Dirk Van Leenan, author and holocaust survivor, was born in The Hague, Holland. He was only three years old when Nazis invaded the Netherlands. His father subsequently became the head of the Dutch Resistance and their family hid up to 20 Jewish people at a time beneath their home before moving them to other hiding places and eventually safer areas. Though young, Van Leenan worked as a decoy and distraction at German checkpoints while his father distributed false IDs and food stamps to those in hiding. In this presentation, Van Leenan will discuss his experiences with not only aiding and hiding Jews, but also those at Westerbork concentration camp where his family was imprisoned near the end of the war. Dirk Van Leenen is now a resident of Arizona. He studied English at the University of Leiden and later became an English teacher. After encouragement from his children and grandchildren, Van Leenen wrote three books about his experiences throughout WWII and has made a number of presentations about his experiences to a variety of audiences.