Winter in Wartime

Considered a classic in Holland, Jan Terlouw’s young adult historical novel Winter in Wartime (Oorlogswinter) first published in Dutch in 1972, has never been out of print in the Netherlands. The story takes place in a small village in Holland near the end of World War II. Fifteen-year-old Michiel Van Beusekom must hide an injured British soldier from the Nazis while simultaneously trying to discover a traitor in the local Dutch Resistance movement. Terlouw was eight years old when Germany invaded the Netherlands, and Winter in Wartime is based on his own childhood memories of life in German-occupied Holland. In this coming of age novel, Terlouw examines the effects of war, delivering a strong-antiwar message. The novel won the 1973 Best Dutch Juvenile award and was adapted into a 13-episode television miniseries (1975), a film (2008), and a musical (2011).

It is the winter of 1944-1945, the final year of World War II. Almost 16, Michiel Van Beusekom is ready for the war to end. He was 11 when the Nazis invaded Holland and Belgium in 1940. Then, he thought the war would be exciting. Now, Michiel sees the toll the war has taken on his country. His small hometown, Vlank, is still occupied by the Germans even though the southern part of Holland has been liberated. Recognizing that they are losing the war, the Germans confiscate food to send to Germany and round up strong young men to work in their munitions factories. The country is filled with refugees from the west searching for food and shelter. Michiel’s home is like a waystation. He helps his family provide a meal and a place to sleep for displaced people on their travels.

Michiel lives with his father, who is the mayor of Vlank, his mother, older sister, Erica, and six-year-old brother, Jochem. Michiel looks up to his Uncle Ben who works with the Resistance, providing false papers for people escaping the country. Michiel helps raise rabbits and chickens and runs errands on his wooden-wheeled bicycle. It is too dangerous for him to go to school anymore, so Michiel does odd jobs, working at farmhouses and repairing bicycles. He knows people’s secrets; like who has a hidden wireless radio, and who may be hiding Jewish refugees, but Michiel also knows how to keep these secrets.



Michiel’s friend, the neighbor’s son Dirk Knopper, is a Resistance member. One day, Dirk tells Michiel that he and some Resistance fighters are going to raid a distribution center to get ration cards for people in hiding. He gives Michiel a letter to deliver to Bertus Van Gelder, another Resistance fighter, in case anything happens to him. The raid is a German trap, and Dirk and Bertus are both captured. Michiel debates getting rid of the letter: it is a risk for him to keep it. But Michiel has always wanted to do his duty and play a larger role in fighting the Nazis. He reads the letter and discovers that Dirk has been caring for a wounded British pilot, who is unable to walk. The man is hidden in an underground hideout in the Dagdaler woods. Michiel takes over caring for the pilot, Jack, but soon realizes the man’s broken leg and injured shoulder need more professional care. Michiel reluctantly enlists his sister, Erica, a nurse, to help. Erica takes over most of Jack’s care, developing a romantic connection with the pilot.

Michiel wonders how the Nazis knew about the Resistance raid on the distribution center. He believes there is a traitor leaking information to the Germans and suspects Mr. Schafter, who hangs around the German barracks. When the body of a German soldier is found in the woods, the Germans believe that one of the townspeople killed him. They take ten villagers prisoner, planning to hang them unless the murderer confesses. No one comes forward, and the Nazis shoot five of their “reprisal victims”—including Michiel’s father.

Now, Michiel is head of the family. His father’s murder makes him less afraid of the Germans and more determined to outwit them and hasten the end of the war. Michiel works more for the Resistance, helping two Jewish men to freedom.



Although badly beaten, Dirk escapes the Nazis and returns to Jack’s underground hideout. Dirk agrees with Michiel that the raid was an ambush. Dirk admits that he killed the German soldier when he rescued Jack. Initially, Erica and Michiel are angry with Dirk—his action led to their father’s death—but they forgive him, knowing his courage and the importance of his work. Meanwhile, Michiel’s attempt to prove that Mr. Schafter is the traitor fails. Mr. Schafter is hiding three Jewish people in his home: he only pretends to be close to the Germans, so they do not suspect him.

Knowing that Uncle Ben helps people escape the country, Michiel asks for his assistance in getting Jack to freedom. Just in time, Michiel realizes that Uncle Ben is the traitor. Michiel intercepts Uncle Ben and Jack before Uncle Ben can deliver the pilot to the German barracks. In Uncle Ben’s pockets, Michiel finds letters and evidence of his duplicity. Michiel takes Uncle Ben to the Resistance leader, Michiel’s old schoolmaster, Mr. Postma. As the three walk down the road, they notice camouflaged munitions wagons, being targeted from above by British Spitfires. Michiel and Mr. Postma take cover, but Uncle Ben makes a run for it. He is killed when a bomb explodes a munition wagon.

The Germans pull out of Vlank the night before English tanks arrive, liberating the village. People rejoice at the new peace, and the Resistance comes out of hiding. Michiel tells Dirk, “We’ll never fight in a war, only against a war.”