Sunday Evening Lecture – Paul Janssens on “A Child’s Witness to War”

Paul Janssens was born in the Netherlands in 1929. He was the fourth in a family of fourteen children. He lived in a rural area near the village of Boxtel. He was 10 years old when the Germans invaded his country on May 10, 1940. His country remained occupied until May 5, 1945, when the German Army withdrew in defeat. During that time Paul’s father was closely associated with the resistance to the occupation, even some of the children were involved in minor assignments, including smuggling. After finishing mandatory army/officers service and textile schooling, he immigrated to New Zealand in 1952, returning to Holland in 1954. He moved to the United States in June 1954 and became a U.S. citizen on December 12, 1961. Paul was the co-owner of Quimper Faience, the French pottery firm, which he ran from the Borough and in Quimper for many years.