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This family portrait was taken in Zijtaart during 1944. We do not know just when, but it looks like it was before the Allied liberation of the southern Netherlands (September-October 1944), perhaps before D-Day (June 1944). It is the family of Jan Raaijmakers. This is a prominent Catholic family with many children. We know their names and their ages (because their dates of birth are specified). One boy, Marinus, was apparently adopted. The family is beautifully and formally dressed--perhaps for an anniversary or birthday celebration. The two older sons (Marinus
and Piet) wear long trouser suits with white shirts and neckties. The younger children--Dien, Riek, Jan and An all wear long stockings and, for the most part, black low-cut shoes. Notice the dressy white handkerchief in Jan's breast pocket. Notice also the rather briefly cut short trousers, necessitating thigh-length long stockings. We are told
by Dutch authorities that long stockings for older boys had mostly gone out of style in Dutch cities but persisted in rural areas and small towns, especially Catholic towns, which believed in a greater degree of modesty and formality. It looks as though the photo was taken just outside the Raaijmakers rather affluent home.
This family portrait was taken in Zijtaart. Zijtaart is a village in the Dutch province of Noord Brabant, not far from 's Hertogenbosch, the capital of the province. Noord Brabant and Limburg are the only provinces with a Catholic majority. When I saw the picture of the boys' school I suspected that it must have been a Catholic school, because the Protestant and public schools did not separate the genders. The girls went to a girls' school in the convent near the village. The rural location and Catholic orientation may explain why so many children in the village wore log stockings. North Brabant was located south of the great rivers (Rhine, Maas/Meuse, Waal and Lek) were liberated in the late summer/fall (September-October 1944). The same as neighboring Belgium (which also has a province called Brabant). Thus they did not suffer the famine of 1944-45 resulting from the Germans cutting off food supplies.
The family portrait was taken during 1944. We do not know just when, but it looks like it was before the Allied liberation of the southern Netherlands (September-October 1944), perhaps before D-Day (June 1944). There is no hint of the impending crisis. Tremendous forces were being organized to descend on the tiny Netherlands in just a few months.
It is the family of Jan Raaijmakers. This is a prominent Catholic family with many children. Theportrait looks as though the photo was taken just outside the Raaijmakers rather affluent home.
We know their names and their ages (because their dates of birth are specified). One boy, Marinus, was apparently adopted.
Back row standing (from left to right): Marinus, adopted, born 8 Jan.
1927 (17 years old); Maria, born 11 April 1925 (19 years old); Piet,
born 26 Jan. 1924 (20 years old); Ciska, born 5 June 1920 (24 years
old); Martina, born 26 June 1921 (27 years old); and Dien, born 23
August 1928 (16 years old).
Front row, seated (from left to right): Jan, born 30 May 1932 (12 years
old); the father of the family, Jan Raaijmakers; An, born 31 Jan. 1934
(10 years old); the mother, Berta Gevers (her maiden name, probably);
and Riek, born 8 July 1930 (14 years old).
The family is beautifully and formally dressed--perhaps for an anniversary or birthday celebration. The two older sons (Marinus and Piet) wear long trouser suits with white shirts and neckties. The younger children--Dien, Riek, Jan and An all wear long stockings and, for the most part, black low-cut shoes. Notice the dressy white handkerchief in Jan's breast pocket. Notice also the rather briefly cut short trousers, necessitating thigh-length long stockings. Note the hole in Jan's stockings. This is a hint of war-time austerity. Mother would have never allowed this in a formal portrait before the War. We are guessing that this was his best pair of stockings. A reader writes, " I'm a little bit dubious about the hole in Jan's stocking
although I see what you mean. If it is a small hole (on the left knee), it seems to have been darned or mended. You can't see skin through the hole. Perhaps even well-off Dutch families in this part of he Netherlands were frugal." HBC believes that given the family's affluence that frugality aside, this would not have ocuured if Wartime rationing had not been in effect.
We believe based on our limited Dutch sarchive that long stockings for older boys had mostly gone out of style in Dutch cities but persisted in rural areas and small towns. This seems to have been the the case especially Catholic towns, which believed in a greater degree of modesty and formality.
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