“Of course I see! But right now, right here in Leiden, there’s nothing we can do to stop it without losing our lives.”

She’d known he was right, but it grieved her every time their arguments ended in this stalemate.

Meanwhile, the Nazis devoured more of their freedom every day. Earlier this spring, all Jews had been ordered to sew yellow stars on their clothing. It seemed like a little thing, but Ans knew that it wasn’t.

“They passed the same law in Germany,” Miriam had told Ans, “and it was no longer safe to go out. Anyone who saw us on the street could persecute us.” Another new law forbade Jews to visit non-Jews, but it hadn’t stopped Ans and Eloise from visiting Miriam. “The Nazis told Mrs. Spielman she no longer owns this apartment building,” Miriam said on one of Ans’s visits. “Dutch Nazis now control all Jewish assets. Every day we wake up wondering what they’ll do to us next.”

Ans had watched in speechless outrage as Miriam had sewn a yellow star onto the sweater Mrs. Spielman had knit for Elisheva’s first birthday.

Then, two months ago, another shocking proclamation announced that all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe would be transported east to resettlement camps. Churches across the Netherlands protested, and Ans had dared to hope that the Nazis would relent. But according to the newspaper Ans had just received, midnight razzias had begun in Amsterdam, with the Gestapo pounding on doors and rounding up entire families. Ans wished she hadn’t shared the news with Eloise so abruptly.

“So all of our protests were for nothing?” Eloise asked. “They’re going through with the deportations?”

Ans nodded and dropped into a chair, still holding the newspaper. She didn’t tell Eloise that the former refugee camp at Westerbork was now being used by the Nazis as a prison and deportation camp.

“The editor is calling for more active resistance,” Ans said.

“Meaning what? Are we supposed to fight them in the street? What will we use for weapons? They say that the pen is mightier than the sword, but so far my pen hasn’t done much good.” Eloise ripped the half-finished page from her typewriter and crushed it into a ball. Ans knew from experience that taking action might keep Eloise from despair, but what more could they do?

Ans rose to her feet again. “We have to help the Jews here in Leiden find safe places to hide. We can’t stand by while the Nazis round them up and take them who knows where. I’m going to warn Miriam and her family. Are you coming with me?”

“Of course.”