My OperaSouvenirs of the First World War
Friday, February 8, 2008 3:10:43 PM
Another post dedicated to family history.
First I'll answer Rienes question - sorry for not coming back earlier to this!-
The program I use is Legacy Family Tree. The basic version is free, and for a small fee you've got some extra functions.
Like most genealogy software there is an option to export your family history by means of a "gedcom"-file. You're able to upload these files to www.geneanet.org to share your family tree with other people.
Geneanet offers a rather basic search function to search peoples family trees. If you pay an fee you can do more complex searches, and you're able to customize your personal page to your likings.
Story time now...
The father of my great-grandmother was prisoner of war in The Netherlands during the first world war. My great-grandmother didn't remember too much details on this as she was still very little (she was 4 when the Great War broke out). She does remember though that her father lived there in a camp, and they've lived in The Netherlands a few years as well and she went to school over there.
So I've did some research... Probably my great-great-grandfather fled to The Netherlands to avoid having to fight. He was a craftsman, but he was also rather smart, and I guess I found warm something dumb. The Netherlands were neutral during the first war, and they put everyone of a nation at war in prisoner camps. These people were not really prisoners as they were treated very well. They were offered jobs in factories and mines so they could earn money. These jobs weren't popular among the Dutch people, but the prisoners were happy they could earn some money, and nobody was forced to go to work if I understand right. Prisoners with a family had the right to have their family moved to the Netherlands close to the camps. With the money earned from working they could pay the rent for their family.
My great-great-grandfather was a craftsman as I told. In The Netherlands (more particularly in camp "Zeist") he made a very beautiful jewellery box for my great-grandmother.You can have a look at it in my newly created photo album. On top of the box you have the name of my great-grandmother "Jeanne", and the sides read "Souvenir de Zeist" (Souvenir of Zeist) and "1914/1915", the years in which he made the box. On the inside you have a little mirror you can flip open so you can have a look at a photo (here: my great-grandmother) accompanied by a little heart. Both the inner side of the lid as the inner side of the box was decorated with blue silk. Unfortunately in the sixties or seventies the silk of the box (not the lid) was removed and replaced by self-sticking plastic; this was just horrible! Unfortunately I don't have photos of that, but I've looked for new cloth to decorate it. I haven't found silk in the same colour, but I've used some kind of cotton which perfectly matches the colour of the original silk.
Another little gem I want to share... I've found that one of the photos of my great-great-grandfather actually is also a postcard. The photo had been glued in an album so you couldn't see it first there was text on the back. It's written by great-great-grandfather when he was imprisoned in The Netherlands, but the rest of the family still lived in Belgium back then. This was written:
Eindhoven, 27/5/1916
Beloved wife and childeren. Everything is still okay with me as you can see. I would also like to have your portrait. But I don't know what is wrong with you that I don't have any news from you. I hope you are all in good health my wife, are you? Greetings to everybody and for you my wife and children many kisses. From your husband Camile.
Camile Verherstraeten, hand worker, Philips light bulb factory, Eindhoven, Holland.
First I'll answer Rienes question - sorry for not coming back earlier to this!-
The program I use is Legacy Family Tree. The basic version is free, and for a small fee you've got some extra functions.
Like most genealogy software there is an option to export your family history by means of a "gedcom"-file. You're able to upload these files to www.geneanet.org to share your family tree with other people.
Geneanet offers a rather basic search function to search peoples family trees. If you pay an fee you can do more complex searches, and you're able to customize your personal page to your likings.
Story time now...
The father of my great-grandmother was prisoner of war in The Netherlands during the first world war. My great-grandmother didn't remember too much details on this as she was still very little (she was 4 when the Great War broke out). She does remember though that her father lived there in a camp, and they've lived in The Netherlands a few years as well and she went to school over there.
So I've did some research... Probably my great-great-grandfather fled to The Netherlands to avoid having to fight. He was a craftsman, but he was also rather smart, and I guess I found warm something dumb. The Netherlands were neutral during the first war, and they put everyone of a nation at war in prisoner camps. These people were not really prisoners as they were treated very well. They were offered jobs in factories and mines so they could earn money. These jobs weren't popular among the Dutch people, but the prisoners were happy they could earn some money, and nobody was forced to go to work if I understand right. Prisoners with a family had the right to have their family moved to the Netherlands close to the camps. With the money earned from working they could pay the rent for their family.
My great-great-grandfather was a craftsman as I told. In The Netherlands (more particularly in camp "Zeist") he made a very beautiful jewellery box for my great-grandmother.You can have a look at it in my newly created photo album. On top of the box you have the name of my great-grandmother "Jeanne", and the sides read "Souvenir de Zeist" (Souvenir of Zeist) and "1914/1915", the years in which he made the box. On the inside you have a little mirror you can flip open so you can have a look at a photo (here: my great-grandmother) accompanied by a little heart. Both the inner side of the lid as the inner side of the box was decorated with blue silk. Unfortunately in the sixties or seventies the silk of the box (not the lid) was removed and replaced by self-sticking plastic; this was just horrible! Unfortunately I don't have photos of that, but I've looked for new cloth to decorate it. I haven't found silk in the same colour, but I've used some kind of cotton which perfectly matches the colour of the original silk.
Another little gem I want to share... I've found that one of the photos of my great-great-grandfather actually is also a postcard. The photo had been glued in an album so you couldn't see it first there was text on the back. It's written by great-great-grandfather when he was imprisoned in The Netherlands, but the rest of the family still lived in Belgium back then. This was written:
Eindhoven, 27/5/1916
Beloved wife and childeren. Everything is still okay with me as you can see. I would also like to have your portrait. But I don't know what is wrong with you that I don't have any news from you. I hope you are all in good health my wife, are you? Greetings to everybody and for you my wife and children many kisses. From your husband Camile.
Camile Verherstraeten, hand worker, Philips light bulb factory, Eindhoven, Holland.
kerrykerrykait # Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:02:00 AM