V.) Anda's underground work.
Anda would not have been Anda if she had not been one of the first to
help the resistance. She did it largely on her own and started out with
sacrificing one half of her own (small !) rations to assist people in need; she
continued this even after she disposal over illegally obtained (or counterfeited)
food tickets from large "underground" organizations like the famous L.O. which she joined reluctantly. (group "de Groot") Why reluctantly?
Because she was very individualistic, and hated to be pushed in directions which were not quite her own.
Anyway she dealt with large amount of (false) food documents. She was
very active and even a bit sloppy sometimes Her cousin Dirk (who was also
in the underground) once prevented a disaster when she left a bunch of tickets on the table in the room, and her housekeeper - who was N.S.B. ( = a Dutch
traitors group, like the Quislings in Norway) - came in unexpectedly! Dirk
managed to hide the tickets inconspicuously...... This housekeeper, who
fortunately was a bit retarded, owned a bicycle-shop on the groundfloor in the
"Kijk-in-het-jat straat in the center of Groningen.
Anda anyway moved to a new address (de Ranitzstraat 3a) in the apartments
Speaking about that large "underground" organisation L.O. which
conducted all kinds of resistance (like sabotage, robbing official ticket
distribution centres, attacking prisons in order to free hostages, spying on Nazi
military and police movements, printing and distributing of counterfeit
documents, ect.) against their Nazi usurpers, I think I cannot afford to omit,
informing ignorant Americans, that such an organisation evidently is not a
large Headquarter building with parking lots, conference halls, impressive
files of papers with descriptions of the accomplishments of high-ranking
officials in uniform, equitable promotion systems, office machines, daily- or weekly magazines with instructions and advertising, weapons and ammunition
storage buildings, exercise fields, etcetera.......Please, forget it!
An "underground" organisation is - on the contrary - an entirely invisible oral
communication system of unviably high secrecy, taking place in inconspicuous
ordinary houses, between unpaid persons, who in the most cases even do not
know each other's names asks. And of course there exists noting in writing.
Names, when they have to be used for instructions and reporting, are pseudonyms without any relation to that person's real name. Al these
precautions - learned the hard way - for the evident purpose only that in case
of discovery by the Nazis not one member will and/or can mention any essential fact or name even upon prolonged beastly cruel torture.....
As a consequence of this there never exists any evident (written) proof of
the brave efforts of underground heroes. We know only those facts that
incidentally could be told afterwards by witnesses who were so fortunate to
survive the ordeals. This now applies in particular to Anda's work, because she was so extremely individualistic and opposed to any hierarchical pressures.
Well then, survivors have witnessed that Anda supplied large amounts of
(usually illegally obtained) documents, food-tickets, food, clothing, shoes and
shelter to citizens in hiding, inclusive much domestic work ( though she hated
that ) for officials and often all kinds of dispatch work ( first on bicycle, later on foot). All extremely risky tasks, punished by death without pardon upon discovery.
As - with her parents blocked for any contact in Japanese occupied Java - she
did not receive financial support for her living, she walked the streets in poor
clothes on worn-out shoes, but always with a smile, and her bag around her neck....
The Dutch National Railroad has honoured her assistance of the striking
employees during the general strike, ( which was requested by the Queen
Wilhelmina), - it lasted from September 1944 until May 1945 - with a special
