(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Saskia Aussen)
IN MEMORIAM
...Hans Aussen...
(1926 - 2019)...
(© Photo: Saskia Aussen) |
 Softball-veteran and longtime DVH-volunteer Hans Aussen passed away
Nederlands
 AMSTELVEEN (Neth.) -
Hans Aussen, who played softball at a high age and was associated to DVH for a long time, passed away unexpectedly early morning on Saturday (November 23) at age 93 after a brief illness.
For many years, Mr. Aussen gave lectures about his experiences during World War II.
The memorial service will be held on Thursday, November 28 at 1:00 PM at Crematorium Westgaarde at the Ookmeerweg 273 in Amsterdam.
Hans Jo Aussen was born in Amsterdam on April 9, 1926.
Hans Aussen played softball for many years for Amstelveen-based baseball- and softball-club DVH.
On September 10, 1996, Hans played his final game, retiring at the age of 70 years old!
At that moment, he was the oldest active player in men softball.
And the record might still stand.
From 1975 through 1996, Hans Aussen did a lot of activities for DVH.
Mr. Aussen also was a passionate runner, which he also did until a high age.
He participated in many running events.
For most in the Dutch baseball- and softball-family, Hans Aussen was more known as the husband of Fiet Aussen and the father of softball-playing daughters Saskia and Anja and the grandfather of several baseball- and softball-playing grandchildren.
Saskia played in the Dutch big league for SHELL and HHC in the seventies and eighties.
In 1979, she played for the Netherlands National Softball Team which then won the title at the very-first official European Championship in Italy.
Son-in-law Erik Boland (married to Anja) played several years in the Netherlands Men Softball Team with whom he participated in the World Championship in the Philippines in 1992, amongst other tournaments.
This season, Boland was the successful Head Coach of the women softball-team of Amsterdam Pirates, which promoted to the Golden League.
Granddaughter Ailleen Boland was one of the players in the Pirates-team.
Earlier, granddaughters Gallieth Haaker and Shanna Haaker also played in the Pirates-softballteam.
Grandson Jesse van Koeverden played baseball for both Amsterdam Pirates Rookies and DVH, but had to retire due to injuries.
Granddaughters Gallieth Haaker and Lindy Boland participated with the Netherlands Women's Baseball Team in the World Championship in Canada in 2012.
Whenever possible, Hans and Fiet went to a playing site to watch the sportive activities of their children and grandchildren.
The always friendly and smiley Hans Aussen was interested in other people and listened to them.
Fiet Aussen was a longtime administrator in the Amsterdam Region, as well as being an Official Scorer in both baseball and softball.
It frequently happened that when Fiet arrived at a site as Official Scorer, Hans (who almost always accompanied her) left to do some running in the neighborhood or at the location itself.
He then returned during the game.
Another big hobby of him was repairing gloves and other equipment, which he mostly did during a game while Fiet was scoring.
At DVH, he was a member of the Equipment Committee.
...Hans Aussen during one of his lectures...
(© Photo: Saskia Aussen) |
For many young students throughout the country, Hans Aussen was known for something very different.
Since 2000, Hans Aussen was a volunteer guest teacher in classes at elementary and secondary schools.
As a guest lecturer, he gave lectures about his experiences during World War II.
Despite the serious subject, the lectures were much-liked and respected by the young students, who showed to be interesting listeners.
Hans Aussen was associated to the 'Landelijk Steunpunt Gastsprekers WO II-Heden' (National Support Point Guest Lecturers WW II-Current) and gave some 40 lectures annually.
Also this year, he had given several lectures.
When Hans Aussen was 14 years old in 1940, the Netherlands got occupied during World War II.
In his lectures, Aussen spoke about his experiences as a young child in Amsterdam during these difficult years.
During the War, Hans Aussen lost many of his Jewish famly-members.
In July 1942, Hans Aussen and his family had to go into hiding.
As Hans Aussen was very approachable for the youngsters whom he lectured, many special talks with them followed after a lecture had ended.
Through the years, he told thousands of students about the impact of a war on the live of a human being.
With that, he contributed to the education of future generations to build a peaceful and respectful society.
With his research, Hans Aussen also helped creating a Children's Museum inside the Verzetsmuseum (Resistance Museum) in Amsterdam, which was named Verzetsmuseum Junior and was opened in 2013.
...Hans Aussen with Amstelveen...
...Mayor Mirjam van 't Veld after...
...receiving a Royal...
...Decoration in 2015...
(© Photo: Saskia Aussen) |
Hans Aussen came from a sportive family.
On May 25, 1908, his father Louis Aussen was one of the seven founders of Amsterdam-based soccer-club Wilhelmina Vooruit (abbreviated as WV).
Aussen Senior was the club's first Chairman and led WV through 1935.
In 1933, the club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a big festivity, highlighted by the appearance and performance of Fien(tje) de la Mar, who was a famous and popular Dutch stage actress and cabaret performer.
A year later, in 1934, Fien de la Mar made her movie-debut in 'De Jantjes', which was the second sound-movie in Dutch movie-history.
In 1956, WV merged with soccer-club HEDW to become WH-HEDW.
HEDW was created itself in 1931 after a merger between the clubs Hortus (founded in 1912) and EDW (founded in 1913).
In 1963, the baseball-section of WV-HEDW merged with the baseball-section of (soccer-club) VVA to become HVA.
This club merged in 1967 with the baseball-section of Rap, which had been re-founded in 1959 after a first baseball-period in 1938-1948.
In 1974, the baseball- and softball-sections of Rap separated from the parent soccer-club to become an independent club, named Amsterdam Pirates.
This year, Amsterdam Pirates celebrated its 60th anniversary.
When he retired as active softball player in 1996, Hans Aussen receive the Honoray Medal of the Royal Netherlands Baseball & Softball Association (KNBSB).
In 2013, Hans Aussen was awarded the Bronzen Token from the Municipality of Amstelveen by Mayor Jan van Zanen for his longtime voluntarily contributions as guest-lecturer on schools.
On April 24, 2015, then Amstelveen-Mayor Mirjam van 't Veld handed Hans Aussen a Royal Decoration, naming him Member in the Order of Orange-Nassau.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to Hans' wife Fiet, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other family and wishes them a lot of strength with this loss.
(November 25)
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