The Beginning of Camp Life
"Dr. Hessel Turkstra, Alice's father, had a doctorate in Mathematics, he was principal of the Christelijke Lyceum, a prestigious private school in Zutphen and lectured at the Vrije Universiteit (Independent University) in Amsterdam. He also had lecture tours in Switzerland and consequently he had many connections in that country.
Alice remembered one very clearly, a Frau Dr. Kurz, president of the Christliche Friedensdienst (Christian Peace Movement). The visiting priest put Alice in touch with this lady and she arranged to have us released and transferred to Dutch internee camps. Those camps were managed by Swiss Authorities (Zentralleitung der Arbeitslager or short the Z.L.), but financed by the Dutch Government in exile in London and exclusively for Dutch refugees. There were two labour camps, one in Cossonay and one in St Cergue. In Chamby sur Montreux was an old resort hotel, Hôtel des Narcisses, looking out over Lake Geneva. This was a camp for elderly people, single girls, married couples and people in bad health and that is were Aly and Li went. Jack and I were sent to Cossonay."
Alice remembered one very clearly, a Frau Dr. Kurz, president of the Christliche Friedensdienst (Christian Peace Movement). The visiting priest put Alice in touch with this lady and she arranged to have us released and transferred to Dutch internee camps. Those camps were managed by Swiss Authorities (Zentralleitung der Arbeitslager or short the Z.L.), but financed by the Dutch Government in exile in London and exclusively for Dutch refugees. There were two labour camps, one in Cossonay and one in St Cergue. In Chamby sur Montreux was an old resort hotel, Hôtel des Narcisses, looking out over Lake Geneva. This was a camp for elderly people, single girls, married couples and people in bad health and that is were Aly and Li went. Jack and I were sent to Cossonay."
Apart from above-mentioned efforts of Frau Dr. Kurz, also the Dutch Legation in Bern had been working hard to transfer all Dutch refugees from Auffanglager like Büren an der Aare to the Dutch hotel camps. The Legation had only learned in December 1942 which Dutch people were held in these internment camps. In 1999 the shocking nature of the camp in Büren was fully acknowledged by the Bergier Commission, which we already mentioned before in this chapter. In 1999 this official Swiss Commission published an extensive report called "Switzerland and Refugees in the Nazi Era". Click here for the report. On page 156 of the report you will find details about Büren.
Here the story of the escape from occupation and repression more or less ends. What follows is the tale of two years of waiting until finally the time had come to put an end to World War II. Click here for a larger view
