The betrayal and subsequent death of Jan Braakman's grandfather, Hendrik Jan Koeslag, during the Second World War is the thread tying together this story of one Dutch village. The War in the Corner reveals daring acts of the resistance by local farmers and villagers, helping the Dutch, the Jews, even Germans, as well as British Intelligence officers who were parachuted in to prepare the way for Allied soldiers, the pilots who crashed in the forests and fields, and the Canadian troops who marched through Laren on their way to liberate the Netherlands.
Mark Zuehlke, author of the Canadian Battle Series: Jan Braakman's War in the Corner offers an insightful, dramatic, and evocative examination of the experiences of one small Netherlands community during World War II. The stories of resistance patriots, German sympathizers and agents, people who hid Jews and downed Allied airmen are rendered in compelling detail, but so too is the story of more ordinary citizens who sought only to survive an extremely difficult time. Braakman's journey into the past to understand what happened to his family and hometown during the occupation and subsequent liberation by Canadian troops is a story that resonates.