Tlie Fife
The Twentieth Century:
Going', gfoingf... almost go::
Tekst: Juul Lentze
The fift ies didn 't start off very auspiciously for the United
States in particular, nor for members of the United Nations
in general. After World War II Korea had heen divided into
North-K orea (occupied hp Russia) and South-Korea (occupied hp the U.S).
foon communist North-
Korea invaded
South-Korea and the
South-Koreans, with the help
of American and UN forces,
were fighting to free South-
Korea. China came into the
picture also. The war lasted
three years and the number
of casualties on both sides ran
into the millions. An armistice
was signed and today, almost
fifty years later, North- and
South-Korea remain divided.
Changes ancl choices
With the fifties the world had
entered a decade when the
great changes that started in
the forties made themselves
felt in many ways. Countries
colonized for centuries by
European nations, had been
fighting for their independence
and this had resulted in the
birth of a spade of 'new'
countries finally free from
foreign rule.
One of those was Indonesia,
the former Dutch East-Indies.
For us, who were born and
raised in the former colonies,
lightning struck again. After a
war, an occupation - during
which many Dutch and
people of Dutch descent were
interned - and after a
revolution - during which
almost all of us regardless,
disappeared into camps for
our 'protection' - we now
were given a choice.
We could become Indonesian
citizens or we could go to the
Netherlands. Most of us
chose The Netherlands and
by 1958 there were not many
Dutch left in Indonesia.
We were only one group of
people, but what was
happening to us was also
happening to many others
around the world. However,
for us there was light at die
end of the tunnel, because
before long many of us arri
ved in New York where for
the first time we saw Miss
Liberty, the Lady who lifts
her lamp beside America's
golden door, welcoming the
homeless, tempest-tossed
masses to her shore via an
immigration act.
One of the first things we had
to do when we arrived in the
States, was to get a shot against
polio. We were told that polio
struck when the weather was
warm and in 1952 alone 58
thousand cases of die disease
were recorded.
Years before that president
Roosevelt had had polio, alt
hough people were mostly
unaware of it. His legs were
paralyzed and he had to use a
wheelchair. The vaccine
developed by dr. Jonas Salk
and approved by the federal
government in 1955, came too
late for Roosevelt, but just in
time for us. It was so wonderful
not to have to worry about
coming down with polio, a
horrible disease that could
totally disfigure and paralyze a
person. Rest assured we got
our shots!
While still in Holland in the
mid-fifties - when, among
others, singers like Patti Page,
Jo Stafford, Tony Bennett,
Theresa Brewer and Eddie
Fisher were extremely popular
singing 'nice' songs - a young
upstart came onto the scene and
had the music world on its ear...
19
44 ste jaargang - nummer 2 - augustus 1999
Vaccine
