Flory: One Woman's Account of Surviving the Holocaust

Flory was just a young girl when the Germans occupied her homeland of the Netherlands during World War II. As Jews, she and her family soon began to experience the effect of laws restricting movement and work opportunities. An early attempt to escape the Netherlands on the SS Simon Bolivar failed when the ship hit two German mines and sank. Flory and her fiancé Felix were two of the lucky survivors but were severely injured and spent several months in England before being returned to the Netherlands. Together they watched as the situation worsened and relatives and friends began to ‘disappear’. Flory’s mother was taken off to Sobibor concentration camp, where she died in the gas chambers, but Flory and Felix were fortunate enough to survive the war by being hidden in the homes of patriotic Dutch families working for the resistance. This incredible story of survival poignantly illustrates how even in the darkest times good people are willing to risk their own safety to save the lives of others.