An Address
Publisher: Alfabet
The History of Jewish Hiding
In October 1971, Michal Citroen’s father brought his daughter to the place where he had grown up. He pointed out the house to her and told her about the fateful day the Germans came. From then on, he was on his own and had to look for ‘an address’. Some 25,000 Jews were looking for an address during the war – life-saving for those who, despite all coercion, wanted to ignore calls for deportation. In this book, Michal Citroen describes their history. Using witness accounts, she tells the stories of helplessness, despair, betrayal, fear and deceit. But also of courage, decisiveness, guts and help. She describes how the occupying forces introduced all kinds of anti-Jewish measures step by step, why so many did not go into hiding – she debunks the “meek sheep theory” – , what the role of the Jewish Council was and what challenges the Jews in hiding faced. With An Address, Michal Citroen describes a comprehensive and bewildering history of the wartime hiding of Dutch Jews.
Praise:
‘A magisterial book. You think you already know everything, yet I couldn’t stop reading. Fascinating, heartbreaking.’ – Geert Mak, author of In Europe and Great Expectations
