Gather Things We Couldnt Say Depicted By Diet Eman Expressed As File

it's safe to say that I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I decided to borrow this book from my program director in Kenya.
I read about half of it before I had to give it back to him so that I didn't take it across the Atlantic Ocean with me.
So, I checked it out via interlibrary loan in my hometown and realized how long it really had been that I knew what was going on, so I started over.


Reading so deep into the life of someone who is willing to open up to you all the details of her life is truly an amazing experience maybe writing like that would be too hard to say.
Diet Eman's willingness to tell us each emotion experienced with each and every situation she found herself in was courageous and heartwarming.
Her love for Hein and passion for the safety of her family, friends, country, people, etc, was and is completely inspiring,

This book taught me much about gratitude and perspective and the sheer difficulty of life, Eman never made me feel as if my problems of life aren't valid because I'm not in WWII or that people of all situations don't crash sometimes.
I really appreciated her strength and look up to her now and forever, For the sake of not spoiling any of her amazing story, read it for yourself, Know that it will change your life, If it doesn't, I would consider getting out of your head a bit and trying to live into the lives of others a bit more.


Did this book rip me apart Yes, Did it change my life for the better I think so, Would I recommend Things We Couldn't Say to everyone YES, Book got off to a bit of a slow start, I felt like I was listening to my grandmother wander through old storieswhich likely was the intent, but it didn't "grab" me right away.
The subject matter was compelling enough to keep me reading and I'm certainly glad that I did, Other people have compared this to The Hiding Place, but to me it's much more complete, with actual journal entries and photos of things like the ration books.
Diet tells her story as though she was sitting in your living room with a cup of strong coffee, reliving her experiences and relationships.
It's such that I want to write to her and thank her, . . my friend Denise says she's still going strong in Michigan, helping and volunteering her time, Amazing. I read a lot of books about WWII but not many set in the Netherlands, which this one is, Diet joins the Resistance in Holland and is remarkably brave in her unfailing efforts to save Jews, Not one day of the occupation goes by that she isn't doing something to assist friends and family and strangers in peril.
She shares some great insights into Nazi operations and the personal and emotional toll endured while participating in underground activities, I was surprised to learn that the Nazi's knew many people helped and harbored the Jews but didn't expect to discover them all.
She was imprisoned once for smuggling fake ID and ration cards and details how frayed her nerves were by the end of the war.
. . not being able to trust anyone and under constant surveillance by the Gestapo, I am amazed at her bravery and her sense of right and wrong and, despite all the difficulties she faced, she never lost hold on her faith in Christ and His promises to His covenant people.
Inspiring read! I know, another WW II survival book, This one puts all the others to shame though, Almost from the beginning you marvel at how Diet the main character and author kept her strength and faith through so many years of hardship and fear.
It leaves you wondering if people like that still exist, and if they could do the same thing again, I have always been drawn to the conflict of WWII perhaps out of a desire to understand humany behavior, How could someone be so evil Hitler, how could people follow so blindly, how was it for those who opposed the regime and risked everything to help the persecuted.
Reading this book made me feel like I was there with every decision and every risk, I would like to hope I would have as much courage under similar conditions, But I'd also like to never have the opportunity to find out! There are few books I've read that ring more meaningful than this one.
I would recommend it to anyone, I happened to read it while courting my wife, My experiences at the time were thrust in start contrast with the life dealt out to Diet Eman who would sacrifice everything, lose the one she loved most, while trying to save every Jewish life that came across her path.
But, she didn't do this individually, she was part

of a larger underground resistance that leaves one shocked at the brazen courage of these few that risked it all that some might live.


So, there are many books out there that one can read about the Holocaust and World War II, for me this one tops the list.
It's deep, it's honest, and impacting beyond all expectations, The true story of true Christians, and Dutch patriots, Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma, and their courageous risk of everything to resist Nazi tyranny and hide thousands of Dutch Jews.

True Christians always love the Jewish people and Israel, and true nationalists are opposed to both Communism and Nazism, both the antithesis of national selfdetermination.

Diet recounts her own life, and experiences and what she saw and heard, as well as her deep faith in GD, that guided her in all she did and thought.

Diet recounts her experiences in Scheveningen prison, where she describes how Jewish families, who were caught in hiding, were hauled into the prison, mothers, fathers and children: 'On the nights the guards brought Jews in, we always heard the children crying all through that place.
It was bad enough for us to have to suffer through a place, like Scheveningen, but it was terrible to hear those poor innocent children crying.
'
It is up to true Christians and righteous gentiles to stand by the State of Israel today, in the struggle for her survival and that of her children, against the monstrous Islamicextreme leftist hate machine.
This is a beautiful Holocaust memoir written by Diet Eman, a Dutch Christian who did resistance work and also spent time in a German prison and concentration camp during World War II.
She writes very candidly about her war experiences and is not afraid to share what she accomplished along with her weaknesses, failures, and struggles.
Even though she wrote this account later in life, it has an immediacy and freshness that plunges you straight into the era.
It is a truthful, at times brutal, and yet encouraging and hopeful recounting of an extremely intense part of her life.
The main theme that she returns to over and over is that no matter what she went through, God was with her in it.
She definitely struggled in her faith as anyone would going through such horrific times but she never gave up on God and could look back on that time with gratitude for the faithfulness and love He showed her throughout it all.


I have read many books about the Holocaust and World War II resistance work and am always deeply moved by the courage and kindness that many showed in such a dark time, but this memoir was especially touching because of Diet's faith in God.
She continually points out the hand of God in her and other's lives, uplifting Him throughout, If you sometimes wonder where God was during World War II, read this book and you will clearly see that He had not abdicated His throne.


A few quotes from Diet:

"People sometimes ask, 'Would you like to skip that part of your life' My answer is 'No,' for I would never have met all the wonderful friends, especially those in prison and the camp, surrounded by evil and cruelty.
There no human being could help me, I was totally dependent on God, And God was right there and kept his promises, I could say with David 'The Lord is my light and my salvation, Whom shall I fear' and 'For he will hide me in the shelter in the day of trouble' Psalm:,.
That is just what he did, My response is, again with David, 'Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits' Psalm:, "

"When you are a Christian and profess that God is almighty, there is no single area of life from which you can eliminate God.
" It was fitting that I finished this book today, on theth anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, Diet Eman's war biography is a heartfelt epitaph of the courage in the Dutch resistance against the Nazis,

At first, I was slightly concerned that this was one of those poorlywritten war memoirs that excitedly recounts the author's war experiences in a scattershot fashion, rushing to hit the highlights and then haphazardly backfilling important information that wasn't properly organized in the flow originally.
At first I also wondered if Diet's biblical and Christian references would start to overwhelm the narrative to the point of evangelism.
However, as I got into her story, I realized how genuine and heartfelt she really was, This poor woman lived through a lot in the five years of the Dutch occupation, lost the love of her life, and had to be coaxed by family and friends to tell her story only many years later.


Diet Eman grew up in a fairly religious family in the Hague and fell in love with the young man, Hein Sietsma, who was staying as a lodger with her family just before the outbreak of war.
Diet and Hein were really disturbed by the Nazi persecution of Jews and Dutch citizens who dared resist the occupiers, so much so that they became involved themselves.
Diet, who was admittedly a naive, carefree tomboy sort of girl as a teenager, soon found herself becoming harder and more street smart through her involvement in the resistance.
She became a tireless runner of deeds across the country, often on foot and bicycle, to help hide and supply Jews and others in the resistance.
The book recounts these tales of daring and courage, and she maintains a lighthearted and optimistic tone about the dangerous work that she and her comrades endured.


Even when she and Hein are eventually captured and imprisoned in separate incidents in, she can still see the bright side and humour in some situations, although it is definitely a dark and trying period in her life.
She definitely drew on her spiritual side for strength, as she outsmarts the Gestapo and is eventually released after a few months.
She spends the rest of the war back in the farming region from which she was headquartered previously, not far from where my mother herself was living as a teenage girl.
Diet continued and even increased her resistance efforts as the war drew to its conclusion and the German army clung desperately to its shrinking area of occupation.
And all the while she was unsure about the whereabouts of her fiance Hein,

As my mother told me about those days of occupation, although the times were bleak and anxietyridden, there were great bonds of community and a sense of something "bigger than oneself" that helped people cope and move through it.
I was happy to hear Diet echo this philosophy, Although she went through many bad times and was devastated when she found Hein had died in Dachau, she would not have done anything differently, given the choice.
Of course, in real life we are never given the choice to do things over again but must just do our best in the time and circumstances we are given.
I am glad that Diet Eman chose to live her life the way she did and decided to tell the world her story, as painful as it was, before she left us.


Those that forget history are always doomed to repeat it, .