Hunger in Holland [Hardcover]

Cornelia Fuykschot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

What was life like in occupied Holland during World War II? What was it like for a nation to find itself overwhelmed by a foreign power? How did people survive the repressive Nazi occupation? This compelling first-person account is an eye-opening experience. As seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old Cornelia, "Hunger In Holland" chronicles the steady deterioration of normal, everyday life; the loss of freedom and security; and, the role of the law as food and many of life's amenities became scarce. Young Cornelia takes on the responsibility of begging for food and helping to hide her father from the Nazis, who had shipped every man they could find to the munitions factory to work for the Nazi war effort. She captures the day-to-day struggle for survival and vividly illustrates the strength, ingenuity, and dogged determination needed to carry on. Fuykschot sketches the changing lives of ordinary people; their efforts to go to school, to work, to clean house, to find food, to maintain some semblance of normalcy against a backdrop of bombing raids and the daily terror of the Nazis. "Hunger in Holland" is a moving description of a horrific period in world history, a testament to those who survived, and a valuable lesson for those who have never known the terror of war.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-The engrossing story of daily life in occupied Holland, told by a Dutch woman who was a young teen at the time. Fuykschot's memoir begins on the day German paratroopers descended from the skies over the Netherlands. There are few heroics here; instead, readers see the ongoing tactics adopted by a people for whom existence grew steadily more precarious through the war years. The author's matter-of-fact style gives her narrative poignancy and even immediacy; there's an unspoken determination to do whatever is necessary to survive. Corrie, 11, is given a bicycle for her birthday, her first, on which she will be able to get to school on the other side of town. Through the years, it becomes increasingly important to the family as conditions worsen. A wealth of fascinating details about gradual adjustments downward, the coping skills developed by all, and the small acts of cooperation and kindness between neighbors and strangers are included. A good read for young teens, especially as the story is told from the point of view of an adolescent who was forced to mature early in order to help her family.-Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879759879
• ISBN-13: 978-0879759872
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Scandinavian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good first person account., August 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hunger in Holland (Hardcover)

This book provides a fairly objective view of the many domestic details of life under German occupation. Fuykschot was a young teen in Utrecht, Holland when her life was dramatically changed during WW2. She describes the struggle to keep warm, clothed, and nourished as basic supplies became increasingly scare. The focus is a personal and familial one as she recalls the events that impacted on her parents and younger sister, and to some extent neighbours and school chums. Hardship abounds but triumph is definite in the satisfying ending of liberation by Canadian troops in 1944.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic, September 5, 2011

By 

lita - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hunger in Holland (Hardcover)

Fantastic book. Extremely accurate and it will be great for the grandchildren to read,so they will understand what we went through in the war. Could not put it down.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting but indifferently packaged, November 27, 2007

By 

Paul "Cosmic Dreamer" (Gilroy, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hunger in Holland (Hardcover)

I was very interested in how the Dutch survived the Nazi occupation. This book brought it home in very clear terms. The book itself is cheaply printed. Also, the author doesn't follow a clear chronology but she is writing from memory and probably doesn't recall that much detail. The feeling one gets is that she was starving in 1943, nothing got better, but somehow it becomes mid-1945.
Still, a strong recommendation if you find these kinds of war stories compelling.