The Assault

Van Liempt leaves Amsterdam in May, a few days after the May 5, 1945 liberation. That afternoon, Anton goes into town with his aunt, and he sees “crowds rejoicing in the streets” (55). The crowds pat Jeeps and armored cars like they are holy relics. Those speaking English become “part of the heavenly kingdom that had come down to earth” (55). Anton, however, feels unmoved by the festivities “because none of this was really a part of him or ever would be” (55). Anton also observes that he enjoys living with his uncle and aunt—because, while they occupy a parental role, they nonetheless treat him with a courtesy and formalness that bespeaks the fact that they are not actually his parents.

Van Liempt returns and informs Anton that Anton’s parents were shot on the night of the assault, along with twenty-nine hostages. It isn’t until June that Anton learns that Peter was also shot that same night. By then, the night of the assault seems like a prehistoric event: “His family had escaped from his memory, had retreated to a forgotten region of which he had only brief and random glimpses” (57).

Anton finishes his preliminary leg of schooling with fair to middling marks and goes on to medical school.