#Story
The PTT telephone exchange
In Hovenstraatje, the telephone exchange was located during the occupation. Not an impressive switchboard, because in 1940 only 1 in 20 families had a telephone connection.
While making phone calls, they are careful because they are afraid of being tapped. The telephone operators who make the connections may be listening in. In 1942, all telephone owners have to fill in an Aryan declaration. All Jews thus lose their connections. The following year, only ‘kriegswichtige’ devices are allowed. On 1 April 1945, the Germans blew up the telephone exchange so that the Canadians could not use it during their advance.
Eavesdropping fear
Among resistance fighters, there is also a fear of being bugged. This fear disappears when the resistance can make phone calls outside the public PTT network. This can be done through an illegal telephone network established by the Central Intelligence Service (CID), a resistance group that deals almost exclusively with illegal telephone and message traffic. It is a nationwide network consisting of a concatenation of numerous networks, lines and systems. It also includes the service telephone network of the Provinciale Geldersche Electriciteits Maatschappij (PGEM).