Study title

Anton came from a socialist family, which influenced his views on matters such as Europe and the upliftment of man. He had a passion for reading and ended up at HBS in Schiedam. He also played sports fanatically and was actually still searching for the meaning of my life. During his time at HBS, he chose to study Tropical Forestry in Wageningen, with the ideal of improving the world. Wageningen offered a general propaedeutic year, which offered flexibility. Around the same time, Anton also started the youth exchange in Schiedam. Although not part of the hippie movement, he was influenced by the spirit of the times that sought change and a better world. The idea was that if people learned about other cultures, there would be no war. He had acquired this feeling strongly from home, both from my grandparents and parents. That's why Anton was open to the idea of going to another country and living with a local family. His first experience with this was near Esslingen, where he stayed with a family and got to know their way of life. Anton's father played a role in the youth exchange. He was chairman of the royal choir Orpeus and was on the executive board of the Schiedam Community, an organization that was then active with, among other things, the youth exchange. At the time, Esslingen had exchanges with Vienne in France, Udine in Italy, and possibly already with Neath in Wales. Schiedam was added to this and Anton was part of the first group to go to Esslingen as part of this exchange. He has often participated in exchanges. Getting to know different cultures through youth exchanges had a big impact on him. Each place, such as Esslingen, Neath in Wales, Udine in Italy, and Norrköping in Sweden, offered unique experiences and diverse ways of thinking, unlike Schiedam. These experiences strengthened his conviction of the importance of a united Europe and his opposition to nationalistic ideas. In the 1960s, after the war, the Germans viewed exchanges differently...