When the German army occupied Holland, Annie de Leeuw was
eight years old. Because she was Jewish, the occupation put her in
grave danger-she knew that to stay alive she would have to hide.
Fortunately, a Gentile family, the Oostervelds, offered to help.
For two years they hid Annie and her sister, Sini, in the cramped
upstairs room of their farmhouse.
Most people thought the war wouldn''t last long. But for Annie and
Sini -- separated from their family and confined to one tiny room
-- the war seemed to go on forever.
In the part of the marketplace where flowers had been sold twice
a week-tulips in the spring, roses in the summer-stood German tanks
and German soldiers. Annie de Leeuw was eight years old in 1940
when the Germans attacked Holland and marched into the town of
Winterswijk where she lived. Annie was ten when, because she was
Jewish and in great danger of being cap-tured by the invaders, she
and her sister Sini had to leave their father, mother, and older
sister Rachel to go into hiding in the upstairs room of a remote
farmhouse.
Johanna de Leeuw Reiss has written a remarkably fresh and moving
account of her own experiences as a young girl during World War II.
Like many adults she was innocent of the German plans for Jews, and
she might have gone to a labor camp as scores of families did. "It
won''t be for long and the Germans have told us we''ll be treated
well," those families said. "What can happen?" They did not know,
and they could not imagine.... But millions of Jews found
out.
Mrs. Reiss''s picture of the Oosterveld family with whom she
lived, and of Annie and Sini, reflects a deep spirit of optimism, a
faith in the ingenuity, backbone, and even humor with which
ordinary human beings meet extraordinary challenges. In the steady,
matter-of-fact, day-by-day courage they all showed lies a profound
strength that transcends the horrors of the long and frightening
war. Here is a memorable book, one that will be read and reread for
years to come.