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Why Hetty: A True Story Continues to Matter

What makes Hetty: A True Story so significant is that it preserves the Holocaust through the eyes of a child while allowing readers to recognise the humanity that endured within it.

Hetty’s experience as the “Little Mother” of forty-four orphaned children in Bergen-Belsen offers young readers more than an account of unimaginable suffering. It shows them how courage, responsibility, and care could still exist in circumstances designed to strip people of their humanity. Her story does not diminish the horror of the Holocaust; it brings that history closer to readers by allowing them to encounter it through the experiences of a young person.

My correspondence with Hetty’s daughter, Julia, has deepened my understanding of the legacy behind the book. Julia shared how students who first encountered Hetty through her school talks sometimes sought opportunities to visit her at home, where conversations extended beyond the Holocaust to Hetty’s life in Australia, her community, and her accomplishments after the war. They were drawn not only to her testimony but also to her exuberance, candour, and unmistakable personality.

That distinction matters. Historical testimony can introduce us to what happened, but the person behind that testimony can help us understand why remembering matters in our own lives. Hetty’s enduring message, “Tomorrow will be a better day,” speaks to that connection between remembering the past and finding the courage to face the future.

Perhaps this is the deepest meaning of the “pass it on” effect: a young person encounters a story, becomes curious about the person who lived it, and carries that curiosity into another conversation. Through that process, remembrance becomes more than the preservation of history. It becomes a responsibility shared across generations.

As a moderator of SOS: Serious Overload of Series on Goodreads, I believe Hetty: A True Story deserves to be encountered not only as an important Holocaust memoir for young readers, but also as a testament to the enduring importance of truth, human dignity, and hope.

Hetty’s story reminds us that remembering is not simply about looking backwards. It is also about what we choose to carry forward.

Warm regards,

Judithe
Moderator, SOS: Serious Overload of Series

An Answer to Reader

Reviews and Letters, , , , , , , , ,

Dear Judithe,

Thank you for the outpouring of emotional support after discovering, reading, and sharing my mother’s book. Thank you to Fremantle Press for their support of Hetty’s words from the very beginning, as they were her original publishers.

You asked: What did Hetty intend young readers to feel: the weight of loss, the power of care, or something else entirely?

I will happily pass this onto my children, Jacleen and Adam, to whom Mum’s books are dedicated. I believe the intention was not necessarily for her many readers to feel the weight of loss or to experience the power of care per se. However, Mum was, as you reminded us, passing on a suggestion that we all have the power to claim our own fate—to hope for better days. Mum’s mantra of “Tomorrow will be a better day” lives on in her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren, and was mentioned at her funeral (which is available to view online at www.hetty.com.au).

I like to believe Hetty was successful in her intention to hopefully have her many student listeners get the “pass it on” effect, so they would discuss the subject of her talks with their parents and perhaps lend their signed books to the nearest relative or sibling to read. Above all, we hope that her words will begin to slowly help others through their difficult days. I have said many times, and I will say it again here, that I am thankful Hetty is not here today to see what’s happening in the world currently, or to see what’s happening to the precious youth of today—the ones she was unable to reach with her knowledge of history and her wisdom. The young adults who are lost in some sort of stupor, as they have no purpose, and so they demonstrate in the streets and, as we know, are paid to do it.

Mum had a very definite purpose, and that was to teach each child one by one, one day at a time, one school at a time, one reader at a time, that love for humanity is the most important blessing you can bestow on each other, and that the senseless killing of her race during the Holocaust did happen. To those who are the brainwashed of today, I believe she would have said, “Pick up a book and read the truth.”

With sincerest regards,

Julia

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Hetty Recognised by B’nai B’rith in Jerusalem

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In recognition of Hetty’s bravery during the war in helping 42 young children survive in Bergen Belsen, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem in Israel, have given her a citation this month. The decision was made in June 2020 however Hetty only just received her framed Citation and her Medal this week by post. Unable to fly to Israel for the ceremony this was the only way she could accept her award. It says – This is to certify that a Jewish Rescuers Citation has been conferred in recognition of the devotion, courage and heroism exhibited but Hetty Esther Verolme Werkendam in rescuing fellow Jews during the Holocaust. Images courtesy of Julia Ray

* 1972
Recognition and awards · 1972 – Awarded “Most Successful Migrant” by the Department of Immigration. 

* 1977
Appointed to the inaugural Australian Ethnic Affairs.

 

 

 

hetty-at-hale

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Hetty visited Hale School yesterday and was so well received she was surrounded by a group of lovely students, who couldn’t thank her enough for coming to their class to talk about her life as a Migrant in Australia.

Hetty who came to Australia in 1956 as a Migrant talked about her journey right to this day which was eagerly received by the young lads. Hetty spoke about the time she was awarded “The most Successful Migrant Award” in Australia in 1972.

The discussion then naturally lead to her success as a writer and that two of her books are read widely by many students in WA and the all over the country and indeed around the world.

Nice one Hetty!

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Hetty’s Books at the Dutch Shop in Guilford

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How annoying it is when you walk into a book store in Perth only to find Hetty’s books have not been restocked.

We are going to tell you of a little secret. If you are down Guildford way – you will find both books – “Hetty” and “The Children’s House of Belsen” – available in The Dutch Shop.

Don’t be surprised if you walk out with some yummy Dutch licorice. We’ve all been there and done that!

The Dutch Shop – Shop 5 – 121 James Street Guildford WA

N.B the featured picture above of the Delf Blue Crockery is just a generic image taken on Hetty’s latest trip to Amsterdam

The Spectator UK a Politics and Culture Online Magazine, rated the radio programme in which Hetty recounts her life in Bergen Belsen, as the most inspiring  radio this week.

Hetty’s programme aired around the world on BBC World Service, just this week. They mention it, as “a week of extraordinarily direct and honest radio on the world service”.

The most inspiring voice on radio this week belongs to Hetty Werkendam, or rather to her 15-year-old self as she talked to the BBC correspondent Patrick Gordon Walker in April 1945. He was with the British soldiers who entered the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and witnessed the horrors of that scene:

 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/10/a-week-of-extraordinarily-direct-and-honest-radio-on-the-world-service/

 

 

 

 

The Children of Belsen

This is not a sad story. Is the opening line to this radio programme.

 

Here is the full version of the BBC World Service, radio programme, produced for the Children of Belsen documentary filmed in April 2018, including the voice of Patrick Gordon Walker, from the BBC radio archives from 1945. Walker, a British journalist was one of the first to enter Bergen Belsen and he recorded the voices of three of the children of the camp. One of them of course was Hetty.

This is a very personal look at the story of Hetty and her brothers Jacky and Maxy but also discusses some of the history of the inmates of Bergen Belsen. Hetty has been sharing her account with as many others as possible over the years, however, interviewer Mike Lanchin retraces the story of Hetty’s journey over a few days of intimate discussions. It includes singing of the children of Belsen at liberation and interviews of other children, now elderly people, who give their own insight to their experiences. Lastly it also includes interviews of Hetty’s daughter and grandson who talk out for the first time about being part of family, with a holocaust survivor.

A beautifully produced programme that will be a wonderful legacy for Hetty’s family and the world. Hetty begins by saying  “This in not a sad story ” and actually believe it or not – she is quite right!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csxhjr

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Hetty’s Portrait Chosen as an Entry in the National Portrait Gallery for a Photographic Prize

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We all believe, this is such a wonderful shot of Hetty sitting alone within the stark lines of the new Bergen Belsen Memorial Museum sitting silently at the Glass Wall. We are proud to announce this will be entered into a competition at the National Portrait Gallery in London this year.

Tamsin Barber – Digital Archive Producer for BBC World Service has entered  this image of Hetty taken in April by the BBC crew, saying she had “chosen this particular one of Hetty, as she thought it was thoughtful and serene”.

The image was chosen as her entry in the National Portrait Gallery for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize: https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/twppp-2018/exhibition/

We wish all the organizers and the entrants the very best of luck.