Relaxation in Assen and return to The Hague
“We had a pretty quiet life in Assen and good social contacts. A cosy social evening for the employees of the Service even resulted in the idea to form a players’ group. We called a meeting, and a play was chosen that was bound to create a furore: "Nobility in Livery”. Is was a tremendous success. We played for and for the benefit of the Red Cross.
The hall in Bellevue in Assen was completely sold out. A nice review appeared in the Asser Courant (see the images of cuttings below) and what I had predicted at the time, happened: We got requests to perform the play from everywhere: Borger, Beilen, Gieten. For the soldiers in Assen, Zuidlaren, etc. It was a nice time. We won't forget it very soon.
Time at the Documentation Service flew. And in the summer, we packed our things to go back to The Hague. Looking for a house. On 27 August 1945, after an absence of more than six months, I arrived in The Hague. Earlier, my youngest sister had sent me sad messages about our furniture. Some of it had been stored, she had managed to save a lot, but a large part had also been found missing or destroyed.
My wife and Loek stayed in Haarlem with Aunt Bets, who had taken them in until I had found a house. Only after a stay of more than six weeks in The Hague, I managed to obtain permanent housing. It was a nice house, more beautiful than the one we had. With the rest of our furniture we settled in as best as we could.
Our lives are back to normal again. Loek is at school nearby. The Pensions Council, that took me back, is a five-minute walk away from our home. And every time the three of us are sitting at home in the evening, we often think back to the time we spent in Drenthe and the journey with its many worries, good times and bad times, but for us, one thing is certain: We have got to know and learned to appreciate the people of Drenthe as good people, surly at first, but utterly trustworthy.”
From: Eyewitness report by Gerrit van Lochem, spring 1945
Born 11-8-1900, died 18-7-1986
Re-edited by son Loek van Lochem, December 1995.