For this episode I interview Alida Zergerius, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. Alida is the oldest guest I’ve had so far on this show, and will be 104 on her upcoming birthday this year. She attributes her long life, clear memory, and perseverance through difficult periods of history to her strong faith. She shares incredible stories today - her family living through German-occupied Holland during WWII, surviving off 1 litre of watery soup for her whole family, while pregnant, trying to trade her linens with farmers to supplement their diets with tulip bulbs and sugar beets when they could be found (she gave birth to a 3 pound baby during this time, that thankfully survived). Her husband's family having converted from Judaism to Christianity - which ostracized them from their Jewish community and Synagogue, but also led to the removal of their family's name and address in the books in the Synagogue, ultimately sparing them when the Germans used these books to track down and capture all the Jewish people during their occupation. A similar "lucky" technicality of her husband having Jewish blood, spared him when he was picked up along with many other Dutch men to be sent to work in the dangerous German Factories. She shares the story of her husband's life-long aspirations to become a minister, and his path through the seminary to lead his own church service, and help make possible the family's immigration to Bridgetown Nova Scotia in the 1950s. And her stories of adjusting to life in Nova Scotia are hilarious and endearing, (and include a fish in a well). So many incredible stories that span the past hundred years. Alida's memory is a gift to us, and we are so lucky to get to hear these stories today! Thank you Alida!
This interview was originally recorded on Mar 2nd, 2022
