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Oral history interview with Joukje Grandia-Smits

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1285.15 | RG Number: RG-50.149.0015

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    Oral history interview with Joukje Grandia-Smits

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Joukje Grandia-Smits (nom de guerre Clara), born Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1917, describes her family; her employment as a teacher; the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940; reactions to the bombing of Rotterdam; the German’s initial attempt to conciliate the Dutch population; the persecution of Dutch Jews; German recruitment of Dutch labor and her evasion of the labor conscription; methods of defeating the German ration card system; the residence permit system; forging and stealing identity cards; resistance activities in the Netherlands from 1941 to 1944; the role of women in the resistance; her role and handling firearms; tensions between different types of resisters; the motivation of traitors and the pro-German sections of Dutch population; the concealment of men who had gone underground; the influence of the terrain on Dutch resistance; the attitude of Dutch Jews to German persecution; an incident in which a Jew in hiding insisted on seeing his wife; the assistance given to a shot-down Allied aircrew; the failure of Germans to conciliate Dutch civilians; her arrest and interrogation by Germans in June 1944 after being betrayed by a Dutch collaborator; eating an incriminating book; the rivalries in German security services; the nature of the interrogation and being accused of espionage; being sent to Ravensbrück in 1944; the train journey to the camp; the use of colored triangles for inmates; the refusal of former resistance prisoners to work for Germans; the heavy work women were made to do; the guard dogs used by Germans and winning over a guard dog; being selected for factory work at Dachau; the prisoners’ sabotage activities; march out of the camp and being liberated by US troops; returning to the Netherlands; the strike among Dachau prisoners over food; the go-slow tactics and sabotage employed by concentration camp workers; the German divide and rule tactics; precautions against informers; conditions at Ravensbrück; degree of knowledge of German civilians of concentration camp conditions; conditions on the journey to Dachau; the attitude of German civilians to camp inmates; attitude to Jehovah's Witnesses; and the use of acorns for dysentery.
    Interviewee
    Joukje Grandia-Smits
    Date
    interview:  1984 December

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    4 sound cassettes (90 min.).

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museums.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Topical Term
    Acorns. Bombing, Aerial--Netherlands. Concentration camp inmates--Selection process. Curfews--Netherlands. Dogs--War use. Dysentery. Forced labor. Hiding places--Netherlands. Identification cards--Forgeries--Netherlands. Jews--Persecutions--Netherlands. Prisoners of war--Netherlands. Ration cards--Netherlands. Rationing--Netherlands. Sabotage. Subversive activities. Teachers. Women concentration camp inmates. Women prisoners--Netherlands. World War, 1939-1945--Collaborationists--Netherlands. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Netherlands. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Netherlands. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Netherlands. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Germany. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Netherlands. World War, 1939-1945--Women--Netherlands. Women--Personal narratives.
    Personal Name
    Grandia-Smits, Joukje.

    Administrative Notes

    Holder of Originals
    Imperial War Museum
    Provenance
    The interview was conducted by the Imperial War Museum as part of their retrospective oral history interview program. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview with Joukje Grandia-Smits from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:17:21
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn510823

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