The Netherlands hopes to remain neutral during the war, and sides neither with Germany nor with the United Kingdom and France. These hopes are shattered on 10 May: the German Army attacks the Netherlands. The Dutch Army is badly equipped, so the German troops can advance quickly. On 13 May Queen Wilhemina and the Dutch government are evacuated to England onboard British ships. On 15 May the Dutch Army surrenders. After five days the fighting is over. Germany begins its occupation of the Netherlands, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart is appointed governor.

This is terrible news for most Dutch people. For the Jewish population and refugees from Germany it is an absolute catastrophe. In the days and weeks after the surrender, hundreds of Jewish people commit suicide.

At first, there are no measures against the Jewish community. Both the mayor of Amsterdam and of The Hague is assured by the German military that the Dutch Jews will not be harassed.

This turns out to be a false sense of security. On 31 July, just about three months into the occupation, the first in a long list of anti-Jewish laws is put in place. It has the unsuspicious name “Avoidance of Cruel Practices in Slaughter”, and outlaws kosher slaughtering of animals.

And so it begins.

In August, the Germans order that from now on no Jew can be hired for or promoted in public service.

Then, on 18 October, the Aryan declaration form is sent out. It asks all teachers, professors and government workers to state if they themselves, their partner, their parents or their grandparents have ever been part of the Jewish community. If any of these apply, one is classified as Jewish. The forms have to be filled out, signed and sent back by 26 October. Although there is some resistance, particularly within the Dutch universities and religious communities, most civil servants sign it.

Based on this form, all Jewish civil servants are suspended from their jobs less than two months later.

On 22 October, the first law directly naming the Jews is put into place. It requires all Jewish or partially Jewish businesses to register themselves. In cases of resistance heavy fines are issued.

How the Kan family is dealing with these events is unknown. The only surviving document is Alex's school report of 1940/41. His grades are slightly worse compared to the year before.

On 10 January, little over half a year since the start of the occupation, the Germans issue decree 6/41, which states that all Jews have to register themselves, be it “full Jew”, “half Jew” or “quarter Jew”. One Jewish grandparent is sufficient. Failure to register is punishable with five years in prison and/or confiscation of property. The Dutch Census Office is tasked with the registration, and is fully complicit in carrying it out. By the end of August, 160.820 people register, of which 140.552 declare themselves “full Jews”. The Germans are very satisfied with the Dutch organisation, calling it “exemplary”.

Later that year, the German representative in Amsterdam, Hans Böhmcker, will write the following about the decree to governor Arthur Seyss-Inquart.

“Thanks to decree 6/41, we now have all Dutch Jews in our pocket.”

Still in January, the German authorities demand the formation of a “Jewish Council” representing the Jews of Amsterdam. Its purpose should be to preserve order in the Jewish Quarter. Abraham Asscher and professor David Cohen are named the chairs of this Jewish Council. In the first meeting, the members agree that the council will have a “mainly executive and mediatory task, but could bear no responsibility for the orders it had to transmit, nor could it accept orders that were dishonourable to the Jews”

On 25 February the Dutch people rise up in the so-called February Strike to protest the treatment of the Jews. Organized by the communist party, it brings public life to a complete stop in Amsterdam and other cities. The strike marks the first collective action in solidarity with the Jewish people during World War II. The German authorities quickly suppress it, and overall it makes little difference in helping the Jewish population of the Netherlands.

On 12 March, governor Arthur Seyss-Inquart gives a speech at the concert hall in Amsterdam.

“And I would like to take this opportunity to say something about the Jewish question. We do not consider the Jews to be members of the Dutch nation. To us, the Jews are not Dutch. The Jews are the enemy with whom no armistice or peace can be made. Do not expect me to lay this down in a regulation other than police measures. We will smite the Jews where we meet them and whoever goes along with them must take the consequences.”

In August, the Germans push for separation of Jewish and non-Jewish kids in schools. The Jewish Council sets out to find a way of doing this. They decide to set up separate Jewish schools with Jewish teachers and staff.

It is unkown how Jules, Ella and Alex are dealing with the increasing discrimination by the German authorities.

From autumn onwards Alex is forced to attend a segregated Jewish school in the Jan van Eykstraat 21. His school report from this school is the only surviving document of this year.

In November, Jeanne, the wife of grandfather Simon, dies from natural causes. Her death is announced in the Jewish weekly newspaper.

This leaves Alex with Simon as his sole grandparent.

From summer 1941 onwards, the German authorities discuss with the Jewish Council opening up labour camps in the Netherlands for unemployed Jews. Most of these unemployed Jews are jobless exactly because of the antisemitic laws the Germans put into place. On 5 January, the Jewish Council is informed that they are expected to supply 1.402 Jews for transport to labour camps within five days. The Jewish Council protests, but nonetheless passes the order on to the Amsterdam Labour Office, who selects the Jews based on their age and ability to work.

The Jewish Council informs the selected people that “serious measures against you will be taken in the event of non-compliance” and “we strongly advise you to cooperate in your own interest.”

905 Jews respond to the call, and are transported to a labour camp in Drenthe. This marks the first of a number of transports to labour camps. Throughout this process, the Jewish Council becomes increasingly complicit to the German demands.

Around the same time, Alex's father Jules starts trying to find a way to leave the Netherlands. On Alex’s school report his teacher writes that he is missing a lot, possibly because of Jules' plans to leave with his family.

While Jules tries to find an escape route, a fatal and far-reaching event takes place in Berlin. On 20 January, a group of highranking Nazi officials meet in a Villa at the Wannsee. They discuss the procedures and details of the final solution, the mass murder of all Jews within Nazi Germany’s reach. This event will become known as the Wannsee Conference. Meanwhile, three extermination camps capable of killing thousands of people per day are constructed in absolute secrecy in eastern Poland: Treblinka, Bełżec and Sobibór. By mid 1942, they are operational.

Meanwhile, leaving proves impossible for the Kan Family. Jules starts building a network of helpers and possible places to hide. His profession turns out to be very useful, because through his business operations he knows a lot of people.

At the end of April, the German authorities order another humiliating measure. To further separate the Jews from regular society all Jews from the age of six have to carry the yellow star. The Jewish Council is tasked with distributing the stars within three days, and does so under protest. The Jews have to pay for the stars.

On 22 June, the Germans order the Jews to hand in their Bicycles within 48 hours, adding that they should “not forget their spare tyres and tubes”.

Then, in mid July, the deportations start. At first more or less orderly with lists supplied by the Jewish Council, but then increasingly forceful. German soldiers as well as Dutch police drag Jews from their homes, round them up in the streets, and take them away — sometimes by car, sometimes on foot. Most of them will never return.

It is in these weeks that the Kan family manages to go into hiding. They split up, and Ella, Jules and Alex are all hiding at different places. From the start, multiple people are involved in helping them. They provide hiding places, so-called “guesthouses”, and take care of passing on letters between them. Everyone involved starts using aliases and abbreviations to conceal locations and identities.

The most prominent helpers:

All helpers are taking a huge personal risk in their support for the family Kan. Hiding and aiding Jewish people is strictly forbidden, and if caught one was at risk to be deported too.

Ella, who now goes by “Jo”, finds shelter in the Gooi area east of Amsterdam. “Gart”, as Jules is now called, at first hides at Herengracht 168 in Amsterdam, and later at Johanna’s house in Barneveld. Alex does not have an alias yet and is just called “L.”. He is probably hiding on a farm in the Veluwe area. Given the circumstances things are going well.

In the last week of September Ella sends a letter that is passed via Debora and Johanna to Alex.

Then disaster strikes.

Ella is arrested shortly before her 41st birthday.

How and why is not exactly known, but it happens at the end of September. It is said that she was betrayed. She is transferred to the prison at Amstelveenseweg and held there for a few weeks. A lawyer close to the family, Mr. Wolf de Beer, is asked for help. He gets a request from Ella for clean clothing, and manages to figure out the details of Ella’s deportation. He informs Bep about this.

On 13 October, Bep meets Ella at the train station just before her deportation. She hands a farewell letter to Bep.

A few days later Bep writes a letter to Jules, in which she describes the situation.

Debora writes to Jules as well. In the meantime Alex left the farm and is staying with her.

On 19 October, just six days after her deportation from Amsterdam, Ella arrives by train in Auschwitz.

She is murdered upon arrival.

Family and friends of Ella are not aware of her death, because at the time the mass murder of the Jewish people is a well kept secret. For them she has simply disappeared. They do not tell Alex about this to avoid devastating him.

On the day of Ella’s death, Debora writes another letter to Jules. She and the lawyer Wolf de Beer are continuing the search for her.

In the same letter, Debora tells Jules that she organized a different guesthouse for Alex and that he has a new alias. She gives Alex the identity papers of her oldest son, Frank Lodeizen, who was born during her first marriage and is only half-Jewish. The real Frank is hidden elsewhere. She also manages to organize an opportunity for Alex to go to school.

Alex sends a letter to his father along with Debora’s. He describes his experience on the farm and asks about his mother.

A week later, 26 October, Alex sends another letter to Jules telling him about the new guesthouse. He has received the sweater his mother knitted for him.

On the 28 October, a bureaucratic procedure is put in motion, which will have major consequences for Debora, her family and also Alex, who is disguised as Frank Lodeizen. The town clerk of Barneveld asks the police to investigate the religious affiliation of Debora, her husband Ernest, their daughters Riwka and Marijke, as well that of her son Frank Lodeizen. It is suspected that they are Jewish.

At the start of November, Alex sends a letter to the Meeusen family in Amsterdam.

A week later, he sends a letter to Jules telling how things are going for him.

Debora writes to Jules in the same week. There are discussions going on if it might be possible to buy Ella out of custody. The people involved in the search for Ella have heard of someone who successfully did this. The money is meant to be transferred by Mark Sluis, a friend and business contact of Jules who emigrated to the United States. Bep continues to help with the search. These attempts are doomed to fail for obvious reasons.

On 4 December Debora visits Alex in his guesthouse. To reassure him she tells him that she is in contact with his mother, but that Alex is not allowed to write to her. Debora’s visit at the guesthouse of Alex is her last appearance in the letters. What happens to her and the family from this point on is unclear. It is assumed that the police investigation classified them as Jewish, and to avoid deportation they go into hiding. With Debora’s disappearance, Alex is losing contact to Jules and the rest of the network. This may cause the ensuing three month gap in the surviving letters.

In March, Jules and Alex are in contact again. Jules is about to move to the house of the Koster family in Deventer, where he is living from April onwards. Alex writes to Jules.

Mid April, Alex writes to Jules again. He tells about school, playing chess, and asks about his mother.

In May, Debora, her husband Ernest and their seven-year-old daughter Riwka are discovered and arrested. Their three-year-old daughter Marijke is hidden with the housekeeper of Johanna, so she evades capture. They are taken to Westerbork, and from there they are deported on 25 May. Three days later they arrive in Sobibór, where they are murdered right away.

On 1 June Alex turns thirteen.

On 12 June Alex leaves his hideout to travel to nearby Deventer. The occasion of his trip is to visit his father who is hiding there.

And then it happens — Alex gets arrested at the station in Apeldoorn.