308F Spring 2026 Children Under Occupation

308F  Children Under Occupation
Two sessions
Instructor: Caroline Crocker
Coordinator: Carolyn Kramer
Mondays, 2:15—3:40, Apr. 6—Apr. 13
War damages everyone, but especially children. This course is based on the true stories of two children who lived in the occupied Netherlands during World War II. 1) Meta, the spirited daughter of a German mother and a Dutch father, was part of a loving family. Nonetheless, war meant she grew so emaciated that two years after it ended, she was expected to die. Meta survived solely due to her Brave Face, which is the name of the book about her life. 2) When Frits was five, his half-Jewish mother placed him in a children’s home. There, he worked to earn a living, even while being abused. Several years into the war, soldiers found the Jewish children being hidden in the home, and they were murdered in Auschwitz. Strangely, Frits and his younger brother were not. In addition, the nurses who hid the children were spared. However, the greatest mystery was why a child who had been treated unforgivably became a functional man. Unforgivable answers all these questions.
Caroline Crocker, PhD, is a popular speaker and author of 14 books, focusing on truth written like fiction. She is also a blogger with degrees in microbiology, virology, and immunopharmacology. Therefore, Dr. Crocker speaks authoritatively on writing and publishing, her books, science, and teaching.