The hunted is the story of 16 Emmer Jews who survived the war by hiding in the forest near Valthe. In a seven-part podcast by Lydia Tuijnman, Johan Withaar talks about this dramatic part of Drenthe’s history.
Johan Withaar, historical researcher from Emmen, wrote a thick book about a rather thin book. That booklet, written by Ab van Dien, is called De hunted. It appeared shortly after the war. In it, Van Dien reports on the events in the Valtherbos from December 1942 to the end of the war. Van Dien, together with fifteen other Jews, went into hiding in the Valtherbos. All survived, thanks to the help of resistance members from the area. This work by van Dien is included in its entirety in Withaars’ book.
The hunted is also the title of Withaars’ book, but he provided it with a subtitle: We live because they were silent. A sentence by Van Dien, which refers to the resistance members Zefat and Hendriks, who preferred to die rather than betray anything to the occupier. Withaar: “That attitude would literally cost them both their lives. So indeed: the people in hiding lived, thanks to their silence.”