Arnhem, Velp, Oosterbeek

The daughter of a British father and a Dutch mother of noble birth, Audrey or Adriaantje, as she was called at home, spent her early years of life in Brussels and London. Her parents were strongly pro-German and met Adolf Hitler during the Reichsparteitag in 1935.

Audrey's parents divorced in 1939 and her mother Ella brought Audrey to the Netherlands, expecting the neutral Netherlands to stay out of the war. The family first lived in Arnhem in a single-family house at Sickeszlaan 7, but soon moved to a spacious upstairs flat at Jansbinnensingel 8a.

Audrey passionately took ballet lessons; her first public performance was at Musis Sacrum. This building was used during the German occupation as a Wehrmachtsheim, a building where soldiers of the German Wehrmacht could recreate.

Audrey's grandfather, Baron van Heemstra, was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and for some time rented rooms in Huis Zypendael, where Audrey could also often be found. After Audrey's uncle Otto was captured by the occupying forces and later executed, Ella repented in 1942 and gave up all her ties with the occupying forces. She moved in with her parents at Villa Beukenhof in Velp at 32 Rozendaalselaan. The villa was demolished and on this spot now stands a statue of Audrey, cast in bronze.

By 1944, almost everyone in Velp had been hit by the war. Many of Velp's villas had been confiscated by the occupying forces, Jewish residents had been taken away or had gone into hiding. Cycling through Velp, you can quickly get an idea of how exciting it must have been here with top German soldiers as neighbours and a huge resistance network at work. The resistance group was mostly controlled by doctors from Hospital Velp. Audrey helped Dr Visser ‘t Hooft in the hospital and at illegal musical performances, the so-called “black nights”.

In the late summer of 1944, prior to Operation Market Garden, Deelen airfield was successfully bombed by the Allies. The German occupation forces were heavily hit and the situation became dire. German soldiers wanted to escape the well-organised Allied forces and lack of leadership made the situation unpredictable.
Ella wanted to leave Velp because of the danger but was too late.

Arnhem was largely destroyed during the Battle of Arnhem. On Friday 22 September the order came that the inhabitants of Arnhem had to leave their devastated city. 95,000 people fled and Velp was flooded with refugees. The refugees found shelter in churches, the Open Air Museum, Rosendael Castle and in people's homes. In the basement of villa Beukenhorst, the Van Heemstra family provided food for a British soldier and hid dozens of displaced refugees.

During the 1944 Hunger Winter, there was a great scarcity of food and fuel. People suffered from hunger and there were many casualties here in Velp as well. The first food transports from Sweden ended the harsh conditions in March 1945. However, Velp was not liberated until 16 April. Audrey later recounted that she ate an entire can of condensed milk empty after the liberation and was terribly nauseated. She used this experience in her later work for Unicef, for which she was ambassador from 1989 until her death.

After the war, Audrey and her mother still moved to Amsterdam, where she resumed her dancing career and took her first steps towards the film industry. She played some small roles but a breakthrough did not happen. Together with her mother, Audrey decided to move to London where she continued working on her great passion ballet. She also worked as a model. In 1948, she was asked to play the lead role in the French play ‘Gigi’. After a successful run on Broadway, Audrey auditioned in Hollywood for ‘Roman Holiday’ starring Gregory Peck. With this film, Audrey won her first Oscar as best actress in 1953. She won no less than five Oscars in her career. From 1967, Audrey took a step back and played in only a few more feature films. She was appointed special ambassador for Unicef to which she devoted her heart and soul. Audrey died in 1993 in her hometown of Tolochenaz in Switzerland. Arnhem is visibly proud of its world-famous former resident, several statues of Audrey have been erected and a square has been named after her.


This Premium cycling route was compiled by our editor: Yvonne Vlaskamp.