The Days Adventure Podcast

Woven In Courage Eps 7 January 1945 Life & Death

In the brutal heart of the Dutch Hunger Winter, survival wasn’t just about food—it was about courage, resistance, and choosing to risk everything for others.
Welcome to Episode 8 of Woven in Courage—a gripping journey into January 1945, one of the coldest and deadliest months of World War II in the Netherlands. As the Nazi occupation tightened its grip and famine swept across the nation, young resistance couriers like Freddie Visser—a 22-year-old Dutchman and grandfather of host David Visser—faced an impossible choice: hide and survive… or fight and risk everything.
Through the chilling pages of Freddie’s wartime journal, this episode reveals the hidden operations of Group 2000and the Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers (LO)—the national resistance network dedicated to saving lives and sabotaging Nazi control. With coded Bible verses, secret messages, and close calls with betrayal and death, this was war in the shadows.
You’ll hear:
Harrowing details of the Hongerwinter (Hunger Winter), where families ate tulip bulbs and froze in silence.
The execution of known collaborators, including Berbus Oosterhof, and the chilling consequences that followed.
The role of ministers turned resistance fighters, like Ds. Lammers and Minister Hoekstra, who delivered salvation with scripture and, when necessary, a bullet.
A growing web of underground operations in Groningen, as Nazi forces closed in—and the Dutch spirit refused to break.
Emotional journal entries that blend fear, faith, and fierce defiance—showing a young man transforming into a freedom fighter.
As Freddie hides in a boat, spins wool to survive, and runs through snow-stained streets under fire, this episode lays bare the life-or-death stakes of Dutch resistance in WWII. It’s a deeply personal and historically rich narrative that reminds us: freedom was never free.
WWII Dutch resistance, Hunger Winter Netherlands, January 1945 famine, Dutch resistance fighters, Freddie Visser journal, WWII in Groningen, Group 2000 resistance, LO resistance Netherlands, Dutch collaborators execution, secret Bible codes WWII, Nazi occupation Netherlands, Green Police Netherlands WWII, Operation Bodenplatte impact, Dutch wartime survival stories
📲 Available on All Platforms:
🔊 Spotify | 🎧 Apple Podcasts | 📺 YouTube | 
👉 Follow the Woven in Courage series for more true stories of bravery, sacrifice, and the untold heroes of World War II.

Woven in Courage Eps 8 Stillness & Sabotage

Woven in Courage | Episode 8: Stillness and Sabotage
In the bitter cold of February and March 1945, the Netherlands was starving, hunted, and on edge. This episode takes you deep into the final months of Nazi occupation through the eyes and hidden journal of a young Dutch resistor in Groningen. As Allied bombs thunder overhead and Nazi collaborators lurk around every corner, he spins wool in silence—masking resistance work behind the hum of a spinning wheel.
From coded Bible verses to rabbit deliveries for those in hiding, Stillness and Sabotage unravels the quiet defiance that helped feed and shelter the Dutch resistance. You'll hear of daring ambushes near Dokkum, the tragic death of Jan Koene, and the secret messages woven into children’s books and devotional stories. Each journal entry is a breath held, each visitor a potential threat—or an ally.
✨ What you'll hear:
The brutal reality of the Dutch Hunger Winter
How Group 2000 may have used coded literature to coordinate sabotage
The emotional toll of living with collaborators and informants nearby
Air-raid alarms, resistance drop zones, and the ever-present need to “sit still”
Historical insights from WWII experts and Dutch resistance records
This isn't just history. It's survival. It's courage. It's the story of one family, one journal, and a fight for freedom stitched between lines of stillness.
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
🔗 Subscribe and follow for new episodes as we decode the hidden war behind closed doors.
#WWII #DutchResistance #HungerWinter #WovenInCourage #WWIIHistory #ResistanceStories #PodcastDocumentary #NetherlandsWWII #Group2000 #NaziOccupation #HiddenHistory #HolocaustResistance #ApplePodcasts #SpotifyPodcast #TrueStories #WW2Podcast #UndergroundMovement #CanadianLiberation #OperationVeritable #HistoricalPodcast #DutchHistory

Woven in Courage Eps: 9 The Aftermath of Silence

🎙️ Episode 9: The Aftermath of Silence — Woven in Courage
In this gripping episode of Woven in Courage, host David Visser takes listeners deep into one of the most harrowing and pivotal moments in Dutch history.
Following the unintended ambush of SS General Hanns Albin Rauter, the highest-ranking Nazi official in the Netherlands, the Dutch resistance—and the nation—braced for retaliation. What came next was one of the largest Nazi reprisals of World War II: the execution of 263 innocent Dutch hostages.
Through powerful storytelling, first-hand journal entries, and historical analysis, Episode 9 explores the days of fear, silence, and unimaginable courage that followed. As Allied forces closed in and the Battle of Groningen loomed, civilians faced starvation, violence, and the collapse of everything familiar. Meanwhile, resistance members—like David’s grandfather—continued to hide, to help, and to hope.
🔸 The secret meetings and coded messages🔸 The courtroom reckoning of Rauter and his chilling final defense🔸 The haunting beauty of flowers laid at forbidden graves🔸 And the quiet resilience that echoed louder than gunfire
This is not just a story of war—it’s a story of humanity under siege, of voices defying silence, and of what it means to resist in the face of darkness
Dutch Resistance, SS General Hanns Rauter, Battle of Groningen, WWII Netherlands, Holocaust history, World War 2 podcast, hunger winter, Nazi occupation, war crimes, resistance fighters, historical storytelling podcast.
 

Woven in Courage Episode 10 The Storm Over Groningen

April 1945 — the Netherlands is on the edge of liberation.In this gripping episode, we step into the final days before the Battle of Groningen, told through the haunting words of Freddie Visser, a young Dutch civilian whose journal reveals the fear, hunger, and flickering hope of a nation under siege.
As the Canadian 2nd Division advances north and the German SS turns on the people of Groningen in cruel desperation, the city becomes a living paradox — where freedom and destruction approach hand in hand. Based on firsthand accounts, Dutch wartime archives, and the Visser family’s original journals, The Storm Over Groningen captures the human cost of war with honesty and reverence.
This episode is a tribute to the Dutch resistance, the Canadian soldiers who fought for liberation, and the countless civilians who endured the final days of occupation. It’s a story not of politics, but of people — of courage that transcends ideology, and of a world relearning what freedom truly means.
If you value history, truth, and humanity over hate, this episode will stay with you long after the final words fade.
🎧 Follow “Woven in Courage” wherever you get your podcasts.
Woven in Courage, Battle of Groningen, Dutch Resistance, Canadian Liberation, WWII Netherlands, April 1945, Canadian Army History, Liberation of the Netherlands, World War II Stories, Anti-Fascism, Courage and Freedom, Dutch History Podcast, WW2 Documentary Podcast, Canada WWII Veterans, Groningen Liberation, Occupied Netherlands, Family War Journals, Visser Family History.

Woven in Courage Ep 11 The Battle of Groningen

Episode 11 – “The Battle for Groningen”
Podcast: Woven in Courage – by David Visser
In April 1945, the city of Groningen became the stage for one of the fiercest urban battles fought on Dutch soil during World War II.Told through the eyes of civilians, resistance members, and the journal of Freddie Visser, Woven in Courage brings listeners into the heart of the chaos—where every doorway hid danger, and every heartbeat carried both fear and hope.
Experience the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division’s push through narrow streets and burning homes.Hear how ordinary citizens risked everything to help their liberators.And feel what it meant to stand inside a city caught between destruction and freedom.
This is not a story of armies alone—it’s a story of humanity.Of courage when the world collapses, of quiet acts of mercy amid the smoke, and of the true cost of liberation.A sound-rich journey that reminds us freedom is never free—and that sometimes, bravery is as simple as staying alive.
🎙️ Written and narrated by David Visser. Based on the wartime journals of Freddie Visser and eyewitness accounts from the Battle of Groningen.
Keywords World War II Netherlands, Battle of Groningen, Canadian Army Liberation, Dutch Resistance, Civilians in War, Urban Combat WWII, Liberation of the Netherlands, Courage and Humanity, True Stories of WWII, Podcast on History, Family War Stories, Resistance Movements, Netherlands History, Cost of Freedom.
Hashtags:#WovenInCourage #BattleOfGroningen #WWII #DutchResistance #CanadianLiberation #NetherlandsHistory #TrueWarStories #HumanityInWar #CourageUnderFire #HistoryPodcast #WorldWarTwo #LiberationOfTheNetherlands #StoriesThatMatter #PodcastOfCourage #canada #Canadianstories 

Woven in Courage Ep 12 - Reckoning

Episode 12: Reckoning — The Day After Liberation
Woven in Courage: The Fedde Visser Resistance Story
In Episode 12, “Reckoning,” the gunfire over Groningen has finally gone silent. Yet as Fedde Visser writes in his wartime journal, freedom doesn’t arrive with celebration—it arrives with questions. The city wakes to a changed world: smoke rising from ruined streets, the echo of collapsed buildings, and the uneasy calm of a people learning how to feel safe again.
Drawing from eyewitness accounts, historical archives, and the preserved writings of Dutch resistance fighter Fedde Visser of Group 2000, this episode guides you through the emotional aftermath of the Battle for Groningen. The underground resistance steps into daylight to help restore order. Canadian liberators patrol the streets with steady discipline. Churches reopen for the first time in years, struggling to redefine forgiveness while the first arrests of collaborators begin.
Walk with the Visser family as Fedde’s older brother returns home from a German labor camp; witness the haunting ruins of the Scholtenhuis—the former SD headquarters—and hear how Dutch Reformed and Christian Reformed communities grappled with anger, relief, and the moral weight of justice in a newly liberated nation.
This is the story of what freedom really felt like: its silence, its anger, and its fragile, aching hope.
If you’re new to Woven in Courage, start with Episode 1 to follow the Visser family’s remarkable true story from occupation to resistance to liberation.Please follow, rate, and share the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, or wherever you listen—your support helps keep these stories of courage, memory, and humanity alive.
#WWII #DutchResistance #BattleForGroningen #CanadianLiberation #WWIIHistoryPodcast #HistoricalStorytelling #WovenInCourage #GroningenLiberation #ResistanceHistory #DutchHistoryPodcast #thedaysadventure 

Justice, Darkness, and the Light That Followed

Episode 13 of Woven in Courage brings listeners into one of the most haunting and transformative chapters of Fedde Visser's WWII story — the post-liberation trials of the men who brought terror to Groningen from inside the Scholtenhuis, the infamous SD and Gestapo headquarters.
In this powerful installment, we confront the atrocities committed by Karl Peter Berg, Willem Feldmann, Klaas Carel Faber, Pieter Johan Faber, Koop Koning, and Robert Wilhelm Lehnhoff, the executioner known across the north as de Beul van het Scholtenhuis. Through survivor testimonies, Dutch tribunal records, and the wartime journals of Fedde Visser of Group 2000, this episode exposes the brutal machinery of fear that operated behind the doors of that building — and the extraordinary courage of those who stepped forward to testify.
But standing in the shadow of horror is something unexpected:
a love story.
Amid a nation struggling to rebuild — with farms ruined, industry shattered, and the resistance searching for its place in peacetime — two young Dutch survivors met at a community dance where borrowed gramophones played across rooms that had once held only silence. From that fragile moment grew a partnership that carried them far beyond the war-torn streets of Groningen.
While the Netherlands wrestled with justice and recovery, their love deepened, leading to marriage in 1947 and the birth of their first child in 1952. And as the country strained under the weight of postwar reconstruction, they made a life-altering decision: to leave the memories and scars of the Scholtenhuis behind and seek a new beginning in Canada, stepping into a land of wide skies, steady work, and hope.
This episode holds both sides of that truth —
the darkness of what was done, and the light of what came after.
For listeners drawn to powerful human stories, historical justice, WWII true history, Dutch resistance accounts, or narratives of resilience and rebirth, Episode 13 stands at the emotional centre of the entire series.
If you’re new to Woven in Courage, begin with Episode 1 to follow Fedde's journey from occupation to liberation. Please follow, rate, and share the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, or wherever you listen. Your support helps keep these stories of memory and courage alive.
#WWII #DutchResistance #Scholtenhuis #GroningenHistory #WarCrimesTrials #CanadianImmigration #LoveStory #TrueHistoryPodcast #WovenInCourage #HistoricalStorytelling #WWIIPodcast #NetherlandsHistory

Woven in Courage Ep 14 Past, Present and the Future

In the final episode of Woven in Courage, the story comes full circle.
What began as the translation of a Dutch resistance fighter’s wartime journal becomes something deeper: a reflection on memory, trauma, faith, immigration, and the lessons that echo across generations. Raised by his grandparents—survivors of Nazi occupation, resistance, and postwar displacement—David reflects on how the past quietly shaped his childhood, his values, and his understanding of the world.
This episode explores the long aftermath of war: the unseen wounds carried by survivors, the challenges Dutch immigrants faced arriving in Canada, the pressures that pushed families inward, and how faith and community offered both shelter and silence. Drawing on historical research, sociological work such as The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario, and lived family experience, the episode examines how fear, propaganda, and authoritarian thinking take root—and how empathy, curiosity, and moral clarity resist them.
 
Past, Present, and the Future is also a story of gratitude: for the courage of ordinary people, for the Canadians who helped liberate the Netherlands, and for the country that gave one family a chance to begin again. It is a reminder that kindness is not weakness, empathy is strength, and remembering matters—especially now.
This is not just a story about the past.
It is about how we carry it forward.
If you’re new to the series, we encourage you to start with Episode 1 and follow the full journey of the Visser family through occupation, resistance, liberation, and legacy.