Below is an English translation of Theo Allis’s 2001 forced labour compensation application.
Unfortunately he wasn’t able to receive any compensation as the companies he worked for had closed after WWII.
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THEODORUS ALLIS (reg no: 0155713), 7 Park Road, Raglan, New Zealand.
Personal Statement
- Sent to Germany in 1943.
- Returned to Holland in 1945.
- Forced labour at Smidt & Schout and at Kodak factories.
- “Slave labour” at Edelstahl Werke.
- Prisons and camps.
Health and after sustaining the war injury:
Physical Health: A lot of back pain, always suffering from it. Problems with my kidneys, for no apparent reason, severe fevers. Very often pain in the right shoulder, and now I am getting it in
the right hip as well.
Mental Health: I sleep badly. When you wake up, you start thinking back, and that is not good.
I always need to have the curtains and the windows open. I was shut in too much. And maybe it was the many bombardments, I don’t know. I was in a penal camp for months.
Causes of Health Issues: In Krefeld (Germany): Beaten black and blue on the head and back, kicked many times. Heavy labour, always not able to use the right arm, having to carry heavy loads. Never enough to eat and every evening locked up in the camp; you could see nothing
and you could not get out during the bombardments. I cannot stand at heights. We had to walk on thin chicken wire to lay camouflage nets in Anrath, an airfield near Krefeld. I never had any problems before I was a prisoner.
Are you currently able to carry out your normal work activities?
I could no longer properly do my work as a motor mechanic, always back and shoulder problems. I have been retired since 1985; I do not do much anymore. Bending is difficult, I cannot tolerate heights, and there is always pain – it does not go away. I am fortunate that my wife is a psychotherapist and helps me a great deal.
Explain why you think you need compensation:
I feel that I was imprisoned for no reason and that it is right to receive compensation from the Germans.
Personal account:
Sent to Germany in January 1943; I was not yet 18 years old. Put to work in Stuttgart / Hedelfingen at the Smidt & Schaut factory. I tried to flee back to Holland and was taken prisoner in Krefeld Penal camp next to a large factory, Edelstahl Werke, Krefeld.
Heavy labour, always undernourished. Beaten black and blue with a square iron rod; laid on a bench by two Germans, naked back and buttocks. For days we could not sit or lie down. I urinated a lot of blood; from that time on I have always had many problems with urination and kidneys. And all this happened because we tried to steal bread.
There is the possibility that I suffered damage to the pancreas. I am now on insulin twice a day; before that, for years, on tablets.
Heavy labour, building roads by the factory.
I worked with another prisoner who had lost all the fingers on one hand and could no longer use his right hand. I had badly injured my right shoulder and after four weeks I was back again. The cold was always terrible. Lice and a small thing (pebble) you could not lose, otherwise you would lose everything. [original Dutch: een klein ding (kiezel)- a common phrase among prisoners of war, referring to a tiny personal item kept as a token of identity or hope].
Anrath was a women’s prison. The greeting was a fist in your mouth. You lost a tooth; that had to be endured. Hotspot. Junk herring and potatoes. As much as we wanted. Then nothing to drink for 24 hours. That was bad for my kidneys. I lost a tooth again. I was put to work or given a small piece of camouflage netting to hang up. Then potato peels; we got nothing else.
After that I was transferred. Other camps. Dachau. I worked there in a prisoners’ camp and was transferred again, and everything was fine there. A room of my own. Letters.
Then a bombardment came; locked in an air-raid shelter, handcuffed with two others. The middle one had died. Packed together like herring in a barrel, no air.
After some time I ended up in the Stuttgart prison, where after a bombardment (accidentally) I made my escape. I had to be in front of the Gestapo. A Dutchman came (Feist was his name) and I was released the same day.
Ragged clothes, no shoes, I had nothing. I weighed 36-40 kg. I had holes in my heels so big I could stick my finger in them and then felt nothing.
From that time on, I worked for Smidt & Schacht in Neuenburg, was bombed out, and then for the Kodak factories in Ulm. One night bombed: 256 bombs on and by the factory. Our air-raid shelter was a tower and the swing was terrible; every time a bomb exploded.
I disappeared that night, tried to go to Switzerland. No luck, released by the Americans.
- Back to Amsterdam in June 1945.
- Army 1945–1947, Utrecht.
- Java, Sumatra 1947–1950.
- New Zealand, April 1950.
I do not have that anymore, but if I do not have the details, there are the camps; there are perhaps others who can tell the same story. Records are held by the Netherlands Army: No. 250325008, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Batavia and Padang.
Education
- School, 6 years, 7th class
- Apprenticeship school, Concordia Internos, Amsterdam
- As an electrician
- In the Dutch Army, automotive electrician
- In New Zealand, auto mechanic and commercial launch master
Employment history
- H. J. Esselman, Prinsengracht — 1942–1943 — Electrician
- Smith & Schacht, Hedelfingen, Stuttgart — 1943–1943 — Electrician
- Kodak Factory, Ulm — 1944–1945 — Electrician
- Netherlands Army, Utrecht — 1945–1947 — Soldier, Sergeant Instructor
- Netherlands Army, Batavia & Padang — 1947–1950 — Sergeant Instructor
New Zealand: various periods from 1954, worked mainly as a motor mechanic and launch master.
Why are you applying for compensation?
I feel that it is not very much, but why? I was a child, and all those years I have suffered from it.
My work was unstable; I worked for myself, and if I was not well, I lost a few days (weeks), and my income was never secure (only in the army). And I believe that if it had not been for the war, I would have had a better life.
Written statement from Hilda Allis (Theo’s wife):
I am a qualified physiotherapy registered with the N.Z. Health Dept, Registration No. 70-01012. I have been treating my husband Theo intermittently since about 1972, when he was seen at the Waikato Hospital by Dr J. Fisk, a specialist in spinal problems.
From time to time my husband has suffered from pain in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine. At the present time, and for the past 2–3 years, he has had pain and loss of function of the right shoulder. Also intermittent episodes of quite severe right-sided sciatica.