All Jew, All Day!

(Me and the 3D Night Watch)
Saturday was a mix. I needed a couple of exterior shots which put us in line to see a few sights I’d been hoping to catch.
We started with a shot of the boarding house where my grandfather lived when he first moved to Amsterdam from the town of Enschede, we think it’s were he met my grandmother. She lived in the boarding house as well.

Around the corner was the Hollandsche Schouwburg. A pre war theatre that was used as a staging camp for deporting jews to concentration camps. All that’s left now is the Facade.

(Dutch Jewish Star)

(Jewish War Children)

(Jews Forbidden)
Around the opposite corner was the Resistance Museum commemorating the Dutch WWII resistance movement and relative war events. It really gave a more personal feel to that time. The most amazing thing was a map they had up that showed the concentration of the Jewish population in Amsterdam.

(Nazi map of the Jewish population concentration)
Each black dot represented 10 Jews. Over the apartment block where my father was born and returned after the war, there was a single dot that probably included him, my uncle John, grandfather, and grandmother.

(My families dot, just left of the building marked "Concert-Geb")
As we worked our way west we stopped at Rembrandt’s house. He’s a favorite of mine and the last time I was in Amsterdam it was closed for renovations. I was so glad to finally get inside.

(The Rembrandt House)
It has some of his work but it’s mainly a reproduction of what the house was like when he lived there. How does this fit the days jewish theme? He lived on the Jodenbreestraat, or the “Jewish Broad Street,” the heart of Dutch Jewish life in Rembrandt’s era.

(Check the blue street sihn above the neon sign)
We sauntered through the flower market district and the area behind the palace as we made our way to the Anne Frank House. When we got there late in the afternoon the line was still around the block, as it often is. We decided not to wait and got a picture of a small Anne Frank monument instead. Maybe we would see it later.

(Anne Frank Memorial)
After a stop back at the apartment to clean up and rest we headed back out Chai’s house at the edge of the city, not far from where Joop and Johan both live. Chai is a cousin of my father and a brother to Bennie. He’s the youngest of three siblings in that family and the most Orthodox. Their had been much going back and forth about where we could be hosted for a seder (the ceremonial dinner had on the first 2 nights of Passover). The only big concern with Chai’s place was that as an orthodox jew he couldn’t start until about an hour after sundown (less religious folk tend to relax the timing rules) which meant that between the prayers and the meal it would be a very late night. But Dad and i are both night owls and were happy both to be invited and to get to see Chai and his family. It was especially nice because as the owner of one of the few kosher food store in town, it’s his busy season.
Actually Chai ran a pretty tight ship, although he didn’t skip any parts he kept things rolling and we were done by 2am, which may sound late but Dad and I had made an estimate of 4. So a cab ride later we were happy, full and getting enough sleep to prepare us for the nest day .... “The Grand Holland Tour Deluxe!”

Shoot!

(Lay-O)
Thursday and Friday were heavy with filming. Thursday Dad and I hit the locations we scouted earlier in the week, starting with my Grandfather’s post war office building. I saw that it got nasty shadows in the afternoon so we needed to hit it in the morning but the clouds came rolling in just as we got there. So we waited it out with Leo the cat (pronounced Lay-O) and breakfast in a cafe across the canal. Yes, apparently dutch restaurants have no rules about animals inside.

(The capitol of Opa's office building)
As soon as things cleared we started shooting, then I realized I may have screwed up the focus, so we shot some more. We followed this with a return to the apartment because it was also Dad’s childhood neighborhood.
We got good footage of the Museumplein, the park where Dad used to play. Back then it was filled with abandoned Nazi bunkers and gun turrets. This was his playground.
Although there is one shot of a woman pulling her pantyhose out of her rear on the left of the screen unaware that she was being filmed. Meanwhile my dad was on screen right, narrating, oblivious to the other action.
As well we got shots of his former street and the door to his old home which was right behind the Amsterdam Concert Building. Plus a series of roving shots around his neighborhood and his route to school.

(Carnival in the Palace Square)
That gave us the night off to check out the touristy areas like the Carnival set up in front of the Royal palace for the upcoming Queen’s Day, the red light district and a restaurant that Dad had taken Mom to about 8 to 10 years earlier.
On Friday we were scheduled to see Dad’s Cousin Johan who is almost a decade older than my Dad so he actually remembers what happened to him. Very important. When I had last talked to him it sounded like he only had maybe 2 hours in the morning so it was going to be tight. Plus we would have to drag the heavy camera equipment bag by public transit to the edge of town where he would pick us up from the station.

(Johan in the car)
Friday morning Johan called, he was coming to pick us up! Not only that, he was free for the whole day but best of all Joop had called Johan because he had misplace my number. It turns out he could come over as well and spend some time on camera.
Now I had 2 of the most important members of the Amsterdam contingent covered in one day! Joop could only spare about an hour but we did brilliantly in that time. He was frank, and surprisingly optimistic in talking about tragedy. And like many of the dutch he had the kind of command of the English language that make me sheepishly shamed about my lack of linguistic skill.

(prepping for a walking shot)
Johan’s english was just as clear but a little slower as he searched for words and was filled with thoughtfulness. The only minor hiccup was Johan’s girlfriend’s dog who does not like strangers and had to be sequesterd in the kitchen. A couple of barks got on the audio track but I think it will be fine. Overall a very successful day.

(Angry, angry dog!)

A Day With Bennie And The Day Before.

(Bennie)
Tuesday was moving day. We checked out of the Blue Tower hotel and took the #13 tram into the heart of city and Renee’s apartment. She was a whirlwind of activity getting ready to leave for Israel so once we had our stuff put away we got out of her hair for the day and spent it location scouting.
Unfortunately I lost two interviews that day. In the morning Joop called to tell me that Bettina’s chemo schedule had changed and that our Wednesday morning interview was off. It was a major set back but there seemed to be nothing to do about it. He said if he found another opportunity he would let me know but I wasn’t feeling hopeful.
Renee also bowed out because she was feeling to crunched for time. This was not a major loss, as much as I wanted her perspective she is of my generation and more distant from the story. What I would really need was her father who had just got back from Italy and we had an appointment for Friday.

(Me and Bennie in front of a monument)
Wednesday we spent a full day with my fathers direct cousin Bennie and his girlfriend Faiga (Fay-gu). Benjamin Mouwes (his mother is a Sanders) is kind of the Keith Richards of our family. A former rock band member and zoo keeper who now works as an analyst for the national archives, he’s energetic, talkative and hard to keep track of through a conversation. A real character, perfect for film.

Bennie met us first and after a morning coffee and a quick inspection of a local monument to Jewish resistance we met Faiga at the Museum of Jewish History where she works. First we checked out a special exhibition on jewish cartoonists which included the creators of Superman and Will Eisner who can arguably be credited with inventing the very idea of superheroes.

(Early 1900's hebrew language comic strip)
I got some great information from the historical section on how Jews came to Holland and their place in society before the war. They were unusually well treated compared to most of europe but were locked out of most skilled trades so they had to turn to peddling, money lending, diamond trading and printing. Jews had the market cornered on publishing in Holland through much of the 17th and 18th century.

(A Torah published by Dutch Jewish printers)
I was amazed to find out that the Nazis forced the textiles factory in the town of Enschede to make the yellow stars that the Jews of Holland had to sew to their clothes during WWII. Enschede is the Dutch town on the German border where my grandfather was born and from what I understand relatives of mine worked there during that period.

(A bolt of fabric with yellow stars with the Dutch word "Jood")
After the museum we also took a wander through the giant Portuguese Synagogue across the street. Faiga tried to keep Bennie on a tight leash through out so he wouldn’t disturb the other patrons. She seems to be as much his den mother and biggest fan.
During a very late lunch Dad, Faiga, and I managed to wrestle him into not only doing an interview but to do it that night!

(Amsterdam's Portuguese Synagogue)
A misplaced dinner reservation and a multi-venue hunt for another dining location caused a late start but by 9pm Bennie was sitting and talking up a storm. I think I got some great stuff. But I think my own little moment of genius was to then put him at a table with my dad and a couple of cups of coffee and just let them talk on film.
I’m starting to feel like a film is happening but there is still a long long way to go.

The Keukenhof and Thea

On Monday we we’re invited by cousin Renee to have an after dinner tea with what seems to be a distant relation that we didn’t know about. This left us with the whole day free since we were still sorting out when we would be meeting up with all the the other family members.

Dad had spotted some pamphlets for bus tours in the hotel lobby including an afternoon tour of De Keukenhof which translates as “The Kitchen Garden.” It’s a sort of all year flower show that has it’s high point in the spring. The specialty is of course Tulips. Apparently it started as the “little kitchen garden” of some local noble woman and that of course means it covers several acres.



I had no strong opinion on it but dad seemed excited about the idea. He had been once before with mom about 10 years ago and wanted to share it. It reminded me of the time when he use to teach an adult ed photography course. He would end each term with a trip to the Allen Garden’s green house so it seemed an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.



It was a beautiful but slightly brisk day. You can see the results for yourself. The place was also a bit of a minor theme park with sugary waffles and a real punch card organ grinder that played a mix of classical music and 80’s hits.



Once we got back into the city, we grabbed a bite at the last kosher sandwich shop in Amsterdam (It seems the hub of the Jewish community has moved to the suburbs) and went to meet Thea Koster-Sanders and her husband. Her connection to us actually goes back further than my grandfather Bendix to his uncle, her grandfather.

I don’t think what we learned will do much for the film but I did like seeing he old photos of these strange people who all looked a little familiar. As well it’s nice to know I’m connected to a bright, charming, successful psychotherapist.



We did find out one interesting thing that could really help. Apparently a shared relation in israel has developed an even more precise family tree than the one I got from Joop some years back. Thea had a copy on her computer and it included her AND me. This means I can track my family from before the Napoleanic census to some time last week. She gave me his contact info and I’m going to follow up to get my own copy.

Joop

(Dad making calls)
Between a wonderful late night in Utrecht and jet lag, wakefulness was in short supply come Sunday morning. Dad and I got up. had the hotel’s pricey breakfast buffet, ran some local errands, made some calls and then proceeded to fall asleep again for a notable chunk of the afternoon.
The main errand was a search for a camera adapter that I couldn’t find in my video bag after we arrived and that I really needed. The search was fruitless but of course a few days later, I found the stupid thing tangled up in a dark corner of my bag.
The calls were all to arrange meetings with my local relatives all of whom had been e-mailed explicitly about my film project and most have whom had committed to at least some kind of get together. Of course now that I was here it was quickly starting to become like herding cats. People were away, people were coming back, people were leaving soon. ... and I don’t mean leaving the house, leaving the country!
It’s easy as you get frustrated to start laying blame for this stuff on everyone else but one of the major problems was in good part my fault. Our visit crosses over the Jewish holiday of Passover. I had this romantic notion of a sort of Hebraic Norman Rockwell scene unfolding as my father returned to the old country to be welcomed with open arms, and I would film it all! ... but like any holiday from any background, everyone was very busy cooking and cleaning and arranging to see family and very short on time.
Two particular family members had a much bigger problem to face. My fathers cousin Joop (pronounced like YO with a “p” on the end) and his wife Bettina had found out recently that she has cancer. It sounds like the diagnosis is comparatively optimistic but she was to start treatment the next week. As well they are fairly Orthodox so once both treatment and passover start overlapping they were just going to be overwhelmed. But they still wanted to see us before things got crazy, so late Sunday afternoon Joop picked us up to take us to his home on the south end of Amsterdam for dinner.

(Joop comes to pick us up)
Along the way he stopped off at the first home where my father (Hans) was reunited with his parents after the war, a place dad didn’t even recall. Finally some filming!
The reason Joop knew the location so well, My grandfather also took in Joop because he was a nephew and had been orphaned by the holocaust. They all lived there together. Which is why I wanted so badly to interview him. Plus it seems Joop has a much stronger sense of recollection than my dad.

(Dad's first post war home)
Funnily when I pulled the camera out to film the house, Joop moved the car to a new parking spot. He was nervous that his car would be targeted by thieves if they saw me pulling out expensive equipment. We thought he was being a bit over zealous but Dad and I just rolled with it.

(Bettina)
After that it was a very pleasant dinner with Joop and Bettina. I had brought my video camera hoping we could squeeze in a quick interview that night, figuring it would be my only chance. I found myself in the tough position of trying to balance sensitivity for a tough situation and trying to do what it takes to do the job right.
Interestingly I found a strong ally in Bettina. It wasn’t going to happen Sunday night because they had plans after dinner but she made Joop agree to do it Wednesday. It made a kind of sense to me. Bettina had the treatment, it gave her something to do but all Joop can do is wait and fret. I think she wanted to give him the distraction.
So after tea and some proper Dutch apple pie, Joop put us on a tram back to the hotel and I finally felt like the engine of this project was starting to pick up some speed.

(Joop)

Rok'n Utrecht

I have to admit when I chose the dates for this trip I had a second motive. By leaving Toronto a few days early I could see a band I’d always wanted to see live in concert, The Presidents of the United States of America.
For some reason I keep missing opportunities to see them in North America, so why not see them in Utrecht? It’s just a half hour south of Amsterdam by train.

Dad was good enough to humor me. We spent the day in Utrecht together and saw the local tourist sights.

This mainly consists of walking along the Ouderacht canal, visiting the Dick Bruna Huis (a museum dedicated to a children’s book author and illustrator) and climbing the Domtoren which is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands. Although it’s no longer connected to any actual church.


After all that Dad headed off to catch the train back to Amsterdam while I went to a bar called De Reunie, where a group of fans were meeting before the show and I was so glad I did.

In a mere hour or so, I went from some poor shlub going to see a band all by his lonesome to part of a group enjoying a show together.


And the show was great! I love my hometown but I do forget how reserved Toronto audiences can be. The whole club (The Tivoli) was immediately whipped up and dancing as soon as the band hit the stage. I may have come the farthest but amongst the people I shared drinks with their were attendees from Belgium, Denmark and Germany.