GRIPPING MEMOIR TELLS OF STEALING, DEALING ON BLACK MARKET TO HELP DEAF & MUTE PARENTS SURVIVE NAZIS IN WWII HOLLAND

INNOCENCE DENIED: A HOLOCAUST CHILDHOOD by Johannes Krane

UNITED STATES, May 22, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — It was a childhood lost, so disturbing and haunting that it took the author well into his adult life to sit down and write about it. “It took many years to write this book,” says Johannes Krane of his gripping, recently released memoir, INNOCENCE DENIED: A HOLOCAUST CHILDHOOD. “But my family’s situation in that time was very unique, and over the years, the thought increasingly weighed on me to share our story.”

The Dutch Hunger Winter in Holland (1944-1945) is remembered as one of the darkest periods in the country’s history. It was a stark reminder of the brutal reality of war and its devastating impact on civilians. Many people suffered at the hands of Nazis; some were tortured, raped, and executed by soldiers, while others were imprisoned and transported to Germany on petty issues.

INNOCENCE DENIED marks an extraordinary example of a family’s survival through willpower, persistence, and the virtue of not giving up. It offers a great insight into a family struggle and shows that enduring difficult situations can lead you to engage in actions you never imagined.

Ten-year-old Johannes Krane and his older brother Dick lived in Beverwijk, a small town northwest of Amsterdam. Their parents were both deaf and mute. How would their family survive the cruelties of the Nazi occupiers and life in the streets of their city?

There was no answer but to support their mother’s efforts to trade on the black market and steal from businesses and the authorities – perilous activities, punishable by death. This memoir chronicles the haunting memories of a boy who survived to save his family through cunning and desperation, thus being robbed forever of a happy childhood during the last two years of the Holocaust period in Holland. It was an innocence denied by evils of war.

Readers feel the true tension and terror, from Krane’s descriptions of looking both ways before sneaking a stolen loaf of bread into his bag, to lying face down in a puddle with mud-soaked clothing hiding from his Nazi pursuers after fleeing from peril, to scurrying to stash his father awkwardly under a staircase so he would not be discovered during a Nazi raid and to quickly dispose of his father’s soup bowl so it would not appear there were four seated to dinner.

The book has received much praise.

BookTrib calls it “a gritty, gut-wrenching tale of resourcefulness, bravery, accountability and responsibility – of trying to maintain hope in a world where it is slim.”

One Amazon reviewer describes INNOCENCE DENIED as “an emotional, heartbreaking, true story that demonstrates the injustice narrated from the vision of a child, how his reality changes and he has to adapt to the circumstances and the demands of the events of war, and the terrible consequences that it causes.”

Another Amazon reviewer calls it “a frightening reminder of the danger of authoritarianism so relevant for current times.”

INNOCENCE DENIED is available on Amazon and other popular retail outlets where books are sold.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Johannes Krane was born and educated in the Netherlands. After World War II and the Nazi occupation of his country, he emigrated to the United States and finished his education. Mr. Krane eventually became a successful businessman in Silicon Valley and founded several organizations, including art galleries, inspired by his profound love of art. He also established an online used bookstore, Elephant Books, during the early days of Amazon, and published several well-received self-help books.

Johannes Krane
Johannes Krane, Author
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