Martje Kengma Jaarsma

Maartje was ten when Nazi soldiers marched into her street—singing, armed, and ready to take over. They seized homes, occupied schools, and forced families to live in fear. “We couldn’t lock our doors. They came in whenever they wanted”. 

Her uncle was deported during the infamous Putten raid and died digging trenches in Germany. When Maartje’s sister was born, her father risked everything to return home from forced labour. On April 15, 1945, Canadian troops liberated Sneek. For nine months, two soldiers slept in her family’s home. “I was just a child,” she says, “but war made us grow up overnight.”

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Sneek