The Verdoner Family - Gerrit and Hilde Verdoner, their children Yoka (b.1934), Francisca (b.1937) and Otto (b.1939) - were Jewish. In May 1940, when the Germans overran the Netherlands, Nazi decrees aimed specifically at Jews forced Gerrit out of his business and Yoka out of her second grade class. When the Nazis commandeered their home, the Verdoners went to live with Gerrit's parents in Amsterdam. Shortly thereafter, Gerrit and Hilde decided to place the children in hiding. Their foresight enabled the children to survive and save these family films. Hilde entered Westerbork on December 18, 1942, while Gerrit had a job with the Jewish Council. On September 29, 1943, after the collapse of the Jewish Council and Gerrit's narrow escape from the Germans, Gerrit found refuge in a hideout on a farm. On January 8, 1944 Hilde was sent to Auschwitz. After the war, Gerrit managed to reunite with his children and other surviving family members. The Verdoners emigrated to the US in 1946.
EXT, MS, Kurt Sluizer wearing a red plaid barn jacket and hat, walking up to pet a horse, pan to a large sheepdog named Toby running in the grass towards Esther Sluizer coming out of the house to their yard in Zena, NY, near the artist colony of Woodstock. Kurt is the brother of Hilde Verdoner-Sluizer and brother-in-law to the cameraman, Gerrit Verdoner. Kurt and Esther left Europe in 1936, thereby escaping the Holocaust. They lived first in Pueblo, Colorado, and then in Zena. Kurt was an oil painter, Esther a nurse and a weaver. Their home dates to colonial times, originally a roadside inn. They kept a horse and an English sheepdog named Toby. Esther smiles and plays with the dog. Cut to MCU of horse tethered to a tree in the yard. Kurt feeds the horse, and poses for the camera. CU, muzzle of horse as he feeds. CU, Kurt. MS, pan of white wood frame house and yard, a car is parked in the drive next to the house. VS, the sheep dog, Toby. Pan of hillside behind the home, Kurt getting water from a well for the horse. Dog relaxing on the grass. Cut to INT of home, sequence is underlit, difficult to make out anything but shadows and the light from the windows. Cut back to Kurt working outside and in the barn. Pan of landscape, house and barn. MS, Toby running toward camera. MS, Esther approaching camera, stops to play with dog.
Postwar: Barn in Woodstock, NY