I'm writing something of a historical fiction, and one of my main characters is a girl who lives in a small town in Holland, around the 1940s. What I would like to know, is what her experiences might be, with the invasion, with the occupation of German soldiers in the city, with the rescue of Allied forces. Would she be sent off to POW camps? Or imprisoned in the city? I can probably figure out how she feels about the war, but I need to know about some of the stuff that happens to her, so the events I write about don't sound too, well, fictional. What would be even better, is if someone could point me in the right direction towards a book, or some information online, or even a person that I could talk to, to gain more of an understanding of the events and emotions of a person living in that area and time.
It largely depends on the girl herself. Is she Jewish, black, disabled, homosexual, or a communist? In that case, she would have been sent off to a concentration camp- in which case you should read the Diary of Anne Frank. Otherwise, life would have probably have gone on, with only the added Nazi presence, and fear of the Gestapo. Some would be part of resistance movements, working with the British SOE and in the name of the exiled Dutch monarchy. I'd suggest the book Tamar, by Mal Peet. It's billed as a children's book, but is very dark in places. And it is set partially in Nazi-occupied Holland. Sources pertaining to occupied France would probably be useful, as there was much similarity.
She's of Dutch/German descent, blond, very normal. So she'd probably remain within the city. Which is my intention, as that's where she meets another character of mine. I might have one of her parents working the Netherlands SOE, aparently that division got caught, so maybe her parent might get taken away by the gestapo. I will check out the book you suggested to me (Tamar). Thanks very much! You seem to know a fair bit about the subject.
Read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom it sounds exactly like what you need. It's a true story and a fascinating read.
