Last week, I had the privilege of attending a presentation by Dr. Dirk Van Leenen in Holbrook. Dr. Van Leenen is a rarity in our time — a living witness able to share first-hand accounts of the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. As the number of those who experienced that dark chapter of history continues to dwindle, opportunities like this feel especially meaningful. Dr. Van Leenen’s stories of resistance felt deeply familiar to me. Both of my parents were young adults in Amsterdam during the occupation and did their part in opposing the Nazis, and I grew up hearing about the fear, hunger and quiet courage of that time. Listening to his memories felt less like history and more like echoes of my own family’s past. Although Dr. Van Leenen was only a small child at the time, his recollections are remarkably sharp and vivid. He spoke not from textbooks or secondhand accounts, but from lived experience. His words were a powerful reminder of the human cost of war and the importance of preserving these stories while we still can. I was grateful for the reminder that history is not abstract. It lives on through the voices of those who endured it and serve as a reminder that such atrocities are not improbable in the future and that we can never become complacent in the face of injustice.