The Children’s House of Belsen Hetty E Verolme. Fremantle Press, 2000
The Fellowship of Australian Writers Winner of the Christina Stead Award 2000
Hetty now lives in Australia. She starts the book looking at her 13 year old daughter, going to school on the bus, eating well, trying to imitate the TV characters she admires and this reflection takes her back to the time when she was 13. She was neither carefree or even free.
This is a story about the imprisonment of Jews in Germany. Taken from Holland to Belsen , Hetty’s family are eventually separated and Hetty and her two younger brothers are put in a barrack with other children. Hetty and some of the older children assist with caring for the younger ones. Hetty becomes so helpful that she is not sent to an adult camp when she turns 14 but helps in the care of the young children – hiding her age. Scrounging for food, telling stories, organizing a couple of concerts and a couple of parties – all with meager resources help provide a sense of purpose when life seems to be very bleak, with little food, standards of hygiene disappearing and the constant fear can be overwhelming.
This is a book about the horrors of religious and racial discrimination, about war, about sometimes seeing the humanity of the enemy but not often. It is a story of resilience and children who become responsible and resourceful early in their childhood.
At times Hetty notices that in Belsen people become mean, only thinking of their own survival. The law of the jungle reigns. Food such as sugar or a slice of bread is often stolen. At the same time when men were working on retrieving leather from thousands of old shoes, some of the academics, rabbis and engineers gave lectures, and kept people busy with their knowledge in the mind numbing work in front of them.
The number of moves both before and after the family was separated, created a sense of instability and anxiety. In the midst of yet another move, Hetty’s mother tells her children “God will look after us, believe me” . Hetty is not sure of this as she wonders how God could allow people to know such suffering as they had experienced. This is not a family which is a religiously observant family. The father claims to be an atheist, while he is generally the most optimistic member of the family. Hetty organizes a ‘party’ on St Nicolas Day and decides she believes in St Nicolas as he indeed makes children happy on his birthday. – perhaps with a lot of help from Hetty.
Hetty seems so adult in taking on responsibility for caring for young children and working with the adults. However there are glimpses which reveal that she is still really a child – she is sure one of the helpers is a witch – based mainly on looks. Other judgements are often based on a person’s smile or looks – and sometimes this judgement has lasted through the years.
This is a story of horror put in a very straightforward manner –by someone who suffered and survived.
It tells of the best and the worst of human nature and above all tells us what children can do when the challenge is before them.
HETTY – by Hetty E Verolme – an Abridged version of The Children’s house of Belsen – Published b y Fremantle Press 2009
This version is aimed at secondary school children. The format is easier to read and the photos are interspersed throughout the book. It contains less detail in many parts, but the story is essentially the same.
In her introduction Hetty says:
"I hope that my book will help other children to understand the way children were treated by the Nazis, and learn about the consequences of prejudice and hatred. Hatred is a bad thing. It’s a poison that eats into you. There is hatred and there is love. I like to be on the side of love."
Report by the Rev. Marie Wilson