Henri Paul (Han) van der Palm
2023
This translation was produced automatically and has not been checked by a person.
My maternal grandfather. His life spans almost the entire twentieth century. Born on 29 November 1899 in Padang, Sumatra, he lived through the last growth spurt of the Dutch East Indies, and then the Japanese occupation.
As a boy he already travelled to the Netherlands several times. The photo below was taken on the s.s. “Kawi”, which sailed from Rotterdam to the Dutch East Indies on 28 September 1907.
He also received his education there, at the nautical school, for which he lodged with a family in Amsterdam. According to the stories he told my mother, he had a good time there.
Back in the Indies he met Fréderique Baptist. The photo below seems to capture a moment at a party where the two shared a pleasant moment of attention.
They married and had a girl, Maud.
Later a son, Richard, was added. Because of a transfer for his work as a captain with the Koninklijke Paketvaartmaatschappij (Royal Packet Navigation Company), the family moved to Singapore, where in 1931 Joan and Helen were born, a twin of which my mother is the elder.
He came out of the camp so weak that the family moved to the Netherlands for his treatment. There he was able to continue his profession: before the war he had been captain on various ships of the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij, and in the Netherlands he held the same position at the shipping company Van Ommeren. After his retirement he moved with my grandmother to the countryside of North Brabant, where he kept a serious vegetable garden.
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