The test of the ration card system...

July 1, 1942

Today would be the first test of our new system. Fred would come into the shop as he always would and hide the ration cards beneath the shirt so the manila envelope would not be visible. Fred was supposed to arrive here at the Beje at 5:30 this evening. Unexpectedly five minutes before Fred's scheduled arrival a policeman walks in. I had recognized him from before. His name was Rolf van Vliet. He was definately not one of my "regular" people that would come in and have coffee in the morning. Rolf had brought in a watch. He walked over to Father and handed him the watch. Father removed the back of the watch and examined it.
The only problem now was that there was no way for Fred Koornstra to be alarmed that he should not come in until after the policeman was long gone. Then at 5:30 in comes Fred with his chest a foot thicker at the least. Fred stayed calm and nodded to the policeman. Oddly enough Fred goes to the rear of the shop and shuts alley door behind him. Then he enters once more after he had placed the manila envelope with all the ration cards inside a secret bin. Corrie and I were only concerned about the fact that the policeman might have heard the secret lid open.
Since we had the ration cards now we were able to give the people the ration cards and find safe places to stay for the time being.