The Quest for Freedom: Belgian Resistance in World War II. This item is unavailable.The Quest for Freedom: Belgian Resistance in World War II

This is the story of a true hero of WWII, a young woman who risked her life fighting the Nazis during the entire war. She was extensively involved in both sabotage and espionage, and later in the sheltering and movement of allied airmen. She was betrayed, tortured, and when she refused to divulge any information she was sentenced to be hanged; but she was saved by the liberation of Antwerp on September 4th, 1944. For the actions she describes in this book, she was later awarded a certificate of merit by General Eisenhower.

A young secretary in occupied Antwerp during WW II, Files didn't even inform her father (who was also her boss) when she joined the Belgian Resistance. A staunch patriot, Files assembled bombs in her living room, hid downed Allied airmen, and slipped propaganda into the letterboxes of buildings that housed the German invaders. Arrested and imprisoned, she bravely survived whipping and interrogation at the hands of the Nazis before she was freed upon the liberation of Belgium. Files offers dramatic details of daily life (e.g., sugar, a rationed food item, was an ingredient in incendiary bombs), but her account is too personal to tell a broad story of the Resistance, much less to put into perspective the tensions within occupied Belgium. Though heartfelt, the book is burdened with breathless writing, dotted with exclamation points and cliches. Files, who moved to the U.S. after the war, relates in the last chapter how, on the television show This Is Your Life in 1955, she was reunited with some fliers she had aided. The book may find an audience among WW II buffs. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the crowded field of World War II memoirs, details of involvement with resistance movements are popular. In fact, one begins to find, as the occupied countries did after the war, that everyone was in the resistance. That makes this immensely readable book about the truly heroic exploits of Files of Antwerp all the more refreshing. Recipient of numerous commendations, she helped downed fliers and other refugees and aided sabotage efforts. Captured near the end of the war, she fortunately survived until the Allies arrived. Although Files is sometimes cryptic to the point of confusion about her private life, her exciting resistance involvement is detailed in a suspenseful style. Recommended for most libraries.
- Pat Ensor, Indiana State Univ. Lib., Terre Haute
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.