My Story: Jan Gies

CHAPTER 1: Home Life & School - Page 1.

I was born on October 18, 1905 at 36 Waalstraat in the commercial city of Amsterdam, the capital of Netherlands. My father was a clerk, and my mother a housewife – we lived in a working class life in a 2-bed apartment. My dad was a strict religious Catholic; he ensured we went to church every Sunday. My mum was easy-going, and liked to have fun – she wasn’t geared into this “religion” thing. My sister, Jacqueline, was born on July 24, 1906. Waalstraat was a particularly busy street when I was growing up; it had plenty of shows to attract shoppers to the area.

Waalstraat was in the River Quarter, built in the late 1870s by a rich millionaire with aid of government loans. The builder’s initial plan was to build houses, different from Amsterdam’s huge apartment blocks. It didn’t work out, and they built the River Quarter next to the Amstel River. I remember my mother taking me down to the Amstel canal, and we used to feed the ducks with any spare bread. We paid 1 guilder a week for our apartment, I remember dad always flapping about getting the rent paid.

My sister & I had a good upbringing. I started school in 1911, and mum went out to work as a typist whilst we were at school. I didn’t particularly enjoyed Montessori School, the teachers just made our lessons totally boring. It just seemed odd we were forced to sit there and listen to the stuff they were lecturing us about. I was not particularly bright, but I was when it came to Maths and sorting out other peoples’ problems.

 One day, after-school, I grabbed my bicycle from school. I was about 10 years old I think, so it must have late 1915. I cycled home from school with my best mate Henk, and I remember cycling on the Amsteldijk and we were nearby my house. By the Vrijheidslaan turning where I turned right, I stopped on the pavement and a woman came up to me. She was shivering cold with just a blanket round her, ripped shoes and a very flimsy top, and she said to me, “Do you have any spare money? My one year old hasn’t eaten in two days!”. Naturally, I felt sorry for the woman but said No and sped off home. I never told my parents what had happened, I always concealed it.