Radio Netherlands Worldwide

I Visited the Netherlands last month for several weeks. Amsterdam, Eindhoven and area. The people were helpful friendly, generous, smart, in the hurry, and most of all polite. Awsome! Were they tolerant? I thought so. My Dutch is not good so they switched to English or German. I speak the two better anyway, and I had no problem getting help with a patient mannerism. Years ago (up to 1955) I lived on the border (German farm community) and now my relatives tell me how my father helped the Jewish get across into Holland over the border in 1939 +- a year. He was Dutch, on the German side of the border, and people from a nearby city wanted to get out of German (they were Jewish) into Holland and my father did help them. He took a big risk but he helped.
Was he tolerant of the German way to take over the countries at that time? I was not very old but cleary understood from the adult language that he was not. His wife was German but she echoed his sentiment with fear of the German in her eyes. He did get in trouble with the German Gestappo, he was jailed but let go after a week. But that is another story.
My respect for the Dutch grew every day of the week when I was there. I admired the activity of the people, no overweight bodies, bikes everywhere; walking, noproblem; visiting, great hospitality. I wished I could take some of these traits back to the USA.