Hidden Letters

Discovered hidden in a bathroom ceiling in Amsterdam in 1997, this collection of letters from Philip “Flip” Slier, a Dutch Jew killed in the Holocaust, displays a spirit as indomitable as that of Anne Frank's. Slier was 18 when he was sent to a Dutch labor camp in April 1942. Described by friends as good-natured and gregarious, he maintained an optimistic air in the letters to his parents, asserting that he and his fellow laborers were better off in the labor camp than at a concentration camp. One also gets the sense that his constant references to food and fun are part of his expressed message to his parents: “Be strong, you hear! Don't despair. I don't either.” Deborah Slier, Flip's cousin, and her co-editors add documents, other recollections and a general history of the war, making this book more than the story of one young man, but an addition to the history of the Holocaust in Holland that could be particularly effective as educational material. Slier escaped from the camp but was rearrested, and as with all Holocaust tales, this one is devastating. Photos. (Oct.)