My Sins Go With Me

Why did acts of sabotage by the Dutch Resistance during World War Two, that saved countless Jews from the camps, remain largely hidden to the present day? This is the story of the remarkable bravery and heroism, and also of terrible betrayal.

Anna-Maria van der Vaart is 104, remarkably independent despite her failing eyesight, living on the south coast of England. During the darkest days of the war, in her home country of Holland, she sheltered Allied pilots, gave refuge to persecuted Jews and stood up to the Nazis by participating in audacious acts of resistance. The Dutch turned more Jews over to the Nazis than any other nation. There were traitors in every Resistance cell, the juxtaposition of valour and treachery poignant and tragic.

A chance meeting with Anna-Maria led to her telling him her story, together with those of the Resistance members with whom she had contact or whose deeds she recollected, the people she helped and others who were determined to destroy them.  In interviews with those who survived, in Dutch and German archives, personal diaries, photo libraries and occasionally contentious memoirs by those with plenty to hide, Martin Sixsmith came across a drama on a scale he could never have imagined.  In My Sins Go With Me, he gives as wide as possible a picture of those who resisted and those who threw in their lot with their fellow Aryans from Hitler’s Germany, endeavouring to understand the decisions taken by both sides and learning that it was not a simple choice, not merely a question of courage and honour versus cowardice and greed.

About the Author

Martin Sixsmith was educated at Oxford, Harvard and the Sorbonne. From 1980 to 1997 he worked for the BBC as the Corporation's correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the government as Director of Communications and Press Secretary. Martin is now a writer, presenter and journalist, living in London. He is the author of two novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh , and several works of non-fiction, including Philomena, first published in 2009 as The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.