Netherlands

Materials from Netherlands

Brave Deeds: How One Family Saved Many People from the Nazis

When Holland was under Nazi rule, the Dutch lived extremely harsh lives. Thousands were in hiding, especially Jews who had managed to escape transport to the death camps. Frans Braal and his wife Mies took in anyone in need of help — Jews, children whose parents could no longer look after them, resistance fighters, and people who were starving — providing them with a temporary home. Twice their place was searched by the Nazis, and on both occasions they managed to hide everyone in time. Told through the eyes of a child, this is the story of the Braals, two people who willingly put themselves in great danger in order to save the lives of those less fortunate. Throughout, sidebars provide further information about Dutch resistance workers and traitors, Dutch Jews, bombing missions, false identity cards, the war, and more.

Anne Frank: Life In Hiding

From July 1942 until August 1944, a young Jewish teenager living in Holland kept a diary. Published for all the world to read many years after Anne herself died in a concentration camp, it chronicled the two years she and her family spent hiding from the Nazis. Here is a sensitive and thoughtful biography about one of the best-known victims of the Holocaust.

Sky: A True Story of Resistance During World War II

A former member of the underground Dutch resistance force against the Nazis recounts her two years of covert meetings, perilous deliveries, near-confrontations, and life sentencing while she was still a teenager.

Hana In The Time Of The Tulips

Hana and her father used to love to walk in the garden and play their favorite game. But ever since tulip fever struck Holland, Hana’s father has been consumed by greed, and now he is too busy even to kiss her good night. It is up to Hana — with some help from a special family friend — to find a way to remind her father of what’s truly valuable. With stunning art reminiscent of Rembrandt, this tender tale illuminates the enduring love between father and child.

Heartsinger

Smee was born with a great gift: the ability to sing other people’s stories and heal their pain. But Smee also carries his own pain — his failure to reach his deaf mother and heal her grief at his father’s death. As he travels the country, he eases many people’s sorrows, but he cannot connect with anyone himself. Mitou also has a gift: spreading joy through a few notes from her accordion. When she hears about Smee–who was born on the same day she was–she knows that surely they belong together, each of them helping others through their music. They finally meet on the way to the king’s castle to sing for the beautiful Princess Esperanza. But will Mitou’s hopes be fulfilled–or is the pain of the past too great?

When the Soldiers Were Gone

After the German occupation of the Netherlands, Benjamin leaves the Christian family with whom he had been living and reunites with his real parents who returned from hiding.

Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story

By the time WWII ended in Europe, the Blumenthal family–Marion, her brother Albert, and their parents–had lived in a succession of refugee, transit, and prison camps for more than six years, not only surviving but staying together. This memoir is written in spare, powerful prose that vividly depicts the endless degradation and humiliation suffered by the Holocaust’s innocent victims, as well as the unending horror of life in the camps.