In a way, it seemed too soon. They’d met only a year ago. And ever since Erik went into military training, they’d been apart more than they’d been together. But Ans loved him. She wanted to spend her life with him. She knew they could make a happy life together. In that moment, she hated the Nazis for coming between them. She and Erik were on opposing sides because of the Nazis.

“Yes, Erik, yes! I would love to be your wife! But I don’t want to start our life together under these horrible conditions. I think we should wait until the war ends and life returns to normal and we’re free again.” She expected to see joy on his face, but he winced. “Did I say something wrong?”

“When I see the power the Nazis wield . . . how much they control us and every nation around us, and how no one has been able to stop them . . . I don’t think we’ll ever be able to break free from them.”

“Don’t say that! We can’t lose hope, Erik. We can’t!”

Ans felt like singing when she went to her room that night. She wanted to announce to the world that she was in love and Erik had asked her to marry him. She had said yes! Yet she couldn’t tell anyone. Herman and Eloise wouldn’t understand. They would see Erik as a policeman who worked for the Nazis, their enemy. And Miriam would never understand how she could fall in love with a member of the Nazi Party. Ans couldn’t explain it to herself, much less to her friends. Or her family. Mama and Papa didn’t even know about Erik. But Ans loved him. When this war ended, they would be together forever.

In the months that followed, Ans was able to snatch only short moments of time with Erik. Her days were spent working with Eloise on the underground newspaper, spreading the news about the Nazi persecution of Jews in the Netherlands. Her work was important. She was rising up against the enemy, resisting their evil.

In January, the outrage at the treatment of Jews reached a boiling point when the Nazis passed a law requiring all Jews to register their names and addresses and carry identification cards marked with a J. Strikes were called and riots broke out in Amsterdam as people protested, demanding that the Nazis rescind the law.