Hello all, new member from the Netherlands here. I don't often find it easy to get started, so I'll just use the questionairre. 1. Your Name and Forum Member Name: Whats your name? What would you like to be called? How did you come up with your member-name? My real name is Jogchem, my forumname is taken from my maternal grandfathers name Hergarden, wich in itself came most likely from German Herr Garten. 2. Age: How long have you been on this planet? How long have you been interested in WWII? I'm now a little over 31 years old and been interested in WWII for a long, long time. Other topics of history can spark my interest too, yet never so long or indebt als WWII. I bought a book recently about WWI, but haven't started reading it yet. For those who don't know: the Netherlands was neutral then, but took on a lot of refugees from Belgium. 3. Origins: Where are you from? I live in the Netherlands, on the Northsea coast, it's ~30km west of Amsterdam. Born, raised and lived here all these 31 years. 4. Historical Interest: What areas of WWII are you interested in? What would you like to know more about? What are your areas of knowledge, and what can you help other with? For now I'm mainly interested in the European/ Russian fields of WWII. I've read a few books so far about Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kursk, fall of Berlin, Warsaw Uprising and D-Day. A new book from a German writer about Stalingrad is on my shelf of "books yet to read". The last month or thereabout I've also taking a renewed interested in the Halbe Pocket. There is so much yet for me to explore and learn. I have a 3-DVD-Set about the Netherlands during WWII that I've yet to see (I'm much more a bookworm and not much a screenwatcher, even though I read quite slowly), and a 6-DVD-Box about the "Zweites Weltkrieg" in general (that one is in German, mainly because I am also trying to learn better German). Other topics/ book that are in the back of my mind to read more about are the Ardennes Offensive, Arnhem, the concentrationcamps (not military, but I deem it important enough to know more about then simply the ovens), maybe a biography of a general or government person, WWII in the pacific (I've heard about Guandacanal or something, no idea yet what happened there, why, when or how to even spell it correctly) and many, many more. 5. Hobbies: What sort of Hobbies do you have? Are any related to World War II? Wargaming? Video-games? Memorabilia? Visiting historic sites? I have simply too many hobbies for the time I have. I play a MMORG, collect beer bottles (400 strong), read books, cicling/ mountainbiking, bouldering (type of climbing). And also trying to write a book from time to time. 6. Miscellaneous: Anything else you'd like to share with us? 1. When I start writing, I don't know how to end. 2. I've read about here of members whose (grand)parents and/ or uncles served in the war. I can't claim any of that, but all my grandparents lived 5 years in occupied Netherlands as teenagers. On my fatherside: grandpa lived with a farmer northwest and had it not bad, done nothing special; grandma I know nothing about unfortuatly. Both passed away >5 and ~15 years now. On my motherside: grandpa lived at the cost, but at one time the house was destroyed by bombers coming back from Germany that unloaded the leftovers over the blast-furnace side (correct English word used? Steel construction side) at IJmuiden. He then went to work in Germany, but I've forgotten where and as what, I do know that it was later in the Russian occupied zone. I also remember him telling me once that before the bombing he had to leave home, because the Germans were building the Atlantic Wall, but that might be incorrect. Grandma lived in the east, not far from the border with Germany, and she tells sometimes that 'while they didn't had it bad, she had to walk two days for a sack of potatoes in the hunger-winter'. My grandfather passed away ~10 years ago, my grandmother is still alive. 3. I've been in Berlin this june and I'm amazed by how open the Germans are about WWII. There are many musea of all sides of the war, bookshops have entire walls reserved for WWII, monuments with the names of the 20/30 largest concentration-camps 'names we must never forget'. I've visited the Sachsenhausen/ Oranienburg concentration camp, that was very impressive. I've cycled south through the Spreewald and the lakes, came to Halbe, unfortuatly didn't had the time to visit the cemetry there. 4. Salut! Herr Garten // Jogchem
Been reading a bit here in forum lately, specially one massive about the battle of Kursk. Typical me: I sign up to a WW2 forum and few days later I start reading a book about WW1. It's about eyewitness accounts from all sides, compiled by Jon E. Lewis. It's not as informative or catching as others I've read. Without any clue of why or how a battle is going, it doesn't make me feel for any single soldier's tale about his trench. This book has also one of the most pointless maps I've ever seen. When you fly from Amsterdam straight west, you might see my house just before you see the beach; north of the Noordzeekanaal. Where about do you live? Thank you, and others too. You mean I've been around on this forum before? I know I've read a few topics here before, but don't think I've signed up. Also couldn't find any registration in my email.
