Author(s): Martin Sixsmith

Biography

The Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War saw the most extensive collaboration on the part of a civilian population in territories controlled by the Nazis. More Dutchmen elected to fight with the Germans and more Jews were betrayed than in any other country. Holland's Jewish leaders prevaricated, hoping to save their people and their own skins. But the exploits of the Dutch Resistance produced unimaginable heroism and unparalleled self-sacrifice.



In the darkest days of the war, Anna-Maria van der Vaart sheltered Allied pilots, gave refuge to persecuted Jews and participated in audacious acts of sabotage. She survived when others didn't, a witness to their courage and to the terrible treachery that betrayed them to the Nazis.



A chance meeting with Martin Sixsmith in 2019 led to Anna-Maria telling him her story. She spoke of the comrades with whom she had contact or whose deeds she recollected, the people she helped and others who were determined to destroy them, and a time when there were traitors in every Resistance cell.



In Dutch and German archives, interviews with survivors, personal diaries and contentious memoirs by those with things to hide, Sixsmith came across a drama on a scale he could never have imagined. Endeavouring to understand the decisions taken by both sides, he learned that these were not simple choices.



My Sins Go with Me is a story of remarkable bravery and of cowardice and betrayal, poignant and tragic in its juxtaposition of valour and treachery in the hardest of times.