Martje Kengma Jaarsma
Born in the city of Sneek in 1932, Martje “Mattie” Kengma Jaarsma was a child during one of the darkest periods in Dutch history. Just eight years old when the Germans invaded in 1940, she spent the formative years of her childhood under Nazi occupation. Life for her family changed overnight. The once-vibrant city was subdued under fear, curfews, and scarcity. Mattie recalls the silence that fell over the streets and the way even laughter felt dangerous.
Her father, a principled man, resisted quietly—turning their home into a lifeline for those in hiding. Mattie remembers her mother carefully placing food on the windowsill for a hidden guest in the attic and how the children were taught to never ask questions. “You just knew not to speak,” she says. The family helped a Jewish couple escape detection for nearly two years, an act of selflessness that was never spoken of openly at the time.
The war brought many hardships. School was sporadic, food became scarce, and Mattie suffered from recurring illnesses. But she also remembers small acts of kindness: neighbors sharing potatoes, her mother bartering linens for milk, and the strength drawn from the church community. At night, she listened for the drone of bombers and prayed they wouldn’t fall on her city.
In April 1945, as liberation approached, Mattie and her siblings were ushered into the cellar at the first sound of artillery. Days later, Canadian soldiers entered Sneek. “I couldn’t believe they were real,” she recalls. “They were so tall, and they smiled.” A soldier lifted her onto a tank and gave her a tin of powdered milk—one of the first luxuries she had seen in years. It was a defining moment.
Mattie, now in her nineties, still speaks with deep emotion about that day. She credits the Canadians not only with liberating her city but with restoring hope to a generation of Dutch children. In her later years, she has worked to ensure young people understand what it means to live without freedom—and what it costs to regain it. Her story is a quiet testament to resilience, remembrance, and eternal gratitude.
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Sneek
Photography & Story by Jason van Bruggen
