When she was dressed, one of the guards escorted her through the front door and out through the prison’s double gates. They slammed shut behind her. She was free! Ans couldn’t comprehend it. Tears filled her eyes. She gazed around at the beautiful woods and heard the birds singing. She was weak and cold and hungry, but she thanked God for her freedom as she stumbled down the long driveway from the main gate. When she reached the road, Ans had no idea which direction to turn. She tried to recall the day she’d arrived at Vught in the early morning hours and decided to turn left. But where should she go? Back to the Dykstras’ farm? To the town house in Leiden? To her parents’ farm? All three places were at least fifty miles away, and she knew she wasn’t strong enough to walk that far. She had no money for a train ticket. Even so, she kept walking, stopping every few minutes to rest her weakened leg muscles and pull up her baggy slacks. If she collapsed, she would freeze to death on the road.

Eventually the trees thinned. She passed frozen fields and saw church steeples on the horizon. After walking another fifteen minutes, Ans staggered into a town. A sign above a shuttered bakery told her she was in Vught. Next to the bakery, like an answer to a prayer she hadn’t uttered, was a Red Cross post. A woman hurried to greet Ans as she stumbled through the door, no longer able to feel her frozen toes. “You must have come from the prison,” the woman said.

“Yes . . .” She felt dizzy. She was going to collapse. The woman caught her just in time and helped her to a chair. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

“Let’s get you something to eat. What’s your name?”

“Ans de Vries.” She spoke without thinking, then remembered she was Bernandina Kamp now. She didn’t care, glad to be herself in this moment.

The soup with beans and carrots was warm and delicious. Ans tried not to wolf it down. “Slowly, dear. Don’t eat too much or it will come up again. Your stomach has surely shrunk by now.”

“Everything about me has shrunk,” Ans said, trying to laugh. Tears of joy and relief hovered close to the surface of her laughter. She was still shivering.

“I’m sorry it isn’t warmer in here, Ans, but there are fuel shortages all over the country because of the rail strike. Food shortages too.”

“It feels wonderful.”

“Where is home for you?”