Hidden Letters

by Deborah Slier

Flip Slier's letters, written to his parents from a forced labor camp in German-occupied Holland, were found in an attic 60 years after World War II. The book captures several months in the lives of a few brave people struggling to survive the Nazi onslaught. It is a lesson in decency and courage. The book's message is that ordinary people can maintain their integrity and act with goodness, even in the face of terror and tragedy. It is a testament to the survivors as well as a memorial to the dead. Flip's story is told through his letters and supplemented by annotations and over 200 historical photos, maps, and documents.

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, History

Unknown Binding

First published February 28, 2007

Reviews

[Colette · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels like sacrilege to rate a book like this.

It is haunting, horrifying, heroic, heavy, at times hilarious.

It left me in tears.

Spending time in these letters is like actually spending time with Flip: you get to know him, to understand him, to care about him and the friends and family members he constantly spoke of. I found it more and more difficult to continue reading Flip's letters, knowing how his story ended.

Out of fifty-eight close family members in Holland (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) six survived. Six.

This book is a memorial to Flip, to his entire extended family, to his friends, to all the Jews of the Netherlands, and to the people who risked their lives to save them.

It is unspeakably horrific, but it is absolutely essential to preserve these memories, to know these stories.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three years ago at the Frankfurt book fair I acquired a copy of 'Lonek’s Journey' from Starbright books. Last year I was there again and wondered if I might again meet the wonderful couple from New York who own the company and yes, they were there, and I was able to tell them how Lonek had made an impression on us at home. They gave me a catalogue and another book to take away – this was Hidden Letters.

Centred around the 86 letters to his parents from the teenager ‘Flip’ Slier held in a Dutch work camp in 1942, the book gives context to one tragic family story from the Holocaust. It's a kaleidoscope of notes, photographs, documents, maps, interviews, eye witness reports and explanations which follow the year of incarceration and ever worsening conditions of this vibrant Dutch lad of seventeen. It closes with his arrival by train at Sobibor – no letters home from Germany then and no parents at home either. They were on their final journey too.

Over a month or two I read every page of this book, reading each morning, learning a little more about Flip and his times. I got to know him slowly and I learnt about the chilling application of hideous policy as it affected Jews in the Netherlands. As soon as I started of course I realized this was the work of the couple who gave me the book in Frankfurt. Deborah Slier and Ian Shine have produced a family history with a difference.

A workman found the cache of letters hidden away in a house in Amsterdam, under renovation in 1997. Deborah's father had moved from the Netherlands to South Africa in the 1930s and she was born and brought up there. She knew about her cousin Flip of course, having gone there in the 1950s, but his letters came out of the night from four decades back. Acquiring this historical legacy, Deborah spent 7 years researching his story and together, around these letters, they have created this educational project about how the holocaust was experienced. Not a quick read but such a worthwhile one, it lives with me as one of the major books of my reading life.

It prompted me into further reading on the subject and I could not recommend this book more.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more like a museum exhibit than a book. Every page has at least one photo or drawing, often several, to accompany the text. The authors did incredible research and were able to identify almost every person Philip "Flip" Slier referred to in his letters, as well as their fates (most of them died). His letters serve as a jumping-off point to tell the whole story of the Holocaust in the Netherlands, which I hadn't been all that familiar with before. I think it's great that the book was designed this way because, frankly, Flip's letters were pretty boring. Despite being reasonably well-fed for a slave labor camp inmate, he was obsessed with food and just about every letter talked about meals he'd had, meals he planned to make, food he'd bought from farmers to supplement his rations, food he wanted his parents to send, etc etc etc.

The ubiquitous Anne Frank was another Dutch Holocaust victim. I think the Slier book would be a great one to use alongside hers in a classroom, to show people the bigger picture. I do, however, wish more attention had been paid to Dutch collaborators. The book made it sound like, except for a few baddies, everyone was on the side of good. But if that was so, why did 90% of the Dutch Jews die -- more than any other country in Western Europe?

[American Mensa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a routine day in 1997 for a Dutch demolition expert in west Amsterdam when he discovered a packet of 86 letters hidden in the ceiling from someone named Phillip Slier. Upon realizing that the letters were from WWII, he sent them to the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. Deborah Slier and Ian Shine used these letters to paste together the story of “Flip” Slier, a Dutch Jew from Amsterdam. The letters chronicle Flip’s day-to-day life in the labor camps during Germany’s occupation of Holland. Every letter in this book is translated directly from Phillip (Flip) Slier’s own letters down to the spelling errors. This book is unique because it allows us to read first-hand accounts of the horrific life in the labor camps. I was surprised that in the beginning people were paid wages and allowed to communicate with their families. They had their own bed, blankets, restroom, and even a few luxury items that could be purchased. Unlike Anne Frank’s experience as a Jewish girl in hiding, Flip allows the reader to experience the progressive decline of human conditions in the labor camps. However, as time progresses through the letters, you can see the situation become increasingly dire as more people arrive, conditions worsen and wages are lowered. The letters really allow you to understand Flip’s personality and it almost feels as if these letters are directed towards you. In addition to Flip’s letters, there are many stories from eyewitness accounts of the killings, stories of other families both Jewish and non-Jewish, and stories of Germans who sympathized with the Jews and helped them escape from camps and torture. Have you ever want a complete documentation of the restrictions put on Jews during WWII? Hidden Letters goes over these conditions, wearing stars to identify themselves as a Jew, being forced to get rid of their possessions, and being banned from streets and markets. The reader is exposed to topics that are not common knowledge. For example, do you know about Sobibor? What about the Russian POW’s in labor camps? Do you know the difference between concentration camps and labor camps? All of this is explained in Hidden Letters. This book has a large collection of pictures, documents, newspapers, as well as an array of facts to explain and support the letters. After reading this book my perspective of the Holocaust has changed a lot. I felt a roller coaster of emotions. Each page, story, letter and side note information gave me a unique experience. It is important to note that this book contains graphic explanations and images. I think every young adult needs to read it to understand some of the events not often talked about today. I would give this book 5 heart wrenching stars for reminding us… to never forget.
Zander H., age 14, Gulf Coast-America Mensa

[Tim Fuhrman · Rating 5 out of 5]

While perusing my way through the vendors at ALA Midwinter in Seattle (2013). It was Sunday and I was feeling a bit worn down. You could tell the vendors were wearing out a bit too. I work at a community college library but we buy a bit of everything so I was making an effort to look at some of the smaller booths.

What made me stop was spotting a book called _Lonek's Journey: The True Story of a Boy's Escape from Freedom_, by Dorit Bader Whiteman. I picked it up and thumbed through it a bit.

Then a very distinguished woman came over to speak with me. I explained that stories of the Holocaust have always held a special fascination for me. Then she reached over and pulled out a copy of _Hidden Letters_ and shared with me the amazing story of the creation of the book.

The woman was, Deborah Slier, of course, and we spent what was my favorite hour of the entire conference talking about the book.

She was suprised when I was able new something about the Sobibor camp. I told her I'd read about it in Thomas "Toivi" Blatt's books the previous year and mentioned I thought I remembered there being a connection to the Pacific Northwest, and possibly Tacoma.

She said she'd met Mr. Blatt while researching _Hidden Letters_ but didn't remember coming to the PNW. It was near the end of the day and things were shutting down so I took my leave but hurried back to my hotel to do a little research. I found that a professor from Pacific Lutheran U. had written the forward to one of the books I'd read.

I was supposed to be at a meeting in Olympia the next day but decided I had the time to go back and share what I'd found with Deborah. Who immediately greeted me with a warm smile and a story of her own. She'd spoken to her husband that night and they had indeed come to the PNW to meet Mr. Blatt and had even stayed in his home.

Needless to say, I stayed and spoke to her as longs as I could and purchased both books, she signed my copy of _Hidden Letters_, before I had to leave for my meeting.

[Michelle Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man was renovating a house and found several bundles of letters hidden in the ceiling of the bathroom. These letters were written by Flip, a Dutch Jew, who wrote practically everyday from his work camp. The letters weren't really what made this book for me other than the idea of reading the very words and seeing the handwriting of a Jew from WWII, however it was the extra tidbits of information about the war and what happened in the Netherlands that touched me and for that I would reccommend it to everyone.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating, yet very disturbing reminder of how the Jews were treated in WWII. As was noted by another reader, the content of the letters themselves are not the most interesting - it's all the backstory, and the pictures that give weight to the book. Quite a sobering reminder.