By Ann Alma
In the winter of 1944-45, when Holland was under Nazi rule,
life for the Dutch people was harsh, the future bleak. People were cold and
hungry, and hundreds of thousands, especially Jews who had managed to escape
transport to the death camps, were in hiding. Frans Braal, a resistance worker,
and his wife, Mies, were in their late twenties, with three young children,
when they first took in an injured Canadian airman whose plane had been bombed
near Rotterdam. The Braal’s provided the fugitives with a temporary home- they
fed them, clothed them and made false identity cards for them. They even dug an
underground hideout where those in hiding could flee during Nazi searches. Had
they been caught they would have been shot. Illustrated with black and white
photographs, many from the Braal family archives, this book is an extraordinary
and inspiring story of heroic resistance. Historical notes, an epilogue and
glossary are included.
