Last week, the Winslow community had the rare opportunity to hear directly from World War II Holocaust survivor and author Dr. Dirk Van Leenen, who spoke at the Winslow High School Performing Arts Center.
Van Leenen, who now lives in Mesa, was just three years old when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands during World War II. His father became the head of the Dutch Resistance and together their family worked to hide more than 1,000 Jewish people beneath the floorboards of their home. Those who stayed with the Van Leenens were quickly moved to other hiding places, more than 90 in total, before eventually reaching safer territory.
To keep so many alive, Van Leenen explained that his father distributed counterfeit ration cards and fake IDs, often traveling by bicycle. Dirk rode with him, carrying the papers in hidden pockets sewn into his clothing. If stopped at checkpoints, the young boy would cry to distract the German soldiers, a tactic that allowed them to slip through time and again.
During his Winslow talk, Van Leenen described not only the dangers of hiding Jews but also the brutal conditions of Nazi concentration camps such as Westerbork, the only Dutch concentration camp, where he and his family were eventually imprisoned. He recounted memories of prisoners boiling shoe leather for food and the typhus outbreaks that claimed countless lives, including Anne Frank’s at Westerbork.
Fortunately, Van Leenen was rescued by British officers after a very short stay at the camp because his family was actually imprisoned after much of the Nazi regime fell. His presentation included a slideshow of historical photos and documents and afterward he answered questions from the audience. Signed copies of his four books were available for purchase, including Resistance on a Bicycle and The Americans Are Coming, which chronicle his family’s story of resistance and survival.
Van Leenen’s visit drew praise from attendees some of whom cried during the presentation, a reminder of the human cost of hatred and the courage it takes to stand against it.
He also shared that he plans to give a similar presentation in Holbrook soon, with details to be announced the talk was incredibly powerful and many more stories and details are in the presentation.
