The Way it Was:Growing up in Wartime Holland

The Way it Was:Growing up in Wartime Holland

On May 10, 1940, Hitler's war machine blitzkrieged its way through the peaceful farm country of the Netherlands. In one small village, a boy's life would be forever changed by the events of the next 5 years. Readers will discover what it was like when you knew you were about to die in a hail of bullets. Still there is plenty of fun and mischief too with friends and siblings. The Way it Was is mostly about events during the Second World War. Those events not only affected the author's life; it largely molded the lives of all those who lived during the twentieth century. The Way it Was is intended to assure that the memories of that great conflict and the sacrifices made, will not soon be forgotten. The problem with the art of the memoir is perception. Readers must decide if they are being shown a true representation of the past or a facsimile created by the passage of time that taints the memoirist s observations with the jaded wisdom of life experience. Thus one never knows the truth and must take the memoirist s words at face value even while questioning their validity, like James Frey s discredited memoir, A Million Little Pieces. Sid Baron's memoir, The Way It Was: Growing Up in Wartime Holland, is in the same vein as such books as The Diary of Anne Frank (new revised version, The Diary of a Young Girl) and Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place. Like the aforementioned memoirs, Baron paints a picture of a semi-idyllic time of simple and undisturbed innocence in contrast to the sheer immensity of the evils committed in the name of the The Final Solution in Nazi-occupied Europe. Baron boyhood was a simple agrarian existence on the cusp of industrialization in rural Holland. Baron writes, When I was seven years old, sitting at the kitchen table and drawing on a piece of paper with a pencil was a favorite activity of mine. I could stare out the window and watch the wind. I could lazily dream about all the things little boys dream about. The idea of daydreaming during Nazi occupation seems ludicrous and any semblances of child-like wonder must have been buried down deep in the heart of survival. Such trivialities as maintaining the family farm, shopping, and going to school became more of a need to keep up the appearance of an accepted norm. Remaining inconspicuous to nosy neighbors as well as the enemy weighed heavily in importance. Baron continued to try to be a child even while his parents were part of the Holland resistance. Thrust into an insane situation, he was guilty by association. His chores became surreal: Hiding an unregistered illegal radio, carrying a pistol and barely avoiding being searched, denying to a known Nazi sympathizer that an ally soldier and his family were living in his home, and dodging machine gun bullets. Baron writes, My few remaining steps to the house were interrupted by the sound of screaming fighter plane engines. Instantly, I dropped face down on the ground, clasping my hands around the back of my head to protect myself. Empty heavy-caliber machine gun shells rained down from the sky all around me and on the ribbed aluminum roof covering the pump house. While reading Baron's lyrical prose, one cannot help but think how lucky he was to have come out World War II unscathed and able to tell his story. Some sixty years later, in 2007 there are countries on our planet where children must deal with enemy occupation and the stench of degradation and death everyday. How lucky our children are not to have to experience ethnic cleansing and war zones in their front and back yards. Sid Baron is a successful business entrepreneur, sought-after public speaker, and author of the novel, Dawning of a New Day. --By Lee Gooden, Foreword magazine Sid Baron was born in the Netherlands, immigrating with his family to the United States after the Second World War. He enjoyed a successful career in starting a variety of businesses including a commercial FM broadcast station, electronic and telecommunication companies, a construction and development company and several others. Used Book in Good Condition