The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found by Bart van EsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very moving account of one man's investigation into tracing his 'aunt' Lien and telling her story. A searing exploration of two lives and two families. Lien was given away by her Jewish parents in the Hague in the hope she might be saved from the hell of the Nazi death camps. Lien is hidden and raised by a foster family in the provinces during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. She was moved on many occasions - and survived the war only to find out that her real parents had not. Many years later she fell out with her foster family and Bart van Es (the author) - and the grandson of Lien's foster parents - needed to find out why.
He tracks Lien down - now in her eighties - in Amsterdam and forms a lasting bond with her as she recounts the events that occurred since being a 'hidden child'. This is a deeply moving story about the fate of most Jews who lived in the Netherlands during the 2nd World War, a story of love, heartache, despair and misunderstanding - but also uplifting. A necessary story that we should never forget.
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