Features
New book tells story of incredible courage shown by two Dutch Jewish sisters during World War II
Reviewed by BERNIE BELLAN In early August we received an email from a publicist for HarperCollins by the name of Rebecca Silver, who’s sent us interesting books to consider reviewing in the past.
Here’s how Rebecca’s email read:
Hi Bernie,
Roxane van Iperen did not know what she would eventually uncover in her home after she moved in, but later discovered it was once known as the High Nest and became enthralled with the inspiring story of its former occupants. As she unearthed the history behind her own walls, she learned it was a safehouse for Jews in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. From then on, van Iperen was determined to explore its hidden corners and found she had unprecedented access to two sisters’ personal archives to create this remarkable work of narrative non-fiction.
The High Nest was one of Holland’s most daring rescue operations conducted by Jews for Jews. Through her excavation, she learned the story of two sisters, Janny and Lien Brilleslijper, who joined the Dutch Resistance, helped save dozens of lives, were captured by the Nazis, and ultimately survived the Holocaust. Through renovating her home, the sisters’ ingenuity and drive to survive was exposed by double walls, secret doors, and walled-off annexes that were so well concealed they were left undetected for decades.
Originally published in The Netherlands as The High Nest, the book was awarded the 2019 Opzij Literature Prize, an annual Dutch award given to female authors whose work has contributed to the emancipation, evolution, and awareness of women. Janny and Lien’s story is a remarkable story of resistance, strength, and determination — one you must read to believe.
All the best,
Rebecca
Included with Rebecca’s email was the following synopsis of the book: Eight months after Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Nazis roll into The Netherlands, expanding their reign of brutality to the Dutch. But by the Winter of 1943, resistance is growing. Among those fighting their brutal Nazi occupiers are two Jewish sisters, Janny and Lien Brilleslijper from Amsterdam. Risking arrest and death, the sisters help save others, sheltering them in a clandestine safehouse in the woods, they called “The High Nest.”
This secret refuge would become one of the most important Jewish safehouses in the country, serving as a hiding place and underground center for resistance partisans as well as artists condemned by Hitler. From The High Nest, an underground web of artists arises, giving hope and light to those living in terror in Holland as they begin to restore the dazzling pre-war life of Amsterdam and The Hague.
When the house and its occupants are eventually betrayed, the most terrifying time of the sisters’ lives begins. As Allied troops close in, the Brilleslijper family are rushed onto the last train to Auschwitz, along with Anne Frank and her family. The journey will bring Janny and Lien close to Anne and her older sister Margot. The days ahead will test the sisters beyond human imagination as they are stripped of everything but their courage, their resilience, and their love for each other.
Based on meticulous research and unprecedented access to the Brilleslijpers’ personal archives of memoirs and photos, The Sisters of Auschwitz is a long-overdue homage to two young women’s heroism and moral bravery—and a reminder of the power each of us has to change the world.
Author bio: Roxane van Iperen is a Dutch writer and lawyer who resides in the countryside east of Amsterdam, in a home known as “The High Nest” which was once the center for one of Holland’s most daring rescue operations conducted by Jews for Jews. She was shortlisted for the biggest public prize in Holland, NS Publieksprijs’ Book of the Year.
Now for my review of “The Sisters of Auschwitz”: The information I’ve quoted verbatim from Rebecca Silver’s email gives as complete an idea what the book is about as one might like. The question with which I want to deal is whether I would recommend this book.
It was a year ago precisely that I wrote about a book that was also based on documents that had been found hidden for years and which opened up an entirely different perspective on certain facets of the Second World War. That book was titled “The S.S. Officer’s Armchair – Uncovering the Hidden Life of a Nazi”. (You can read my review by entering the word “armchair” on our website when you click on “search archives”.)
Of course, there’s a world of difference in reading about a hitherto undisclosed account of what life was like for an S.S officer in contrast with the lives of two Jewish sisters (and their families), but the comparison is fair to make because, in both cases, through a combination of luck and great diligence, the authors of the two respective books were able to piece together their subjects’ lives.
As I made my way through “The Sisters of Auschwitz”, knowing that the two sisters who are at the heart of this book actually survived Auschwitz did not detract from the suspense that the author builds in telling the story. Every Holocaust survivor has their own unique story to tell, but it’s in the telling of the story that the great books separate themselves from the more mediocre ones. And, as is evidenced by author Roxanne van Iperen having been shortlisted for Holland’s most prestigious literary award, this book is not just a fine piece of reporting what the author discovered, it’s very wonderfully written.
Rebecca Silver’s email tells you about as much as you need to know about the story that was unearthed by van Iperen’s having had the good fortune to have lived in the house – the “High Nest”, which became the hiding place for Janny and Lien Brilleslijper, along with a great many other Jews, for a good part of World War II. What the author also does so well is describe the terrible fate that befell so many of Holland’s Jews during the Holocaust, when almost 75% of the Jewish population was exterminated, either by being murdered in Holland, sent to labour camps where they perished from exhaustion and hunger, or finally were gassed in death camps, particularly Auschwitz.
I’ve read before how so many Dutch citizens cooperated fully with the Nazis. It still comes as a shock to contemplate that fact because we’ve come to regard Holland as such a liberal state, which for the longest time was thought of as a mecca for those in pursuit of sex and drugs. But when you realize that 76,000 Dutch Jews were sent to their deaths, in no small part because so few Dutch gentiles were willing to come to their aid, it certainly leaves a different impression of the Dutch for Jews who might have thought of the Dutch as being active resisters to the Nazis. Sure, there were many brave souls in the Dutch resistance, but the Nazis were as comfortable in Holland as any Western European country, where they found many Dutch who were all too willing not only to work for the Nazi regime, but who were as cruel as many Nazis in carrying out their duties.
That’s not the major theme of “The Sisters of Auschwitz”, but as you read of Janny and Lien’s constant worry about being betrayed during the fairly long period in which they were able to avoid being detected by Nazi hunters, who were primarily Dutch citizens – zealous in their pursuit of Jews, it’s hard not to wonder whether there was a much deeper anti-Semitism engrained within the Dutch than perhaps we’ve thought.
While the first half of “The Sisters of Auschwitz” deals with Janny and Lien’s being able to hide from the Nazis, also their active involvement in the Dutch resistance, once the storyline moves from Holland to the sisters’ (along with their younger brother and both parents) being transported to Auschwitz, the book becomes nothing less than an outright horror story.
Before Janny was captured, by the way, she was in hiding in Amsterdam, along with her non-Jewish husband, Eberhard, where they were both quite active in the resistance. Once she is captured –and tortured, however, how she manages to endure the horrors that are subsequently thrust upon her is a testament to this woman’s utter resilience. While Lein is brave, nothing compares to Janny’s determination to carry on, no matter how many times you might think to yourself: “Why didn’t she just give up and let herself die?”
Whether it was being starved, beaten, or forced to spend hours naked outside in freezing temperatures, Janny not only managed to endure, her incredible willpower also enabled her to keep Lein alive at the same time – many times when Lein was ready to give up.
What might come as the greatest surprise to readers moreover, is the introduction of the Frank family into the story: father Otto, mother Edith, and sisters Margot and Anne. I was always under the impression that Anne Frank died in Auschwitz, but I was wrong; she died in Bergen Belsen, along with her sister Margot. If the details given in “The Sisters of Auschwitz” are accurate, the fact that Margot and Anne even made it as far as Bergen Belsen after having been in Auschwitz is largely due to the care that was given to both of them by Janny and Lein when both Frank sisters were suffering from typhus in Auschwitz.
As much as this book is a compelling read, I admit that I had a hard time with the many foreign names in the book. There are so many different characters introduced – and that is largely a reflection of just how many different Jews the two sisters were able to hide in the “High Nest” at one time or another, that it became quite confusing for me, as did the names of the sisters’ children. Still, I’m sure that if you concentrate on trying to remember who is who (and I’m terrible at that), it will all come together for you.
Just as reading “The S.S. Officer’s Armchair”, which was published in 2020, enabled an entirely new understanding of what life must have been like for an ordinary Nazi official – 75 years after that particular individual likely died, reading “The Sisters of Auschwitz” also opens up an insight into how some Jews were able to endure the tortures inflicted upon by them by the Nazis that, were it not for a quirk of fate, would also have remained undisclosed.
“The Sisters of Auschwitz”
By Roxane van Iperen
320 pages
Published by HarperCollins
Released for sale August 31, 2021
Available on Amazon
Features
Exchange Rate Factors: What Global Events Mean for Savvy Investors
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it created ripples in all financial markets, including currency markets. The Euro weakened while the dollar surged and emerging market currencies wobbled. Global factors can quickly affect financial markets and shake established trends. Apart from such rare events, currencies tend to change their price because of interest rates, inflation, and overall investor confidence. For investors managing money abroad, understanding these movements is critical to avoid losses and mitigate risks.
Below, we will break down how global political, economic, and cultural events influence exchange rates, with insights for savvy investors.
Economic factors
There are several key exchange rate factors with a consistent history of shaking financial markets. These factors include inflation, interest rates, trade balances, employment rates, and so on. Since economic factors are shaping markets almost daily, we start with those.
Inflation and interest rates
Inflation and interest rates are closely connected as one can easily affect the other. When inflation rises, central banks step in and raise interest rates to reduce inflation, and when inflation is lower, central banks can lower interest rates to make borrowing money cheaper. As a result, investors closely monitor these two metrics to anticipate changes in interest rates. Higher inflation makes currencies weaker, and whenever banks change the rates, the changes are immediately reflected in global currency rates. In the United States, the Federal Reserve is the central bank that sets interest rates in the country.
Trade balances and economic growth
A country that exports more than it imports has a stronger demand for its currency. More demand equals a stronger currency. However, the Japanese yen was always weaker against the dollar because the BOJ of Japan tends to have super low rates near 0 to support its exporters. Economic growth also increases demand for local currency as more investors try to invest in the country’s economy. Long-term investors often track this data to detect early signs of any changes in currency strength.
Political and geopolitical factors
Elections, sanctions, and overall political stability are also crucial factors. If the country gets under sanctions, its economy crumbles and its currency becomes inflationary, losing its value quickly. Elections are also crucial for a currency’s strength. Geopolitical events can have a serious impact on the currency as well. The most obvious example is the 2016 Brexit events that made GBP lose its value rapidly and violently. Global conflicts, such as wars, can seriously impact global financial assets, especially currency markets. When tensions are high, safe-haven currencies like USD and CHF (Swiss Franc) become very popular among investors as they seek a safe place to protect their capital.
Cultural and social factors
People like tourists, workers, and diaspora communities can shape currencies as well. Tourism usually drives seasonal demand, and countries that are popular destinations during certain seasons experience their currency appreciation as demand spikes. The perception matters as countries seen as safe and opportunity-rich tend to attract more investors, solidifying their currency strength.
Technology and innovation
Technology is seriously affecting everything, especially the financial sector. Digital payment systems, blockchain technology, and fintech startups have made it easy and swift to move money around. Cryptos and stablecoins enable investors to protect their capital using stablecoins during volatile times. The latest trend among banks is to work on CBDCs, which signals a new era where national currencies are blended with technology and blockchain. Despite this, currencies, even in their crypto form, will continue to be influenced by all major factors mentioned above, and knowing how these factors impact your currency is key to keeping your capital safe from risks.
Practical lessons for savvy investors
So, what do all these factors teach us about global currency rates and investing strategies? The key lies in proper preparations and anticipation. Monitoring macro trends, policy announcements, and major geopolitical and political developments is critical.
Diversify
The number one method which is used by professional investors is diversification. This simply means to spread your risks across a basket of assets. By not investing all your capital in one instrument, you can mitigate risks. If one asset experiences a loss, other ones will counter it with returns. Building a diversified portfolio is key to properly diversifying. For example: divide your capital to buy stocks, commodities, currencies, and cryptos so that if one fails to perform, others will counter it. This ensures a stable income without unnecessary losses in the long run.
Hedge
Forex options and ETFs are great hedging assets. Forex options let investors lock in an exchange rate for a future date, which is very useful if you expect volatility but want stability. Currency ETFs, on the other hand, track specific currencies or a basket of currencies and allow easy trading or protection without trading forex directly, but they are still risky.
Monitor the economic calendar
Economic calendar is a free online tool that aggregates important macroeconomic news data such as interest rate decisions, CPI, inflation, employment rates, central bank announcements and speeches, and other crucial information. By monitoring them, investors can always know when important news data will be released, and they can postpone their investment decisions to avoid volatile times and only invest after the main trend is determined.
Features
The Canadian Dollar is on a slow decline. Should you save in euros or US dollars instead?
The Canadian dollar has been losing its value against the dollar this year. For Canadians, this raises a simple question: if your CAD is losing ground, is it better to move savings into euros or U.S. dollars, especially bonds, stocks, or a carry-trade strategy? Carry-trade strategy in this context means to borrow in CAD and invest it in the USA or the EU zone. This is a complex matter, and to understand where the CAD is, how attractive other currencies might be, we need to analyze these currencies more deeply. Below, we will walk you through the data, practical costs, and risks so you can reach a usable conclusion after reading this guide.
Quick snapshot – What the markets say right now
Recently, the Canadian dollar has hit multi-month lows due to weaker oil prices and a post-Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve) market reaction (which raised the rates, making the CAD weaker against the dollar). Canada’s central bank has cut its policy rate to 2.25%, while the Fed’s fund rate remains notably higher at about 3.75-4%. The ECB (European Central Bank) main interest rates are lower than the Fed’s and near the low-to-mid 2% range. While the Euro currency to USD rates remain mostly predictable, due to higher US bond yield rates, the EUR remains stronger, still. The U.S. 10-year Treasuries are around 4.1%, Canada’s 10-year near 3.2%, and Germany’s 10-year around 2.7%, meaning that today the USD-denominated bonds have the highest nominal yield among the three. As a result, the dollar seems much more attractive when it comes to bond yields and stocks.
Bonds – Which currency is the best for fixed income?
The short answer is: USD bonds. When it comes to nominal yield alone, US bonds beat almost all other competitors. U.S. government bond yields (10-year) are noticeably higher than Canadian and German/Eurozone bond yields right now. As a result, US bond buyers have more income potential than Canada and the EU. Euro-area core yields are lower, meaning they are paying less than the USA.
However, nominal yield does not mean it is guaranteed real return, and metrics like inflation, currency rates, and hedging costs can impact potential returns directly. If you buy USD bonds but the dollar falls against the CAD, currency losses will most likely wipe out the higher yield rate. If the Fed lowers its rates, it will make the dollar weaker against the CAD and EUR.
Another challenge is that, if you live and spend in Canada, you are using CAD, and when exchanging it for dollars, you get exposed to foreign currency rate risks, which must not be underestimated.
Stocks – Euro or dollar?
Both the EUR and USD have their advantages. USD has strong liquidity and strong long-term performance, while EUR equities offer valuation opportunities and recent relative strength.
Why USD?
The U.S. market remains the most liquid stock market with strong earnings for many tech and large companies. This makes USD stocks very attractive for long-term-oriented investors. S&P has been rising historically, and even after crashes, it often recovers its value relatively quickly.
Why EUR?
European indexes have performed well this year and in many cases cost less than their U.S. counterparts. While cheaper does not always mean better, these indexes still have some growth potential. Some major banks in the EU zone, together with industries, have recovered strongly with a recent focus on military manufacturing, making many EU stocks very attractive, together with local indexes.
However, here is a caveat: if you are using CAD daily and it loses its value against the euro, the returns from euro holdings might shrink, exposing you to greater currency risks.
Carry-trade analysis – Is it viable to borrow CAD and invest it in USD or EUR?
The basic promise of carry-trade is simple yet powerful: you borrow cheaper currency and invest it in currencies with higher yields. In our case, is it lucrative to borrow in CAD and invest in either EUR or USD? To answer this question, we need to look at numbers. BoC policy rate is 2.25%, Fed funds from 3.75%, U.S 10-yr is 4.1%, Canada 10-yr is 3.2%. If we deduct Canadian rates from the U.S. rates, we get around 1.8% positive before costs. So, in theory, it could be lucrative to invest CAD in USD assets using a carry trade. Since the ECB has around 2%, it is not profitable to use a carry-trade strategy for the euro.
The bottom line
While the CAD has been weakening lately, it is still not cheap enough to naively invest in USD or EUR. However, if you want a pure yield and can tolerate foreign exchange rate risks, USD bonds are more attractive today. When it comes to stocks, USD equities provide stable and liquid markets. If you want valuation potential and diversification, then euro equities have become more attractive this year. When it comes to carry-trade strategies, the USD remains more lucrative than the euro, but on paper, traders and investors should evaluate all the risks and costs before investing in any currency.
In the end, Canadians who have CAD for their daily costs should be careful when trying to get exposure to other markets. US bonds, US stocks, US carry-trade, and EU stocks remain attractive choices for experienced investors.
Features
Why Reading Online Reviews Matters Before Making a Purchase
People usually pause before purchasing to read reviews from other customers. It’s become part of everyday online life, a quick way to see how something really performs before making a decision. According to the Pew Research Center, most internet users read reviews to get a better idea of what they’re buying. The feedback from actual users becomes more reliable than marketing statements because it comes from everyday consumers instead of sales-oriented corporate messages.
Reading reviews also helps spot patterns. If the same comment, good or bad, appears again and again, it usually means there’s truth to it. People now use this collective feedback as their main method to evaluate online products and services for quality and reliability.
When There Are Too Many Options, Reviews Narrow the Field
Shopping online can be overwhelming and a bit of an adventure. There are always more options than anyone needs, hundreds of gadgets, countless household tools, endless entertainment subscriptions. All listings present themselves as excellent value propositions with operational excellence, yet it remains a bit of a challenge when it comes to verifying which ones deliver actual results.
Reviews become useful at this point. Real users provide information about product details, which marketing content fails to show, by sharing their experiences about delivery speed and setup ease and product durability after several months of use. The product details show its operational behavior when used in regular business activities.
Users tend to begin with reviews. For instance, a tech product might have amazing packaging but fall short on battery life or integration. Maybe a new game or casino platform might sound promising, and reviews on trusted choices can confirm whether it includes flexible payment options, a wide content library, and responsive support. When feedback keeps mentioning strong points like clear instructions or helpful customer service, it shows consistency. The product or service delivers its expected results because customers have personally seen its performance.
Reviews Build Faith Through Shared Experience
Reviews gain their strength from the emotional bonds which readers find with each other. Reading about someone else’s experience feels familiar, even if you don’t know them. It’s basic word-of-mouth marketing, like receiving recommendations from a neighbor who has already purchased the item you are considering.
This shared experience has built an informal community of online voices. People rely less on what a brand claims and more on what other users notice. When different reviewers mention similar strengths or small frustrations, it adds authenticity. The story becomes more believable.
Reviews show what other users have experienced, but they do not offer any guidance about what to do. This type of his collective info turns into an important part of how people build trust online. It’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference in how confident we feel about the choices we make.
Balanced Feedback Feels More Honest
A perfect score does not prove that something lacks any imperfections. A combination of positive and less-than-perfect feedback creates a more authentic impression. Small complaints about packaging or delivery delays make glowing reviews sound real. A recent study showed that participants answered honestly instead of trying to make their responses attractive to others.
Most readers know that nothing works flawlessly all the time. People look for reviews which provide both positive and negative aspects because they want to find balanced opinions. Customers can establish realistic purchase expectations through combined information which they can apply before buying. Review systems maintain their value because reviewers maintain honesty in their assessments.
Why Recency and Volume Matter
The best reviews and product ratings are the ones written recently. They reflect how a product or service performs right now, not how it worked a year ago. Things change, materials, delivery services, and even the way companies handle support.
A steady flow of new reviews suggests consistency. When lots of people share their experiences over time, patterns appear. Those patterns tell readers what’s typical, not just what’s possible. It’s the difference between one person’s lucky experience and a reliable average that others can count on.
Quantity matters too. Ten balanced reviews from this month will usually tell more than a single five-star comment from last summer. Together, recency and volume create a clear picture of reliability and quality without relying on assumptions.
Recognising Genuine Reviews
Not every review online is authentic, real, and written by a consumer. Some are written by automated accounts or people hired to post positive comments. Real feedback tends to sound natural and personal. It might mention something specific like the texture of a fabric, how easy the setup was, or whether support staff replied quickly.
Authentic reviews vary in tone and detail. Some are short, others long, some are full of small observations. That mix of styles feels human. On the other hand, copied or fake reviews usually repeat the same phrases or sound overly polished.
Many websites now try to identify and label suspicious posts, but readers can also help by paying attention to repetition, timing, and tone. A quick scan across different platforms usually reveals what’s genuine and what’s not.
Reading Smarter in the Online Marketplace
Reviews have become a solid foundation for how people make decisions online. They give an honest view of how something performs beyond what’s written on the label. Every comment, short or long, adds another piece to the puzzle.
More than that, reviews show how businesses handle problems, how quickly they respond, and whether they follow through on promises. They offer accountability in a world where shoppers and sellers rarely meet face to face.
Reading a handful of reviews won’t guarantee a perfect experience, but it provides helpful context. It shows what’s typical and helps people make choices with more confidence. In an online world full of noise, reviews remain one of the easiest and most reliable ways to learn from others.