Things We Couldn't Say [Paperback]

Diet Eman (Author), James Calvin Schaap (Author), James Schaap (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 1999

Here is the incredible true story of Diet Eman, who, with her fiance, Hein Sietsma, risked everything to rescue Dutch Jews imperiled by Nazi persecution in occupied Holland during World War II. Emans first-person narrative vividly captures the gripping events of her brave saga.

Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (November 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802847471
• ISBN-13: 978-0802847478
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #495,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exceptional book in several ways, December 31, 2005

By 

R. Martin "boblaura9" (Mauldin, sc United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Things We Couldn't Say (Paperback)

Diet Eman was a young dutch woman during WWII in Holland. Her and her fiance were involved in the Dutch resistance movement. They helped Jews find homes/families to hide with in the Dutch countryside. This was a huge undertaking that required much teamwork. (For instance, the families that took in Jews would need extra ration cards to buy more food. Extra ration cards would have to be obtained and delivered to these families.) Diet literally rode hundreds (probably thousands!!) of miles on bicycles during the war coordinating this effort to keep Jews hidden in the countryside.

As Diet tells her story, there are frequent excerpts from the personal diary she kept during the war. And excerpts from postal letters she either sent or received during the war. This helped give the book a very "real" feel...You experience her first hand emotions and thoughts as these events were actually taking place.

Diet had a strong Christian faith. Her spiritual insights are deep and powerful. Her faith sustained her during this troubling time in history.

Diet was eventually caught by the Nazis and spent time in a jail and a concentration camp. She was briefly at the same camp as Corrie TenBoom, author of The Hiding Place. Diet survived, but her beloved fiance died in a concentration camp.

I highly recommend this book. Not only is it an exceptional historical account of life during WWII, but the spiritual (Christian) thoughts in it are very profound. While Diet was living through this horrific time period, the spiritual thoughts she recorded in her diary are incredibly mature. She was so young (early 20's) but was advanced beyond her years with spiritual perception. Her faith influenced her every thought.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every high school student in America should read this book, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Things We Couldn't Say (Hardcover)

Diet's story is not one just of the events during the Second World War, but a timeless story of the power of good over evil. She brings hope to the hearts of us all through her enormous capacity to love her fellow man enough to sacrifice every relationship she held dear. If you have an ounce of compassion you can not help but be touched by Diet's book. You will ask yourself over and over again, "Could I have done what she did? Lost what she lost and still held on to hope?" I recommend this book to everyone I know!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Things We Couldn't Say by Diet Eman, June 3, 2001

By 

Virginia (San Diego County) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Things We Couldn't Say (Paperback)

Focus on the Family radio station featured Diet Eman April 2001, during one of my drives to work. I heard a portion of the most gripping account of how Diet was arrested (with undiscovered stolen ration cards for hidden Jews and false ID cards for downed allied piolots). There she sat in a train station surrounded by six German soldiers, praying very hard for the grace of God to help her to get rid of those papers hidden in her bra, a sure death sentence. To distract one guard, or perhaps two, would be possible, but how would all six be distracted at the same time so that she could get rid of that envelope? I couldn't tune in to the radio the following day. I was left with the most exciting alternative, to read the book. Diet's story will dwarf anyone's troubles and serves to inspire how faith and reliance on God can manage the seemingly impossible while sculpting one's heart with a strong dose of humility.