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Wednesday, September 8, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B1 Y o u r U l t i m a t e O a k v i l l e W e b s i t e Focus OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR OF THE OAKVILLE WATERFRONT FESTIVAL FOURTH UNE AUTO. For Oil Your Car's Needs Drive Clean Emission Testing Government Safety Inspection Tune-Ups • Brakes • Exhaust • Cooling Systems CAA Approved Shop 559 Speers Road 8 4 2 0 0 0 1 In in Since 1979 Oakville Beaver Focus Editor: W IL M A B L O K H U IS 8 4 5 -3 8 2 4 (E xtension 2 5 0 ) Fax: 3 3 7 -5 5 6 7 T e a rfu l reu n io n "Once he was playing in the backyard when the Germans came," she said. "My mother hid him under a pile of straw because we didn't have time to get him in the house. You had to tell the little kid 'don't move.'" Another time the boy hid behind the Veenstra's largest child, who was wrapped in blankets, pretending to be a victim of scarlet fever. The risk, said Gerry Vanderende, was ever­ present. "You couldn't trust anyone. Your life was in jeopardy," he said. "They'd line you up along the wall and they'd shoot you, from the youngest one up." Still, Plas doesn't remember the fear when he looks back. "It was for a little boy maybe a kind of adventure," he said. "But I don't remember so much of it. I know a lot of things because some­ one told me about it later." Still, a yellow-tinged black and white photo­ graph may tell a different story. In it, Phillip sits surrounded by a boisterous- looking crew of Veenstra children, all intent on dazzling the photographer with their grins. But Phillip's small face is puckered. Instead of facing the camera, he glowers at the ground, seeming to understand that even in the company of friends, he could not be safe. As it turned out, the danger may have been closer than they had thought. The war's end brought on arrests of Nazi collaborators. One of them lived next door to the Veenstras. But lessons learned in perilous times don't disappear with the first signs of peace. Trusting is still difficult, reported Plas. "I had an attitude not to commit myself too much or too hard," he said, flashing his gentle grin. "I'm always careful with those things. I'm very loyal but to make new connections, it is hard." Nor did the Veenstras emerge unscathed. Maybe it was the war or maybe a motorbike accident. But either way, Veenstra was not to lead a normal life after the war. Instead, he spent most of the days leading up to his 1979 death in various mental institutions. But with all the bad that bled out of the war years, some good has remained. Like the hugs and tears that marked the reunion of Plas with the Veenstras on a day when a scorching sun chased the clouds away and it seemed like darkness would never fall. And like the award for the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust. "It is a very unique moment. It is also very touching, I think," said Plas. "I feel very good. I think it is a good thing I have done." B y Irene G entle SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER r he biggest triumphs can be wrapped in the unlikeliest packages. Like when Phillip Plas recently entered the gracious Hornby home of Betty and Gerry Vanderende, he used the front door. It was a jubilant arrival for the man who once huddled in 'hidey-holes' as a Jewish child in occupied Holland during the Second World War. Lice and loss seemed to be little Phillip's only allies when he came to Betty's parents, Theresa and Hendrik Veenstra in 1943. He was only five years old. "During the war you had problems with lice," said Betty, who was 10 when the small boy with the dark complexion, hair and eyes, arrived in her childhood home. "He wore a knitted sweater and it was so full of lice my mother had to throw it in the stove." The loss of a sweater was no small thing in tightly rationed wartime. But deprivation was second nature to Phillip. Separated from his parents at age three, the child was captured by the Germans, then whisked away in a dramatic escape by Holland's flourishing underground movement. "There were many, many moves," recalled Plas, now a plump man of 60 with gentle eyes and a smile warm enough to melt butter during a deep freeze. "When I came to the family I had a little his­ tory in hiding." So did the Veenstras. As a member of the underground, Veenstra was constantly on the move while his wife raised their four children. So when he pulled his motorbike up to the family home with Phillip perched on the pillion, his wife took the child in without hesitation. For a woman with a strong religious faith, it was just the right thing to do. Doing the right thing was also what com­ pelled Plas to fly in from Holland more than 55 years later to reunite with the surviving mem­ bers of the Veenstra family. For the past two years, he has been petition­ ing the Holocaust Institute in Israel to award them a recognition reserved for Holocaust heroes and martyrs. "After he thought about it, he realized what a big risk my mother was taking," said Betty. His petitioning bore fruit -- the ceremony took place in Augsut at the Adas Israel Synagogue in Hamilton. The honour came too late for Theresa Veenstra. Dutch Jew visits daughter of family who saved his life in WWII Photo by Graham Paine Betty Vanderende of Hornby hugs Phillip Plas at her home recently, being re-united with him after 55 years. Betty's parents, Hendrik and Theresa Veenstra, took him into hiding in German occupied Holland during World War II. At the time, Betty was 10 years old amd Plas was 5. She died just shy of her 93rd birthday, on the same day the world went into mourning for Princess Diana. Her death prompted Plas to break his rule of silence about the war that cost Holland the lives of 100,000 Dutch Jews, including all the family Plas had, save an aunt and uncle. It also taught him the benefits of being invis­ ible. Random house searches by German soldiers meant that hiding places had to be found any­ where, anytime, recalled Betty. (O r, as w e like to call it, o u r "N o -m atter-w hat-k ind -o f- te lecom m unication-needs-you-w ill-just-about-ever-have-in-your- en tire -life tim e-w e-can-now -take-care-o f-under-one-roo f" store.) Digital DATA to GO Anything you can do at your desk, you can now do anywhere! 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