Jaap Halma

Jaap was a child during the Nazi occupation. He recalls how German forces seized his school, food became scarce, and families relied on ration cards. His parents secretly stored food in the attic, something he instinctively knew not to speak of. During the Hunger Winter, his family hosted three starving children from the west, part of a town-wide effort that saw hundreds taken in. He vividly remembers the shelling near Scharsterbrug, the Canadian tanks rolling into Joure on April 15, 1945, and his father helping organize celebrations for the liberators. Now 80 years later, Jaap remains committed to preserving this history—because freedom, he says, “must be remembered, honoured, and never taken for granted.”

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Jouren, Frieslan