Simple, short story ("novella") about a married Dutch couple (Wim and Marie) who agreed to hide a Jew (known as Nico) in an upstairs bedroom. They don't really run into serious problems while doing so, though the author does a great job helping us understand what all that might have felt like - the effect on the hidden; the effect on the hiders; the tension associated with little things like dealing with the cleaning lady, the milkman, visiting relatives; listening to the bombers fly overhead on their way from bases in Britain to targets inside Germany; dealing with Netherlands policemen who can be more or less helpful to the Nazi occupiers; etc. Wim and Marie were simple, kind, people.Then there is a problem - Nico dies (he wasn't in great health and caught pneumonia). Disposing of the body led to a situation that involved a complete shift of perspective for Wim and Marie, one that gave them a glimpse into what had become Nico's world.
Which I think is very helpful to think about. (This type of shift probably could happen, beneficially, more in my day-to-day life if I keep my eyes open.)
This book offers another instructive perspective on what I would tend to characterize as "peripheral" players in WWII-era Europe. But really, what's peripheral about these characters??
Things like this must have happened in Luxembourg?
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