Flory: A Miraculous Story of Survival

by Flory A. Van Beek

In 1939, as the Nazi occupation grew from threat to reality, the Jewish population throughout Europe faced heart-wrenching decisions—to flee and lose their homes or to go into hiding, hoping against all odds to avoid the fate of being discovered. Holocaust survivor Flory A. Van Beek faced this terrible choice, and in this poignant testament of hope she takes us on her personal journey into one of history's darkest hours. Only a teenage girl when the Nazis invaded her neutral homeland of Holland, Flory watched the only life she had ever known disappear. Tearfully leaving her family, Flory tried to escape on the infamous SS Simon Bolivar passenger ship with Felix, the young Jewish man from Germany who would later become her husband. Their voyage brought not safety but more peril as their ship was blown up by Nazi planted mines, one of the first passenger ships destroyed by the Germans during World War II, sending nearly all of its passengers to a watery end. Miraculously, both Flory and Felix survived. After recovering from their injuries in England, they returned to their homeland, overjoyed to be reunited with their families yet shocked to discover their beloved Holland a much-changed place. As the Nazi grip tightened, they were forced into hiding. Sheltered by compassionate strangers in confined quarters, cut off from the outside world and their relatives, they faced hunger and the stress of daily life shadowed by the ever-present threat of certain death. Yet they also discovered, with the remarkable and brave families who sacrificed their own safety to help keep Flory and Felix alive, a set of friends that remain as close as family to this day. A tribute to family, faith, and the power of good in the face of disparate evil, this gripping account captures the terror of the Holocaust, the courage of those who risked their lives to protect their fellow compatriots, and the faith of those who, against all odds, managed to survive.

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, History, Memoir, World War II, Biography, Autobiography

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Sandy Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to agree with the critic. Hearing this read, I felt she was right here beside me. I started this book late at night when I could not go to sleep. I then found myself fighting sleep to hear her story. It is not just about what happened to her and her family but about the people around her, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Like my worn copy of Ann Frank, this will be a story I will want to hear again and again.

The human will is amazing

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, I've been to the town she lived in and hid in during the war. Having been an exchange student in Holland, I have met a number of Dutch families that either were in the Resistance Movement or hid Jewish families during WWII. Because I'd been to her town this book was of particular interest.

[Ellie Midwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just finished reading and I’m still under the spell of this story! It’s a memoir which everyone needs to read, regardless of their interest in the history of particular era as it demonstrates not only the strength of the human spirit under the most terrifying of circumstances but reveals a truly admirable bravery of the people who refused to be silent bystanders and risk their own lives to help the ones who would never survive without their kindness.
Flory is a young Jewish girl whose life in Holland is sheltered and idyllic until the threat of the German invasion begins to grow and threaten their very existence. Waves of German-Jewish immigrants begin pouring into the country, persecuted and chased by their own government - with one of them, Felix, Flory falls in love and the couple decides to leave the country while they still can. However, a magnetic bomb sinks the ship on which they were supposed to leave, and the two find themselves in a hospital in England and later, back in Holland, where the new Nazi government is already set on implementing its anti-Jewish policies. Now, Flory’s, Felix’s and their families’ fates are in the hands of the Dutch gentiles who positively refuse to submit to the new order.
Flory’s memoir is difficult to read at times for it becomes extremely emotional, but each time I felt overwhelmed I reminded myself that those people had to actually live through those events about which I’m only reading; I can only admire their will to live through years of German occupation, years spent in hiding, years during which it was impossible to know whether members of one’s family survived or not…
What I also appreciated, was how accurate Flory was in not only preserving the memory of those dreadful years (everything was documented by her and Felix and brought to the US in a big suitcase) but in reconstructing the timeline of events, revealing the names of the people who helped them survive and the names of the ones who committed unimaginable war crimes during the occupation.
Touching and meticulously put together, this memoir is a true must-read which I highly recommend to everyone.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I try to avoid any more Holocaust books because they are so depressing, but this book was like a thriller and had a happy ending. It's an incredible tale of Dutch Jews that are first thinking that Hitler won't come up all the way to Holland, and then when he does, rush furtively from safe house to safe house of righteous Gentiles to outlast the Third Reich and finally survive in the end. There are charming parts also, such as when the author gets so mad at God for not protecting his chosen people, that she starts praying, "To Whom It May Concern."

Altogether a suspenseful book with a happy ending for most of the family.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish more people would read these stories and see them as potential cautionary tales. Flory kept thinking “it won’t happen to us” but in no time her world was upside down.

It CAN happen to us… to me… to you. Institutionalized racism is insidious. What starts off as a guideline for the benefit of the community can quickly devolve into the worse case scenario (Charter of Values in Quebec anyone?)

Don’t think A won’t lead to B - it can. Craziness starts somewhere. Stories like Flory’s are proof.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those stories that make you think, "You can't make this stuff up." A number of bizarre events happened in her life. My favorite concerns a circus wagon and happens at the end of the story. One of the things that sets her account apart is the numerous newspaper clippings she collected and kept through the war which she translates and shares throughout the book. My favorite aspect of the book, though, was hearing how so many in Holland helped the Jews at great personal risk. That made it an encouraging book overall though there were certainly many sad things that happened.

[Verlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good description of life as a jew during WWII. It definitely makes me appreciate the life we live, and realize how fragile it can be. I think everyone would do well to read it. This story is also an example of the best and the worst in humans.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing tale of survival of Jews from the atrocities of the Germans. But this time in Holland. I loved reading about the courageous stories of neighbors helping neighbors. The quiet defiance of Dutch, so many were so brave.

[Tarek Roshdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

مذكرات فتاة هولندية يهودية عاصرت الحرب العالمية الثانية و احتياج النازية لهولندا
رغم ان الكاتبة يهودية و قد قرأت كثيرا ان اليهود ييالغون فى اظهار تعرضهم للظلم
الا ان الكتاب يتسم بالصدق، فى طريقى للقراءة اكثر عن الهولوكوست و ما حدث فيها بصورة محايدة

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really stays with you. So many moments you can’t believe could actually be true. You really feel the fear she describes in some moments as well as the love and appreciation in others. It’s such an important book and an absolute must read for anyone interested in holocaust accounts. It was my first ever book I read relating to the Second World War and it sparked my interest in reading Jewish diaries during that time. I will continue to reread this book throughout my life.

[Gail]

An amazing story of survival and the knowing that there are wonderful people in this world who have helped others survive through the worst of times in our history.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Flory Van Beek's story of surviving as a young Jewish woman through the Nazi's occupation of Holland.
The kindness and courage of those who hid her etc. is amazing.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

a must read in today's current global situation.

[Victoria (TheMennomilistReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flory is a wonderful Jewish WWII survivor account.
Growing up in The Netherlands, Flory and her family were close-knit. When everything started to happen with the war, Flory was a bit naive and didn't really know what was going on until her family started to befriend Felix (her eventual husband) and his family. He knew so much information and started to let her family know that things would start to get bad, as his Jewish family was from Germany and now started to live in The Netherlands to escape the situation in Germany. Flory and Felix end up surviving not only the war in The Netherlands, but also a crazy situation from a ship they were on that hit mines. Flory tells the experience of getting through that as well as what it was like to live in people's homes, being dependent on strangers who were in the resistance and hid them. It was an excellent account.

Part of the only reason why I did not give this five stars is that there was a slight repetition, including talking about people eating cats calling them "roof rats." I did enjoy knowing what Flory had felt in her time in captivity, but I think she still hid some of her emotions just as she had done while trying to be brave and strong living through it, and I understand that. It was still very good. It was really beautiful to me how much their neighbors cared about the people around them, even knowing they were being hidden and where without giving up that information. So many people protected them.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flory Van Beek, a Dutch survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, brought to America all of her newspaper clippings, family photos, Resistance publications and her husband's diary from their time in hell, the Nazi occupation of Holland. Her stash had been buried in metal boxes in a friend's backyard and retrieved after the nightmarish five year occupation. As a result, her detailed story is gripping and hard to put down. One passage was so poignant, I will never forget it. As her mother and other family members and friends are murdered or hauled off to death camps, she prays from the home of a courageous Christian family who are hiding her. "Because I could not fathom a God who would allow the Jewish people to be annihilated, I prayed to no one in particular. I simply addressed my prayers 'to whom it may concern,' which included God in any case."

Mrs. Beek wrote her book from her home in Newport Beach, where she and her husband founded the Temple Isaiah. Her papers form one of the largest collections from the Netherlands housed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum of Washington, DC. Highly recommended reading!

[Tanya Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heart wrenching story of one young Jewish family in Nazi- occupied Holland, and the many compassionate Dutch who put their own lives on ther line to protect them. This is the first story I've read with such detail about individual lives and experiences, in large part because the author and her husband managed to save their diaries from the war, along with family photos and documents.

Above all, this story is so compelling to me because it's also the story of my own family, Christians who risked everything to do what's right. It mortifies me to know how much they went through, and gives me such great pride as well.

This isn't the most well written book - but for grabbing my attention and pulling me in, there are few rivals. My heartfelt thanks to the author for her willingness to share her family's story. 💗

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating and terrifying story. Could have used a teeny bit of editing - - some paragraphs seemed repeated, but still, it was like sitting down with Flory and listening to her story.

One thing I would like to remark - - just the difference between the Dutch and Polish citizens when it came to helping the Jews during the war and their attitude when the survivors. In this novel, one of Flory's brothers had a shop that the neighbors kept up for him and happily handed over to him. In Poland, the Poles (not all, I know) killed their returning neighbors b/c they did not want to give back the property.

[Maureen Lamb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a first person account, written in tears, as a tribute to Flory Van Beck’s beautiful mother.
Flory was a young girl caught in the ruthless Nazi occupation of Holland. Unlike Anne Frank, Flory survived to recount this extraordinary story of persecution and survival. Her journey is utterly amazing, beyond comprehension. It is a tribute to the Dutch people and their deep respect for their fellow country men and women. Without their compassion and courage, many more would have died.
Her book was translated into her native language, Dutch, and was released on May 5, 2000, liberation day in the Netherlands.

[Don Halasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could hardly put this book down after starting it. An amazingly detailed true story of a country (Holland) where many of the Dutch people not only sympathized for the oppressed Jewish population but did more than anybody could expect to protect innocent lives from being overtaken by the nazi killing machine. Narrated in great detail by a survivor.
A must read for people like me who are interested in WW II and in particular, the holocaust in hopes that it will never be repeated.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an exceptional book about Flory's survival of the Holocaust from before the war, surviving hidden in Holland during the German invasion, and finding family members afterwards. Her family was blessed with a series of miraculous events enabling them to survive the horror. What is amazing was her forethought to save articles, photographs, and diaries of her and her husband's lives during this horrible time.

[Chloe :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's difficult to rate and review a memoir.
Flory is a heartbreaking and riveting first-hand account of the horrors of the Holocaust. Flory and Felix were blessed with wonderful people in their lives, and faced each obstacle with bravery and faith. Their story was wonderfully told. Throughout, Flory keeps the audience up to date with events of the war as they coincided with the things that happened in her life.
Though it was heartbreaking and raw, I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a record of a Dutch woman's survival through the Holocaust, mostly in hiding. What makes it different is that she documented everything at the time, keeping letters, diaries, newspaper clippings, official papers, and more, which became an important source for Holocaust scholars. The book is detailed and harrowing. It is a window into inhumanity of the most shocking kind. People should have to read books like this in high school.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

WWII story of a Jewish Dutch woman who was able to hide during the entire war. Interesting autobiography penned by the woman who lived it. Took me a bit to get through. Can't really say anything negative, so thrilled this woman and much of her family made it safely through the war. Holland had a large resistance movement which helped to bring many Jews safely to the end of the war. This was recommended to me by a friend who happens to be Dutch.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poorly written

If only there were half stars - this is a solid 2.5. This story failed to draw me in on any level. Their survival story - while incredible - lacked the emotional appeal that many other WWII stories possess. I wish more of their documentary evidence had been scanned in to the book.

[rhonda granquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Floy van Beck and her survival of WWII. She and her family live in Rotterdam Holland. When Germany invades Holland, Floy and her family go into hiding for 5 years. She cut out all the newspaper articles about the war. Kept all the letters and forms in a couple of suitcases . After the war she donated it all to the holcaust museum in Washington DC

[Tamara Van dishoeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

dit soort boeken zijn indrukwekkend omdat het waargebeurd is. en de foto's maken het extra indrukwekkend. het leven van een jonge joodse vrouw die er alles aan doet om te overleven tijdens de tweede wereldoorlog. en vooral omdat het zich afspeelt in Nederland maakt het nog iets meer indrukwekkender.

[Mandy Kimball · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite an amazing read. Her experiences living in Holland as a Jew through WWII was just amazing. Staying with families that would keep her and her husband clear of the Nazi’s and help provide for her well being was just moving. She told her story in a very readable way. The human will for survival is just remarkable and reading Flory’s story is nothing short of a miracle.

[Marsha Bentley]

To Everything There is a Season.....

Flory is well written and depicts the horror, devastation, starvation and murder perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II in Holland. Flory and her husband Felix collected papers and wrote books about their time of hiding during the war and have donated those to the Holocaust Museun in Washington D.C.

[nev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great. I loved how it focused on another part of the war, as usually all historical fiction I read is based on the horrors of concentration camps.

I loved how the author was honest and didn’t shy away from all her emotions despite the war going on around them.

This book was great. I would read again, just for the ending.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It amazes me how many stories there are from WWII and none of them are the same. This was no exception. 140,000 Jewish people from the Netherlands and only 6000 survived. What makes the difference as to why some were "blessed" with miracles and others were not. Flory certainly had her doubts on God for most of the war so it isn't the faithful were saved.