AWCA History
The 1920s and Our Founders

In 1927, two young American women in Amsterdam, Helena Goldschmidt and Carolyn Korthals Altes, decided to form a club with their friends Florence Hartog, Mama Klatte, and Muriel Hamers. They invited Edna Perk, Dorothy Beenhouwer, Mrs. Hulswit, and Mrs. Barjones (the Portuguese consul's wife) to join them. They named it the "Current Events Club," set an initiation fee of 85 cents and annual dues of Dfl. 2.50, creating an American home away from home. Florence Hartog was the first president. During their informal biweekly teas at members' homes, they discussed current events, exchanged English books and magazines, and gave ten-minute talks on art, travel, and music. The club flourished and expanded.

In 1928, Mrs. Charles Hoover, wife of the first U.S. Consul General, became the first honorary president. That year, a constitution and by-laws were drafted. By the mid-1930s, the Current Events Club consisted of capable and talented women who focused on balanced social, intellectual, and cultural pursuits. Though the concept of culture shock wasn't widely recognized then, it was undoubtedly a reality for early American settlers.

In 1937, the club welcomed its first member whose husband was also American, giving her fewer ties to Holland. The club was temporarily augmented by American guests staying at the Amstel Hotel and several American refugee women waiting for papers.

The War Years: 1940s

1940 marked the beginning of a dark period for all of Western Europe. Since the invasion of Poland in 1939, American wives faced a dilemma: stay abroad where war was imminent or return to the United States, leaving their Dutch husbands behind.

Those who stayed couldn't have foreseen the challenges ahead. The Club's first concern during the occupation was for its most vulnerable members, particularly the Jewish ones. Husbands were imprisoned, sons sent to work in Germany, and children undertook dangerous missions to deliver underground newspapers. Those not detained lived in constant fear, with every home having a hiding place for its men and open windows and skylights for fugitives to escape.

Hardships and uncertainty affected everyone. Scarcity of food, fuel, electricity, and transportation became severe; water was rationed to two buckets a day. People resorted to eating flower bulbs and chopping down trees for fuel at night. Going to bed at sundown was common to stay warm, and some pedaled stationary bicycles indoors to generate light. Women repurposed old tablecloths for diapers and nightgowns, and patients were taken to hospitals by sled due to the lack of taxis.

This account of the war years' anxieties and hardships comes from our early members. What they don't often mention is their courage and endurance, which kept them going. During these years, about twenty members continued to attend meetings, maintaining the Club as a vital lifeline despite the difficulties and risks.

In 1943 an American B-17 with a crew of ten crashed near the village of Opijnen. The eight who died were buried by the villagers, who have been taking care of their graves ever since. AWCA members Virginia Delgado and Betty van Maanen were instrumental in organizing annual memorial services for the eight American airmen. When liberation finally came, it was bittersweet for those whose families who would never return.

By 1945 the Netherlands was devastated, and even five years after the end of the war, the development of Western Europe was a quarter of a century behind that of the United States. In the difficult postwar period, Club members continued to hold meetings now at the home of the Consul General.