While some resisters struggled to forget the war, others came to feel that they had a duty to remember it publicly. This seems to have been especially true among survivors of the concentration camps.

Such was the case with a Dutch woman named Anika who was a student at the Sorbonne when the war started. When the Germans invaded, she fled Paris with her good friend Anne-Marie [see “Everything I Saw in the Camp…” of July 20, 2009]. Later, they returned together and started helping others to escape from the Germans. Anika and Anne-Marie organized hiding places, food, clothing, and false papers for other Dutch people on the run and for Allied airmen. They also did the dangerous work of escorting fugitives further along their route, often as far as Toulouse.

They were both arrested in the “roll-up” of Dutch-Paris in February and March 1944 and eventually deported to the notorious concentration camp at Ravensbrück. Both survived long enough to be liberated by a Swedish mission. Anika married and settled in Sweden. She gave many lectures and published articles about her experiences in the concentration camp, but, like many survivors, she never really talked about the war to her family.

Now that she is gone, her grandson has begun compiling her story. Using her words, he describes the price that Anika and her colleagues paid for helping strangers in need. My thanks to Nicolas Bremell for allowing me to share the story with you at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=109336239126690

Those of you who read French can find the story of Anne-Marie’s extraordinary life, written by her son, by clicking here