Dearest Peter: 1940 - 1945

DEAREST PETER MARGARET WITHOF-KEUS 1940-1945 This is a fascinating memoir of the war years in Holland written by a Scotswoman who married a Dutchman in 1913, was widowed in 1938 and spent the war years alone here. She had three children; a daughter Peggy who was studying medicine at Edinburgh, a son Dick who was put in a detention camp by the Nazis and another son Peter who was a planter in Java. She worried a lot about both of her sons. She had raised her family in a large house in Alphen aan de Rijn which is now Avifauna, the large park where one can see many species of birds. Her memoir is in the form of letters to son Peter and has three main themes: she tells of her own life and that of her friends, she comments on the Dutch people and how they reacted to german oppression and she relates the progress of the war in all the various battlefields. It is a tour de force and a very good picture of life in Holland between 1940 and 1945. The author was the founder of the British Woman’s Club in 1928 and until her death in 1976 at the age of 94 she was an honorary president of the club. After the war she lived in theU.K. but as long as her health permitted she returned every summer to stay in Scheveningen and visit the club. Her letters were found after the death of her daughter Peggy by her grandson, Peter’s son. He has now published them and given the club the gift of a copy. A fascinating tale, very well recorded. Highly recommended.