Versions

My great-grandmother Ymkje passed away in 1989, after which Sikke moved into a retirement home. The children then cleared out the parental home, and my grandmother Ank took the diary with her. It is likely that Ymkje promised Ank the diary when she died. Ank eventually passed away in 2003 and passed the diary on to my aunt Ymka. It has always been well-preserved, and after Ymka’s death in 2015, it came into my possession through my uncle. Since then, I have been gradually working on transcribing and digitizing the diary.

On this website, you can find four versions of his diary: two in Dutch and two in English. The first version is a revised version of the diary. The original war diary did not contain a coherent narrative, as war diaries were often written as a activity. Moreover, the circumstances in which mobilized soldiers found themselves were not ideal, which made writing difficult. The purpose of the revised version is to better immerse the reader in the mobilization period and the experiences of my great-grandfather, Sikke Hiemstra. Therefore, some adjustments have been made to improve readability.

In the revised version, everything is placed in the present tense because the original diary used various tenses interchangeably. Futhermore, personal pronouns such as “I,” “we,” “he,” and “she” have been added to clarify the text. All time indications have been harmonized (instead of a mix of 12:30, half past 12, and 12½). Incorrect expressions, spelling, and grammar have been corrected, and some sentence parts have been moved for a more logical sentence structure. Sometimes words have been added to avoid errors and ambiguities. Sentences have also been combined for a clearer narrative. Nevertheless, efforts have been made to stay close to the original to retain as much authenticity as possible. The second version is identical to the diary, with no alterations. This version has copied and digitized the diary, word for word, and letter for letter.

Finally, the correct spelling of certain names is not always clear. Therefore, there may be spelling errors in the names of people, titles, and places.