Memoir About Dutch World War II Survivor Jan Makkreel Reveals Incidents of Antisemitism in Wartime Netherlands

“Under the Shadow of The Swastika” (ReadersMagnet; 2019) is a gripping World War II memoir about Jan Makkreel’s teenage life during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
 
The memoir, ghostwritten by Robert Graef, fills the readers in about Makkreel’s family background (plus Nazi family ties, wherein his sister defected to Germany and his uncle is an SS officer). The book relates his trials during and after the war, particularly his imprisonment over false charges of Nazi collaboration, among many painful memories – ghosts – of his youth in war-time Rotterdam.
 
In the book, particular attention was paid to the plight of the Jews during the occupation. He was aware of the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Rotterdam. He mentions the Weschelman family, which members were pushed from their home, carrying only a single bag, and driven away a boxy-shaped older car. The Germans came next for the family of his playmates, the siblings Jacob and Lisa. He shares:
 
Jacob and Lisa and I went back to our play while keeping anxious eyes on their house. After a painfully long half-hour their father appeared at the door to call them in. Not long after, I watched the entire family forcibly pushed from their home and driven away.4 I have never been able to erase the image of Lisa’s face at the back window as she waved to me. I never saw them again.
 
Read more about Jan Makkreel’s eyewitness account of the Nazi persecution of the Jews in his memoir “Under the Shadow of The Swastika.” Order a copy today through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
 
Await the public display of this book at the upcoming 2019 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National Conference & Exhibition on November 14-16, 2019 in Louisville, KY.
 
Under the Shadow of The Swastika
Author: Jan Makkreel (ghostwritten by Robert Graef)
Published date: January 29, 2019
Published by ReadersMagnet
Kindle price: $5.99
 
 
About the Author
 
Jan Makkreel was born on 1926 in Rotterdam, Holland and had a very happy childhood until war broke out. He and his brother had to scramble for food of any kind during the war to keep their family fed while their father worked. He also secretly helped the Jews in his neighborhood who were still hiding, which was very dangerous. After the end of the war, he and his father were interned for a year and a half at AMERSFOORT Prison Camp for alleged Nazi collaboration. They were released after being proven innocent but the neighbors were not convinced. Jan could not return to school nor gain employment. He decided to go to Canada where he and his brother began their own businesses. Over the years, he opened a string of piano stores and tuned and restored pianos.
 
 

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