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"Look after her" - the story of a hidden WW2 child

Lien de Jong was one of thousands of Jewish children who hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands

Lien de Jong was a young girl living in The Hague in the Netherlands when the Second World War broke out. The country was occupied, and her parents took a desperate decision to protect their child, sending her to live with the Van Es family, passionate anti-Nazis who raised Lien as their own. After the end of the war Lien remained with her adoptive family. Her biological parents had been murdered in Auschwitz, and she had nowhere else to go. But the trauma of the war took a heavy toll on Lien, and over time she became increasingly estranged from the Van Es family. Then, years later, she received an email from Bart Van Es. He was the son of Lien's adoptive brother, and he wanted to tell her story. Lien and Bart spoke to Outlook's Jo Fidgen.

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Photo: Nazi Germany occupies the Netherlands
Credit: Getty Images/Three Lions

Available now

41 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Wed 1 Jul 2020 11:06GMT
  • Wed 1 Jul 2020 17:06GMT
  • Thu 2 Jul 2020 02:06GMT

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected