The archivist disappeared through a doorway. Chiara roamed the stacks while Gabriel sat down at the computer and scrolled through the names of the dead. Salomon Wass, born in Amsterdam, 31 May 1932, murdered at Sobibor, 14 May 1943…Alida Spier, born Rotterdam, 20 September 1915, murdered at Auschwitz, 30 September 1942…Sara da Silva Rosa, born Amsterdam, 8 April 1930, murdered at Auschwitz, 15 October 1942…They were but three of the 110,000 Dutch Jews who had been sealed into freight cars and dispatched eastward for murder and cremation. Only one-fifth of Holland’s Jews survived the war, the lowest percentage of any Western country occupied by the Germans. Several factors contributed to the lethality of the Holocaust in Holland, not least of which was the enthusiastic support given the project by many elements of Dutch society. Indeed, from the Dutch police officers who arrested Jews to the Dutch rail workers who transported them to their deaths, Dutch citizens were active at nearly every stage of the process. Adolf Eichmann, the managing director of the Final Solution, would later say of his local helpers, “It was a pleasure to work with them.”

The archivist reappeared, holding a single sheet of paper. “I thought I recognized the name and address. There was another child who survived. But I don’t think she’ll talk.”

“Why not?” Gabriel asked.

“We have an annual conference here in Amsterdam that focuses on the children who were hidden during the Holocaust. Last year, I handled the registration.” He held up the sheet of paper. “Lena Herzfeld attended the first session but left almost immediately.”

“What happened?”

“When we asked her to write down her memories of the war for our archives, she became very agitated and angry. She said it had been a mistake to come. After that, we never saw her again.”

“A reaction like that isn’t uncommon,” Gabriel said. “It took years for some survivors to talk about their experiences. And some never have.”

“That’s true,” the archivist agreed. “But the hidden children are among the least understood victims of the Holocaust. Their experience has its own special tragedy. In most cases, they were handed over to complete strangers. Their parents were simply trying to save them, but what child can truly comprehend being left behind?”

“I understand,” said Gabriel. “But it’s important that I see her.”

The archivist searched Gabriel’s face and seemed to recognize something he had seen before. Then he smiled sadly and handed over the slip of paper.

“Don’t tell her where you got the address. And be sure to treat her gently. She’s fragile. They’re all a bit fragile.”

CHAPTER 16

16

AMSTERDAM