Jullanastraat 34, Wageningen • the story of Henk Slotboom 

Henk Slotboom is 4 years old in May 1940. He lives with his parents at Julianastraat 34 in Wageningen. lt is a small house with a downstairs living room, a side room and a kitchen. In the living room is the only stove in the house and here is also only one (cold water) tap in the kitchen. Upstairs are two bedrooms and, behind a curtain, a mini storage space. 

From the kitchen, two steps lead to the basement and on the other side you can go outside from the kitchen door. In 
this picture, Henk is in a tub in front of the doors of the toilet house and the coat hut. 

Cooking, washing, brushing teeth, breakfast, the hot meal: everything is done in the kitchen. From this kitchen are these table and chairs. 

lt is a troubled early morning on May 10, 1940: many planes drone in the sky and dull sounds carne from the 
direction of the Grebbeberg. Henk hears people say, 'lt's war'. The Grebbeberg is only 3 kilometers away. Il is dangerous in Wageningen and residents have to leave their house. Evacuating it is called. By baat they go to different cities on the Rhine, towards Rotterdam. These places are on the map. 

Henk, his family and many other Wageningers walk through Stationsstraat and the Hoogstraat to the harbour. There they are stuffed very close together in dirty black coal boats. Although !here is straw on the bottom. lt is dark and stuffy inside. The baat sails across the Rhine along the Grebbeberg. lt's being shot at, which are anxious moments. The family Slotboom gels shelter in Krimpen aan de IJssel. They think they are safe, bul they also hear dull thunder and see black smoke clouds when the Germans bomb Rotterdam. Henk gets to eat sour buttermilk porridge, bah. Bul his whole plate must be emptied.

After the bombing in Rotterdam, the Netherlands surrenders. The Wageningers return to their homes. lnilially, nothing much happens and Henk finds the Germans cool in !heir uniforms and striking boots. He wants to walk along, just like behind a music corps. And he sees a floating car in the canal at the Plantsoen, how is that possible? Bul a while later, those tough Germans hold raids to pick up Dutch men for the Arbeitseinsatz: slave labor in German factories. Then Henk likes to cross them, for example by stealing coal residues from the freight train Bello (photo) that runs between Ede and Wageningen. Because coat is scarce.