Else Flim

In the months in 1944 prior to the Canadian troops reaching Putten (close to Amersfoort), the local resistance carried out a raid on a German vehicle. In retaliation, the Nazis rounded up 661men from the village as well as those you happened to be near or around the village; this included young boys from the age of 16 years. After being held in the church for a short time, they were sent by rail into northern Germany to work camps. Only 49 returned, the fate of many remaining a mystery. Whilst some did escape by jumping from the moving trains, many died from starvation, disease and exhaustion. Many were involved in digging (by hand) defense trenches against tanks.

The book describes the terrible events, the war crime, from the point of view of a now-elderly man who is telling the story to a young girl from the village. As a young boy he had seen his father and older brother taken away; both did not return. The book tells about the botched raid, the German reaction including the burning of many houses and buildings in the village, the terrible treatment that started in the church, and continued on in the trains and camps, the suffering of the men and boys, the quest of family members for information, the reactions of some of the Germans, the end of the war, the return of some of the men, and how the family members, the village and eventually the rest of the world reacted to the events.

The story is book-ended by a domestic modern day scene, which includes a busy mother/doctor, and absent father driving a tour bus in Europe, a brother studying in another city, a messy sister, a son who has a nosy bicycle and becomes ill and his female classmate who is newly arrived in the village and shows an interest in the grandfather's story. Oh yes, and a duck hatching some eggs.

This is not a happy book (although the domestic scenes try unsuccessfully to make a contrast) and nor can and should it be. It's an emotional read.
The book touches on faith in God; the captives read the Bible, pray and sing songs. The Netherlands was quite a church going country in the early 1900s. But there is a rather unsatisfying post-modern ending to the story.

The book is written in Dutch, and a relatively easy read for those not completely proficient with reading Dutch.

For further information on these events, the community has a website with information in Dutch and English: http://www.oktober44.nl/html/home.html… (mer)