Ida Vos

Ida Vos (maiden name Gudema) (Groningen, December 13, 1931 - Amstelveen, April 3, 2006) was a Jewish-Dutch author. She wrote books meant for both children as well as adults.

In most of her books, Vos wrote about her experiences as a Jewish girl during the Second World War. Her best known book was "Wie niet weg is wordt gezien" (literally: Who isn't gone will be seen), which was awarded with the most prestigious Dutch literature prize for children's books in 1982.

From 1936 onwards, Ida Vos and her family lived in Rotterdam. She experienced in Rotterdam the German bombardment of the city in May 1940, after which her family moved to Rijswijk (near The Hague). In 1943 the Gudema family went into hiding. Ida and her sister Elly were separated from their parents during this period.

After the war Vos became a kindergarten teacher. She married in 1956, and gave birth to three children. During the 1970s she was admitted to a hospital due to her traumas she had developed during the war. This led her to start writing about her experiences, first in the shape of poems, but soon in the shape of stories and - eventually - children's books. Central in her work was the infringement on her freedom by the Nazi occupiers and the time she spend in hiding.

Ida Vos died on April 3, 2006 in Amstelveen at the age of 74.

Works

* "35 Tranen" (35 Tears - 1975)
* "Schiereiland" (Peninsula - 1979)
* "Miniaturen" (Miniatures - 1980)
* "Wie niet weg is wordt gezien" (Who isn't gone will be seen - 1981)
* "Anne is er nog" (Anna is still here - 1986)
* "Dansen op de brug van Avignon" (Dancing on the bridge of Avignon - 1989)
* "Witte zwanen, zwarte zwanen" (White swans, black swans - 1992)
* "De sleutel is gebroken" (The key is lost- 1996)
* "De lachende engel" (The laughing angel - 2000)
* "Hide and Seek

External links

* [http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Vos Ida Vos at Dutch Wikipedia]
* [http://www.idavos.nl/ Idavos.nl]