In March 1948, barely three years after the end of the war, we answered a knock on our door in Holland. A tiny, pale-faced girl stood before us, her name inscribed on a piece of cardboard hung around her neck, a brown suitcase hanging from one hand. She was accompanied by a nurse from the Red Cross. The little girl’s name was Traudi, and she came from the land of our enemies, the Germans, who occupied Holland for five years. Our ears still rang with the crashing sounds of their hobnailed boots and their screams of "Heil Hitler" and "Sieg Heil". More than 300,000 of our compatriots perished during the years of occupation. Little Traudi, the “daughter of the enemy” led us gently toward reconciliation. Fifty years after her visit, I want to find my “little sister”. This book tells about how we found each other, and about her childhood under fire.

Kees Vanderheyden was born in the Netherlands. In Canada, he worked in the public television educational field for more than 25 years. As an author and withness, he hopes to keep alive the memory of ordinary people, formerly enemies for whom World War Two was such a tragic period.

What do we really know about the Second World War? Thousands of works have been written on the war’s battles, its soldiers, its heroes and its monsters, but how many pages have focussed on the stories of ordinary citizens crushed by the horrors of invasion, persecution, shelling and famine?

This fascinating book takes a whole new look at war. Its heroine is not one of the major players: Traudi is a child, a German child, therefore an enemy. Her heart-wrenching story is proof that amidst the blindly indiscriminate horrors of war, courage and compassion can conquer hate. You will also learn about the work of the Red Cross and the generosity of thousands of families who opened their hearts and welcomed the children of the enemy into their homes in the aftermath of this deadly war. Hope for peace lives on, for the most part through these anonymous citizens who can lead us on the road to peace and reconciliation. This story of hope illuminates an otherwise little-known facet of World War Two.