Schoonveld Family

Time flies

  Daniel: When I was about 8 years old, I went on one of the famous Plas bike rides with my grandparents. I don’t remember exactly where we went and there are different stories about how it went, but we…

We came back

On a Saturday in the fall of 1966, when I was 8 years old, my father told me that we would be moving to America. The preparations were already underway, but the adventure truly began with our journey on the SS Statendam. From Rotterdam to New York, with stops in Le Havre and Southampton, it was a week filled with excitement and seasickness. Upon arriving in New York, with the Statue of Liberty in sight, my brothers and I were nervous and full of expectations. What awaited us in this new country? Discover our story of emigration, adaptation, and new experiences!

Try, try again

SLOWLY IT DAWNED ON HIM. The conductor on the train from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Kitchener, Ontario, was calling out his name. He had a scary thought—if after four years of studying English in the Netherlands, he could not even recognize his own name, how was he ever going to understand anything in this new country? But here he was, 18 years of age, getting off the train in the middle of the night at one of the tiniest railroad stations he had ever seen—where people spoke English. Uncle Arts journey was just beginning, filled with unexpected twists and turns.

German raid April 1944

On April 22, 1944, Heero Smit's life was turned upside down when he was arrested during a raid by the German occupiers. His story of fear, hardship, and eventual liberation is a poignant testimony of World War II. From the horrors of Amersfoort camp to the harsh journey back to the Netherlands, his experiences serve as a powerful reminder of human resilience. Jan Peter Smit, his son, relives this journey in an impressive hike from Mascherode to Venlo.