This journal was written by my grandmother, Marie Beernink, describing the family's trip to visit relatives in Germany in 1934. This was their first time taking their car into a foreign country, where, it seems, gas stations are not yet on every corner. They were travelling with three small children (Hein, Fer and Coos) ages 5-7. At this time Hitler was chancellor of Germany, but not yet Führer, and you can feel the tension as they pass the border-guard who gives them a "careless Heil Hitler".

They enter Germany near Arnhem, go down the Rhine to Dusseldorf, then head east toward Leipzig, where Opa's Aunt Fenna Dina Giesen (Tante Dina) lives with her family. On the way back home they pass through Bentheim, where Opa's family originated.

I do not speak Dutch, so this has been translated, rather laboriously, by typing in the original, pasting it into a web-based translation service, and then cleaning up the translation by hand. The English version is still not very good, but is at least mostly comprehensible. I put the Dutch and English side by side for those who want to compare.

This is the first of six or eight journals. Perhaps by the time I am done, I will know a few more Dutch words than I know now.

And if you want to skip the words and go straight to the pictures, you can view the album instead.