“Anna’s War” is a work of fiction set in the German occupied southern Netherlands during the last eighteen months of World War II. It was a finalist at the 2021 CYA All Stars Writers and Illustrators Conference and was short-listed in the Young Adult category for Just Write for Kids’ Pitch It! Competition 2021.

My inspiration for “Anna’s War” is my mother-in-law, Catharina Vullers (new Silekens) bottom right. The photo was taken after WWII. Her friend, Josephine, is second row, second from the left.

My parents-in-law, Catharina Vullers (née Silekens) and Hendricus Vullers and their friend Matt Theunissen each lived with their families in different small villages in the southern province of Limburg during the war. Catharina lived in Baexem and Hendricus in Heythuysen. Matt lived in Beegden until 1943 and then moved to Heythusen. These small villages are only a few kilometres from each other and close to the German and Belgium borders.

In May 1940 when Germany invaded the Netherlands Catharina was seven years old, Hendricus was five and Matt was eight. Their formative childhood years were dominated by the war. None of the children knew each other during this time. It is their childhood stories which inspired me to write “Anna’s War”.