LIVING HISTORY
A STORY OF SURVIVAL
Botanist recalls dark days when he
was sent to Nazi labor camps
Although he might be small in stature, Johannes
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(John) Brolmann stood tall during the Nazi occupation
of the Netherlands during World War II in Europe.
A student at Wageningen University when the
occupation began, Brolmann continued his studies for a year
or more before a loyalty oath reared its ugly head. University
students were asked to sign a Declaration of Loyalty to the
Third Reich. Those who signed, remained in school. Those
who refused, were sent to forced labor camps in Germany.
“We didn’t want to sign it,” Brolmann says. “If you refused,
you had to move to Germany. I refused. There is no
way I could sign it. I had to go and my brothers and sisters
brought me to the railroad station in May 1943.”
Thus began two years of hardship. Quick to point out
that his life was not nearly as bad as those who were sent
to concentration camps, he says there were many low
points, which he wrote about in a tiny, pocket notebook that
still exists. The writing is very small and cramped, getting
ever smaller as days went by in an effort to make the small
book last.
Brolmann was first shipped to Braunschweig where workers
made parts for airplane motors.
“We could not get away,” the Fort Pierce resident says.
“If you tried to get away – and some did – you were in big
trouble. Our camp was always close to the factory where we
worked. There was not too much food and the factory was
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Young men at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, including Johannes (John) Brolmann, standing left, gather for a group photo. Many of these
students spent two years in Nazi labor camps after refusing to sign a loyalty oath to the Third Reich during occupation of their country.
BY PATTIE DURHAM