During World War II the Swiss Hôtel des Narcisses was turned into a "home for refugees". Its inhabitants were Dutch men and women who had managed to escape from the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Jack van Gorkom, Piet van den Nieuwenhof and their girlfriends Li Batens and Alice Turkstra were among them. This website is dedicated to their courageous escape from Holland, the friends they made in Switzerland and the efforts of the men to help liberate their country.
Hôtel des Narcisses is situated in Chamby on a mountainside above Montreux. It is a beautiful spot with a magnificent view over Lake Geneva and its surrounding mountains. In spite of this, business-wise the hotel was not very successful and in 1942 it became one of the hotels that was rented by the Dutch government-in-exile to house Dutch refugees.
All the people who lived there had risked their lives to come to Switzerland. Most of them were Jewish who had fled for obvious reasons. Some of them were not, like the four main characters of this story. Jack and Piet had escaped to Switzerland as they had become aware that they were being watched by the authorities, who rightfully suspected them of involvement with underground activities, and when they took off, their girlfriends came with them. Finally by the end of 1944, they got the chance to join the allied forces, and so did most of the other Dutchmen in Switzerland.
Hôtel des Narcisses is situated in Chamby on a mountainside above Montreux. It is a beautiful spot with a magnificent view over Lake Geneva and its surrounding mountains. In spite of this, business-wise the hotel was not very successful and in 1942 it became one of the hotels that was rented by the Dutch government-in-exile to house Dutch refugees.
All the people who lived there had risked their lives to come to Switzerland. Most of them were Jewish who had fled for obvious reasons. Some of them were not, like the four main characters of this story. Jack and Piet had escaped to Switzerland as they had become aware that they were being watched by the authorities, who rightfully suspected them of involvement with underground activities, and when they took off, their girlfriends came with them. Finally by the end of 1944, they got the chance to join the allied forces, and so did most of the other Dutchmen in Switzerland.
