Everything tagged "no"

Philip Harding Klimanek (1883-1965) was born in the Czech Republic, at the time his place of birth was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In ca. 1905 he started to work for Holland-China Trading Company, in Hong Kong.

In 1939, when Charles Gesner van der Voort arrived in Shanghai to work for the company, he was Charles' senior manager. In a letter home he wrote: "Played chess with Klimanek in the French Club" [translation Pieter Lommerse, the French Club was Le Cercle Sportif Français, a fashionable place to be in the 1930s and it still exists today]. <Read more ...>

Charles Gesner van der Voort (1916-1991) worked in Shanghai for Holland-China Trading Company from just before WWII. After the outbreak of war, two of his colleagues went to England, to join Dutch forces, they became "Engelandvaarders" from the East. One of them was Karel Baggerman (1918-1982). He joined Princess Irene Brigade, was trained as one of the first Dutch commandos and participated in two major military operations in The Netherlands: Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Walcheren. <Read more ...>