By Mike White for the Sunday Star Times (paywalled)…

The incredible story of how a young Jewish girl was saved from the Nazis by a couple who became New Zealanders, has now been told by Wellington author Doug Gold. But, as Mike White reports, the story didn’t end when the war finished.

A kiss, a caress, and then a goodbye.

Goodbye to the child Frits and Jo Hakkens had hidden from the Nazis for two years.

Goodbye to Elli, the little Jewish girl they’d taken in when her father was sent to a concentration camp, and her mother had to flee.

Goodbye to the toddler who’d become their daughter.

With the German authorities suspecting them of harbouring a Jew, and being in the Dutch resistance, Frits and Jo had now been forced to transfer Elli to an underground refugee network, to keep her safe.

Read the full story (paywalled) on the Sunday Star Times HERE.

Order “Saving Eli” by Doug Gold HERE.