The Sitting Room (No. 8)

The Sitting Room (No. 8) on the first floor has a slightly different function than the sitting room, The Salon on the ground floor. This sitting room connected to the dressing room of Charlotte and Willem. Here, for example, she wrote her letters at her small desk and they talked about the day together. The room was probably decorated with trinkets obtained from friends and family, photos of children and grandchildren and the whole gave a more private impression. This is where they retreated from the hustle and bustle of the day. You could say that these were their private rooms. The stucco edge in the ceiling shows that the space was separated by the dressing room. A funny fact is that the chandelier originally hung in the living room and now does not hang in the middle of the current room. This room is also very suitable for a wedding ceremony.

The war

Huize Bergen was seized by the occupiers from the beginning of the war. German soldiers stayed in the villa for various periods. On 8 September, General-Colonel Kurt Student established the headquarters of the paratrooper army here, together with his officers, who also slept in the villa. The soldiers stayed in the service houses on the grounds.

On September 17, 1944, the day Operation Market Garden began, Student sat unsuspectingly at his desk in the living room of the villa, where piles of paperwork lay. Despite the bureaucratic bustle, he noticed that the sound of aircraft was getting louder. From the window he saw a huge fleet of Allied planes flying overhead. Parachutes were descending, and the din of bombing and German anti-aircraft fire filled the air. The German company on the ground fired handguns at the flying planes.

Student thought that a company of allied paratroopers had targeted his headquarters in Vught. He believed that the attack was specifically aimed at him, but nothing could be further from the truth. The parachutes he saw only carried supplies: canned goods, coffee, cigarettes and chocolate, intended for the allied troops, but accidentally landed at his headquarters.

This marked the beginning of the ultimately failed Operation Market Garden. Student realized that he was witnessing a crucial airborne operation. In the film A Bridge Too Far this event is depicted, with Student uttering the iconic words on the balcony of the villa: "How I would like to have such a force just one more time." After the liberation, Canadian, Scottish and British soldiers moved into the villa. Charlotte speaks of at least 300 guests.