Tulip Bulbs War Food Holland 1944-1945 | 20201226

Tulip Bulbs War Food Holland 1944-1945 (silent film) ~
My mother did not tell me much and no details on her experiences in World War 2, except for the Hongerwinter (“Hunger winter”) – the Dutch famine of 1944–45 – that she had to eat tulip bulbs.
The famine was caused by a German blockade plus the harsh winter blocking alternative water routes, that cut off food and fuel shipments to the western Netherlands were food stocks rapidly ran out in the large cities of The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Tulip bulbs and sugar beets were commonly consumed.
March 25 this year I posted a more detailed ‘biography’ and the silent film ‘Eating Tulip Bulbs’ (20200325) a silent film using photographs captured during this ‘Hunger winter’ 1944-1945 by Menno Huizinga in Holland (mainly in The Hague).
Today I found this Dutch cinema news reel from Polygoon-Profilti published March 1945 with an impression of the daily food ration for the starving population of Holland at the end of the hunger winter. One sees the preparation of tulip bulbs, sugar beets, peas and cabbage soup. Also the use of an emergency stove. Courtesy of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Open Images).
Tulip Bulbs War Food Holland 1944-1945 | 20201226 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Updates

20220604 – Changes credit line

Dead Pigeon

Dead Pigeon | 20200906 | 1-memo.com

Vincent

Vincent ~ Auberge Ravoux in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, France, photographed summer 1996.
Vincent van Gogh’s place the last 70 days of his life – in the Ravoux Inn with his tiny attic room , where he died in the early morning of 29 July 1890 – shot in the stomach (either by himself or by others).
Vincent ~ Music : Gymnopedie (Satie) by Ohad Ben Ari | Artlist ~ Film : 20200728 Michel van der Burg | 1-memo.com | miracles.media

Crash

Crash .
We had a strange encounter on the dutch Wadden Sea island Terschelling, that very same – long – moment of the crash of the Malaysian MH17 plane with 300 people 15.20 dutch time (CEST) July 17, 2014.

Encounter ~
We were unaware of the MH17 crashing at that very moment far away in Ukraine , while my wife and I – cycling on the dutch island Terschelling – had that strange accidental encounter at the crossing of winding bicycle paths in the middle of the woods of West-Terschelling , where we came across family – our (grand)children – also touring there by bike.

Crash ~
The MH17 Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777-200 plane crashed after being hit by a Russian-made Buk missile over Ukraine, near the Ukrainian- Russian border. All 298 occupants (including ~ 200 dutch) were killed.

Feathers on our path ~
Next , an hour later – the first picture I made were these feathers on our path at Terschelling.
Crash ~ Music : Europa by Yehezkel Raz | Artlist ~ Film : 20200718 Michel van der Burg | 1-memo.com | miracles.media

NOTE – additional explanation:
The confluence concerns 2 matters:
1) a completely unexpected meeting in the middle of the forest with family .. which in retrospect turns out to have taken place at the time of the crash (image of that meeting here in slow motion as a ‘strip’); and
2) the first photo I took shortly thereafter – of bird feathers on the ground – could in retrospect symbolize a crash …

Eating Tulip Bulbs ~ Hunger Winter Holland 1944-1945 | 20200325

Eating Tulip Bulbs ~ Hunger Winter Holland 1944-1945 .
(silent film)
My mother did not tell me much and no details on her experiences in World War 2, except for the Hongerwinter (“Hunger winter”) – the Dutch famine of 1944–45 – that she had to eat tulip bulbs.

As children in the 1950s our mother always told us to finish and clean our plates (and pretty large portions, served by our parents) , before being allowed to leave the table. The one thing we were regularly reminded of was the famine my mother and others had experienced…and that she even had to eat tulip bulbs – then a 16-year old teenager living (with her parents) in the city of The Hague during the Dutch famine of 1944–45.
The famine was caused by a German blockade plus the harsh winter blocking alternative water routes, that cut off food and fuel shipments to the western Netherlands were food stocks rapidly ran out in the large cities of The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam . Tulip bulbs and sugar beets were commonly consumed. Trees in The Hague city woods (like Scheveningse Bosjes shown in the film) were cut , and in the end furniture and houses were dismantled to provide fuel for heating.
When the famine was worst and deaths were reaching a peak , the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood of The Hague – were my mothers family lived – was bombed by British bomber crews with the wrong coordinates flying in fog and clouds, causing widespread death and destruction. More on that ‘Bombing of the Bezuidenhout’ later this month.

Menno Huizinga (1907–1947) took photographs illegally during the occupation , mainly in his hometown The Hague in Holland. He was a member of the group of Dutch photographers ‘De Ondergedoken Camera’ (1943-1945) – The Underground Camera – doing resistance work during the Second World War.

‘Eating Tulip Bulbs ~ Hunger Winter Holland 1944-1945’ is a silent film by Michel van der Burg , using photographs captured during this ‘Hunger winter’ 1944-1945 by Menno Huizinga in Holland (mainly in The Hague) from the public domain collection of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies , curated by Dutch Network War Collections (NOB) for WO2 Open Data Depot via Wikimedia Commons.

Wadden Seal Corpse

Wadden Seal Corpse
Seal corpse eaten by birds (seagulls I guess) on the Noordsvaarder coast of the dutch Wadden Sea island Terschelling, december 2019. Film : 20200306 Michel van der Burg | 1-memo.com

Dead Cow

① memo 20190225 ~ Dead Cow ~ Died one hour before of meningitis , this morning around Alphen in the Green Heart of Holland