Hetty Esther Verolme was born in Belgium in 1930. In 1931 her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In 1943 she and her family were sent to the Nazi concentration camps.
After surviving the war and working for a time in the fashion industry, she emigrated to Australia in 1954. She worked in many jobs, from waitress to bus conductress, from door-to-door retailing to selling real estate. She eventually established herself as a successful shopping centre developer.
In 1972, Hetty Verolme was presented with “Most Successful Migrant” award. In 1977 she was appointed to the Australian Ethnics Affairs Council, and for many years she has been actively involved in a wide range of community and charity organizations.
About The Books
Hetty’s family was torn apart following the German invasion of the Netherlands. Rounded up by the Nazi’s and then separated from their parents. Hetty and her brothers were sent to the Children’s House, within Belsen concentration camp. As one of the eldest, Hetty became the “Little Mother”, helping to care for not only her siblings, but the other children as well.
In a direct and powerful style. Hetty recalls one of the remarkable, largely untold stories of the Holocaust – the extraordinary struggle and survival of this group of children through those terrible years.