Anne Frank and After, Dutch Holocaust Literature in Historical Perspective

Between 1940 and 1945, 110,000 of the 140,000 Dutch Jews were deported to the death camps in Eastern Europe. 80% never returned. In Anne Frank and After the authors focus on two main questions: how exactly did this happen, and how has Dutch literature come to terms with this appalling event? In the book's final chapter they analyze the relationship between history and the literature of the Holocaust. Does literature add to what we know or does it actually distort historical evidence? Based on the work of leading historians of the period, the book examines literary works from Gerard Durlacher, Anne Frank, W.F. Hermans, Harry Mulisch, Gerard Reve and many others.
"With its well-chosen quotations (many appearing for the first time in print), presented in a clear and illuminating historical setting, Anne Frank and After is must reading for all who want to go beyond Anne Frank for a more rounded picture of wartime Holland and its Jews."

(Holocaust and Genocide Studies—January 1998)