The story of the Dutch nursery workers who saved 600 Jewish children from the Nazis is little known outside the Netherlands. Now the UK’s Virago is hoping to bring it to a wider audience with Susan B Katz and Esther Shaya’s Angels of Amsterdam which Sarah Savitt, Virago publisher, acquired from Laura Mamelok, subsidary rights director at Little, Brown and Company in the US.
The publisher says: ““Angels of Amsterdam is the harrowing yet hopeful account, largely unknown outside of the Netherlands, of the heroic nursery workers and women in the resistance who saved 600 children during Second World War Nazi-Occupied Amsterdam. The authors draw upon original interviews with survivors and rescue workers, as well as extensive archival research.
“Just two miles from where Anne Frank hid during the war, Henriëtte Pimentel, a Jewish nursery director, plotted one of the most daring and far-reaching rescues of the war. Recruiting young women from her nursery and working in tandem with other Resistance members, Henriëtte spearheaded the smuggling of 600 children out of Amsterdam – right under the noses of their Nazi captors.
“Over the past four years, authors Esther Shaya and Susan B Katz travelled extensively to gather first-hand accounts from these heroes and the children they rescued, now in their 80s and 90s. Coupled with archival images, this remarkable, real-life Second World War story is a story for the ages.”
Katz is the granddaughter of Eastern-European, Jewish immigrants and “is dedicated to keeping Holocaust stories alive”, Virago said. She is an award-winning, bestselling author of numerous children’s books.
Shaya is the author of two non-fiction books, both published exclusively in Dutch. Since 2015 she has been a board member, editor and author for the Jewish Houses Foundation, which publishes pre-war stories about the Jewish community in the Netherlands.
The authors said: “We are thrilled that Angels of Amsterdam is being published by Virago, and will stand alongside books by iconic authors such as Margaret Atwood, Jeannette Walls and Judy Batalion. Virago’s enthusiasm for this female-forward story of heroism showcases how much they value the integral role women played throughout history. These courageous angels saved hundreds of children from being deported to concentration camps, and they deserve to be honoured. Our brilliant editor, Sarah Savitt, is the perfect publisher to help reframe the narrative on women in the Dutch resistance.”
Savitt said: “Virago is proud to be publishing this incredible – and inspiring – narrative of resistance, at a time when the world really needs stories of this kind. I’m also delighted that it is a book which centres the resistance work of women – some of whom were teenagers at the time – which has often been ignored by historians. And it will sit beautifully alongside other recent successful Virago publications about women’s resistance, including Judy Batalion’s The Light of Days and Sonia Purnell’s A Woman of No Importance. I believe readers are going to be fascinated, moved and empowered by Angels of Amsterdam, and I’m so pleased to be working with Susan and Esther.”
