# A slight fiction about my family **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slight-fiction-about-my-family/519449 "2009-11-30T09:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slight-fiction-about-my-family/519449/1 "2009-11-30T09:26:52Z")
On a certain day in October, a rose blooms in Hamburg. Every year, on that day, on a grave in Ohlsdorf Cemetery, the grave of Margaret \_\_\_\_\_, Widerstandskämpferin. On that day, in the freezing rain, a red rose blooms overnight where there was no rose before. On a certain day in May, a rose is laid in Amsterdam. No one sees who laid it, no one watches, but in the morning a cut red rose, fresh and fragrant, lies on the grave of Leendert \_\_\_\_\_, staatsman. Every year, on that day. On another day in May, across the ocean, an old woman sits by her window and weeps. She is Jette Koning, née \_\_\_\_\_, and she is 90 years old. She lives in a nursing home, and the staff is attentive, the sheets are clean, and the lawn is perfect. Flowering plants line the road, but there are no flowers planted by her window. On a certain day in October, 1940, Margaret \_\_\_\_\_, died in Ravensbrück, a concentration camp for women. On a certain day in May, 1914, she married Leendert \_\_\_\_\_. On another day in May, the Nazis invaded Amsterdam. The family scattered, and Jette never saw her parents again. On that day, she sits by her window and weeps. Every year, on that day, flowers grow where there were no flowers before. She sees a rosebush in full bloom: roses, fresh and fragrant; red, and full of thorns. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slight-fiction-about-my-family/519449/2 "2009-12-01T07:06:55Z")
Nametag, Thank you for sharing that about your family. You have labeled it as fiction. I (and I am sure others) would be very interested in hearing the non-fiction story of your family. If you have parts that you don’t actually know what happened, simply label them as speculation. I would like to hear Jette’s story. Kindest regards. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slight-fiction-about-my-family/519449/3 "2009-12-01T07:47:52Z")
I agree. Please consider this request. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-slight-fiction-about-my-family/519449/4 "2009-12-02T08:27:40Z")
Oma’s grave does not say _Widerstandskämpferin_ on it, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t one (captured too soon, I think). I don’t know for a fact that the camp she was in was Ravensbrück. Hamburg does not often see freezing rain in October. My mother is only 87, she lives at home with Dad, and that’s not her real name. Oma left Opa 4 years before the invasion, and they were married in July, not May. Mom did see her father again (indeed, he lived until 1970). And of course, there are no roses. I’ve tried to avoid giving too many details about my mom, but I think I’ve posted before that Opa was [Leendert Seegers](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.iisg.nl/bwsa/bios/seegers.html&ei=1xwWS7bxJ4fCsgOc8LD9Aw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dleendert%2Bseegers%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG) - that’s the Google translation of his bio. He also testified (in writing) in [Waldemar Hoven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldemar_Hoven)’s trial at Nuremberg. Perhaps not a statesman, but he did right by Holland.