“She longed for the simple days of youth, before the heaviness of family responsibility came barreling down and suffocated her, before the crisp golden Dutch air was invaded with cold, severe metal airplanes cutting the blue sky, the frigid spread of perfectly aligned enemy birds, in unison, without hesitation or regard, swooping low, roaring engines cackling evil laughter, resounding throughout the bodies of the sufferers.”

The start of World War II changed Diny’s life. She faced the real fear and possibility that her family would never return, and that life as she knew it before the Occupation would be gone forever.