused to have a memorial service for my dad because he never attendedchurch services. Opa Prins must have written to the bishop to request aservice and this service was held in the Good Shepherd church where theAnglicans were temporarily worshipping. After the initial refusal OpaPrins must have said, "If there is no service for my son you will never seeme or my family in this church again".Because my dad was missing and his remains were never found, he wasofficially declared deceased five years later. Even now, when I am inIJmuiden and walk by the Haringhaven, I am still reminded of whathappened during those December days in 1944.It must have been March or April of 1945, when, by prior agreementbetween the occuping German forces and the Allies, planes came overand dropped supplies for us at pre-designated fields, food as flour anddried eggs. This food was supplied by the Swedish Red Cross. The prioragreement was necessary, so that the planes would not be fired on by theGermans. It must have been one of these flights, when they flew at lowaltitude over my hometown. Being an agile boy of fifteen years I wassitting on top of our roof, watching them fly over, the planes being lowenough to see some of the personnel in their Plexiglas enclosures, wavingat him and he waving back at me.(Photo) The Quay, where we watched5. 1945 - 1955Years After the WarAfter the war, life slowly returned to normal. We were liberated by theCanadians. When they entered the town with their jeeps and other warmaterial there was no comparison between the reception they receivedand the Germans in 1940. The Canadians of course were quite popularwith the Dutch citizens, especially their evening parade, jeeps, cigarettesand chocolate. When my sister Anneke tasted chocolate for the first timeshe asked me what it was!