Edith's Story
Description
The classic story of 'the Anne Frank who lived,' Edith's Story is based on the diaries of a Dutch young girl who survived World War II hiding in plain sight. When Hitler invaded Holland in 1939, Edith van Hessen was a popular Dutch high school student. She also happened to be Jewish. In the same month that Anne Frank's family went into hiding, Edith was sent to live with a courageous Protestant family, took a new name, and survived by posing as a gentile. Ultimately one-third of the hidden Dutch Jews were discovered and murdered; most of Edith's family perished in the camps. Velmans's memoir is based on her teenage diaries, wartime letters, and reflections as an adult survivor. In recounting wartime events and the details of her feelings as the war runs its course, Edith's Story ultimately affirms life, love, and extraordinary courage. "I never realized that there could be such suffering in the world, and that anyone could live through it." -- from the diary, July 1, 1945. "The most vivid evocation of the experience of Nazi Occupation that I have ever read." - The Independent (London). "It holds you with the same intensity as the Diary of Anne Frank and leaves you heart-broken, illuminated, and amazed at the capacity for courage." - The Guardian (London) "Velmans' candid portrayal of herself as a feisty, loving, sometimes self-absorbed teenager is thoroughly engaging and her story throws new light on the plight of Jews who survived the war hidden in plain sight." -- Publishers Weekly "A significant Holocaust memoir... A valuable opportunity to see the situation just outside Anne's attic." -- Kirkus Reviews "It's impossible to get through this inspiring and great-hearted volume dry-eyed, or without admiration for people who so bravely persevere through unimaginable hardship and privation." -- The Washington Post "One of the best and most moving memoirs I have ever read." -- Ruth Rendell, The Sunday Times
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Person
Edith Velmans was born in 1925 in The Hague, the Netherlands. When she was thirteen she began keeping a diary, in which she recorded what was happening both before and after the Germans invaded. In 1942 she was sent into hiding, and lived with a brave Gentile family until the end of the war. When she came out of hiding she found out that most of her family had perished. After the war she became a psychologist specializing in gerontology, eventually settling in the United States, where she began transcribing the diaries and letters that became Edith's Story. Her memoir has been translated and published in a dozen countries, including Germany, Italy and Japan. In 1996 she was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Her memoir has been translated and published in over a dozen countries. In 1999 it was the recipient of the "Best Biography" Talkies Award as well as the Jewish Quarterly's Wingate Award for Non-Fiction.
