Opposite the lion's den

Memoirs of a Dutch man, a hairdresser by profession, who hid two Jewish families in his home in Utrecht during the Nazi occupation. Huygens also arranged the escape of both of the men of these families from the camps where they were being detained. Later on, the underground sent other Jews to him for short periods. Huygens' house was situated opposite a police station which became SS headquarters, and many of his customers were Nazi sympathizers, making his rescue actions even more dangerous for himself and his family. After the war they emigrated to Australia. The preface (pp. i-xlvii), by Suzanne D. Rutland, presents a brief history of the Holocaust in the Netherlands and discusses postwar Australian immigration policies. Although interested in an influx of immigrants after the war and having softened some immigration restrictions, Australia was prepared to accept non-Jewish Dutch people, but not Jews from the Netherlands or from other countries. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)