Hanny Michaelis

Hanny Michaelis (1922–2007) was born in Amsterdam. In 1941 she took her school leaving exams and shortly afterwards she and her parents went, separately, into hiding. They never saw each other again. Hanny’s parents were arrested in 1943 and were taken first to the camp at Westerbork and then to Sobibor, where they were murdered. Shortly after the liberation of the Netherlands, Michaelis returned to Amsterdam, where she stayed for the rest of her life. For years she worked in the Amsterdam city council’s department of artistic affairs. She also published six collections of poetry. Her wartime diaries recently appeared in two volumes, both of which were enthusiastically received.