Edith's Story The true story of how one young girl escaped the Holocaust
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Biographical note
Edith Velmans took a degree in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam after the war and was Director of the War Orphanage there until 1948. In 1951 she left The Netherlands with her husband Loet Velmans and two baby daughters. She studied with Piaget in Switzerland and received a Masters of Education from Columbia University in New York City in 1977. Mrs. Velmans was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 1996. She died aged 97 in 2023.THE EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORY OF HOW ONE YOUNG GIRL ESCAPED THE HOLOCAUST
'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' GUARDIAN
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'I never realised that there could be such suffering in the world, and that anyone could live through it' - from Edith's diary, 1st July 1945
After Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, fourteen-year-old Edith was still filling her diary with carefree stories of school, parties and boys. But her entries soon record a darkening world. By 1942, as the Nazis escalated their persecution of the Jewish population, Edith began a bitter struggle to survive.
Hidden in plain sight but a courageous Christian family, with a German officer billeted in the next room, Edith faced the horrors of war under constant threat of discovery and betrayal. Weaving together Edith's diaries with letters smuggled between family members and her own memories, this extraordinary memoir of 'the Anne Frank who lived' is a profoundly moving account of grief, loss, courage - and one girl's remarkable belief in humanity in the face of despair.
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ESTHER FREUD
'One of the best and most moving memoirs I have ever read' RUTH RENDELL
'It's impossible to get through this inspiring and great-hearted volume dry-eyed' WASHINGTON POST
'Both memoir and meditation, it is moving and wise . . . neither sanguine nor sentimental about the Holocaust and man's capacity for evil' LINDA HOLT, INDEPENDENT
'Truly moving . . . leaving one with great hope in humanity' THE TIMES
A VIRAGO MODERN CLASSIC
I never realised that there could be such suffering in the world, and that anyone could live through it' 1 July 1945
In 1940, while the Germans occupied Holland, fourteen-year-old Edith van Hessen was filling her diary with carefree stories of school, parties and boys. But her entries record a darkening world. By 1942, as the Nazis escalated their war against the Jewish population, Edith began a bitter struggle to survive.
Hidden in plain sight by another Dutch family, with a Nazi officer billeted in the next room, Edith faces the horrors of war under constant threat of discovery and betrayal. As terrible news filters through from home, she can only shout her real name to the wind and wait for liberation.
Weaving together Edith's diaries with letters smuggled between family members and her own memories, this extraordinary memoir of 'the Anne Frank who lived' is a profoundly moving account of grief, loss, courage - and one girl's remarkable belief in humanity in the face of despair.
'Leaves you heart-broken, illuminated, and amazed at the capacity for courage' Esther Freud
'Moving and wise . . . The most vivid evocation of the experience of Nazi Occupation I have ever read' Independent
'Truly moving . . . leaving one with great hope in humanity' The Times
INTRODUCED BY ESTHER FREUD