Dutch Defense. A true story of struggle and survival during World War II, by Johanna Kinney
At Amsterdam Publishers we are delighted to announce the publication of our newest book, Dutch Defense, by Johanna Kinney. It is raw, unflinching historical fiction based on the author’s life and her experience in the Dutch Resistance during WWII.
Johanna Kinney was born in 1925 in the Dutch colony of Java, Indonesia. Kinney moved to the Netherlands and her family was active in the underground in Holland. She too played her part in the Dutch Resistance. Her own remarkable life story and acts of bravery are not the focus of this new work. Kinney has instead created a work of historical fiction, painting the picture of daily life under German occupation in the Netherlands and all its facets: the mundane, the happy, the horrendous and the extraordinary. We follow a cast of characters as they struggle not just to survive, but to live.
Kinney is clear that her writing draws from moments she witnessed or went through first hand, and indeed the book has a comprehensive appendage of every instance included in the narrative that was based on her own experience. From the rumors of individuals that reached her ears, to the underground printing press in her neighborhood, to her interview to join the Resistance and her work as a courier in the movement, every description is based on history as it happened, and is all the more moving for it. The historical figures are seamlessly interwoven with the fictional, bringing to life a tableau of men, women, children and what they had to endure during World War II.
Dutch Defense’s narrative spans the eventful years of Dutch occupation and liberation, the slow recovery and return to normality. A veritable cast of characters is followed through their various exploits, sabotage attempts and personal struggles in the Resistance movement. The highs and the lows of life under occupation are laid bare, reminding us of the often haphazard and uncontrollable events of fate that lead to survival, or to death. Our cast of fighters are followed from hope, innosence and relative comfort, to torture, hunger and imprisonment. The story is broken into short, elucidating glimpses into their lives, a fast tempo of events rattling from shoot out to clandestine meeting, bringing us closer to the danger and to the men and women as they fight to survive.
This unforgettable book is an accurate and faithful account of lives lost, ruined and saved during World War II in the Netherlands. And indeed, the central theme of the novel is the moral dilemma each of the characters faces, and the accusations of collaboration against fellow countrymen are most troubling. One of the main protagonists is a prime example of the illusion of choice. He is a forthright and principled lawyer who is active in the underground movement, sheltering members on the run and providing them with supplies. He is eventually blackmailed by a German High Officer. There are no simple choices, and sometimes no choice at all: the grey area of supposed self-determination is blasted to pieces by Kinney’s blistering depiction of occupation and its compromises. For Alex, to resist is to be executed. And who can honestly say they would have the strength to choose death?
In Dutch Defense, the day-to-day life of Dutch citizens resisting the German occupiers in WW2 is magnificently and brutally brought to light. The author is carefully diligent in her depictions of post-traumatic psychological problems. While characters are at once faced with dealing with the barrage of violent memories, horrifying sights and all-pervading grief, they are also confronted with a world that is moving onwards, at times faster than they can keep up with. A thoughtful and explorative tone weaves the personalities and beliefs of the characters into reality. In the face of the suffering, hope is both a soft light in the distance, and a buoy to cling to. As one character, Marlise, ruminates: “I want to be grateful for the rest of my life. I want to live, conscious of the preciousness of it.” The abiding strength of these characters comes from their acts of love, and this continues to be the case, even after the all-encompassing terror of the Nazi regime has receded.
Indeed, the author belies common assumptions about the period, and little-known details of the turn of events are revealed: for instance, the German occupation was not immediately deposed once Hitler was dead and his army had surrendered. German soldiers still patrolled the streets and held control, there was no food to be found, and people were still dying for the same reasons. Starvation plagues every part of society, even after the country is liberated by Canadian forces. The frustration the characters feel is palpable, as the moment they have so long waited for is pointlessly delayed.
Moreover, a particularly devastating period of the narrative involves the so-called “Hunger Walkers”: the thousands of men and women from cities who would walk hours a day to farms to beg for food, with whatever valuable items they could find in exchange. People are driven to eating tulip bulbs in their desperation. The Red Cross manages to make some inroads by supplying each person their own loaf of bread, but this final winter in the war is a cold and harsh one, and everyone feels powerless. The international effort brings an important element of hope to our group of characters who are stuck inside enemy lines, as one of them explains: “It is proof that there is still a world out there […] and that there are people out there who care.”
This masterful story is frank and sincere in its historical accuracy. At one point, the author points out that a rural region alone counted thousands among its dead, and not from bombing:
The death count due to starvation in that part of Holland had been determined to have reached at least 15,000.
There is an historical sense that permeates the narrative. While everyday experiences and details are painstakingly brought to the reader’s awareness, the author does not leave the wider significant context out of the picture. An important question looms its head: how many iterations of society have waged war with each other, or indeed within themselves? The protagonist Alex ruminates:
We see [those] people as cruel, foolish, and ignorant in those distant days, but are we any better now?
Dutch Defense is a moving portrait of the lives lost and morals compromised by the Resistance movement. An overwhelming impression the novel leaves you with is that Resistance took many varying and little-known forms: from the priest preaching against the authorities, to the armed young Dutch men engaging in violent sabotage, to the quiet individuals ferrying small packages across the country, to the farmers secreting away food for the hungry in their kitchens. Small acts of resistance were ubiquitous, even in the realm of the spiritual, and just as fundamental to the effort as the larger ones.
To end this ingenious piece of fiction, Dutch Defense moves the spotlight of focus onto life after the occupation. The joy and relief anticipated at the moment of liberation, with the Allies marching over the hills, is a powerful phenomenon for our band of fighters. And yet, it is short-lived, as eyes refocus on the reality of the ruins around them. Those who survived the war struggle to make a living, as the country’s economy suffers and jobs are few and far between. And yet, romance blossoms, lives are slowly rebuilt, and justice, sometimes tenuous, is served. Perhaps that is the overarching conviction this brilliant story leaves you with: suffering may be inevitable, but meaning can be found with it, in it, nonetheless.
Dutch Defense. A true story of struggle and survival during World War II, by Johanna Kinney, Amsterdam Publishers, 246 pp,?is available as ebook, paperback and hardcover in all bookstores, on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Amazon link: https://mybook.to/DD1JKkd