Ida Vos (1) (1931–2006)

Ida Vos, née Gudema, was born to a Jewish family in Groningen, The Netherlands. She and her family were living in Rotterdam when World War II began, and they experienced the Rotterdam Blitz of May 1940, when Nazi Germany heavily bombarded the city to force the nation to surrender. In 1943, the Gudema family went into hiding, and Ida and her sister Esther were separated from their parents. They survived the war, and Ida grew up to become a kindergarten teacher. In 1956, she married Henk Vos, with whom she had three children. During the 1970s, she was hospitalized for treatment related to her wartime traumas. This led her to write about her experiences in the Holocaust, first in poems, then in the form of short stories, and eventually in books for children and young adults. Her book Wie niet weg is wordt gezien (published in English as Hide and Seek, 1981) received international recognition. The sequel, Anne is er nog (Anna Is Still Here), was published in 1986. She was awarded the Order of Orange Nassau from the Dutch government in 2003.