Listening to the Radio during the German Occupation

Edited Transcript of Margaret Le Cras interviewing Mrs Evelyn Bryce

I………. Did you listen to the wireless at that time?
Evelyn Bryce yes, we were still allowed listen to the wireless at that time
I………. Because I was told that they used to play the Dutch Anthem, in the evening I think. Before some certain programme they played all the different National Anthems.
Evelyn Bryce First thing in the morning. We used to listen to the news and all the National Anthems were played before the news, every one of the Occupied countries.
I………. Yesterday was the first time I’d ever heard that. I’ve never heard anybody else say that.
Evelyn Bryce They’d have the “V” sign, you know. You know what that’s like [knocks on table] We knew that would be coming, we put the news on before we went to work.
I………. So it was all the Occupied countries, their National Anthems were played.
Evelyn Bryce That’s right. They were all played before that. My father kept his radio
I………. Where did he hide it?
Evelyn Bryce There was a stable, there was a cider press in it, a big cider press, and he would put it there, after the Germans had collected all the radios, you see, so he hid it there, in the corner, and we had to climb over all the obstacles to get there to listen to the news. It was risky of course, and one day somebody said the Germans were going round the houses looking for radios. So my father put his in the meadow, there were a lot of weeds by the stream, so he put it there. They never came round, so back went the radio, and when the Liberation came of course we already knew the day before, that we were going to be liberated, and one of my friends, I don’t know if this man spoke English, but she said to him, this German, the war’s over. He didn’t seem to realise. I went to work that morning, and of course my boss said “Go back, you’re free, it’s a holiday for two days, so I went back home, cycled with these tyres, - in the winter I’ve had chilblains on my [rear] — but anyway I went home and my father decided that he would get the radio out and he had a union jack and he put it on the table in the living room and the radio on it and the people from the neighbourhood heard about it and they came round, listening to Churchill, so, yes, that was really lovely.
I………. And did you go to town the next day?
Evelyn Bryce Well we went to town, my father still had the coal lorry, many times in the morning we had to get up to push the lorry because it wouldn’t start, but it was worth it in the end, he cleaned it, he scrubbed it down, and we went to Town that night, a lot of us on the lorry, I don’t know how we got back, I suppose we might have stayed there, because we

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.