Winter in Wartime 2008

Set in a quiet northern Veluwe village along the IJssel river during the late stages of World War II, Michiel van Beusekom is a resourceful teenager who dreams of joining the Resistance. His father, Johan van Beusekom, is the village mayor, and his family includes his sister Erica van Beusekom, a nurse-to-be, along with a younger brother still in primary school. Each day brings a flood of city dwellers who stay in the Van Beusekom home, and Michiel does what he can to help by assisting local farmers with small chores, a necessity since he cannot attend school due to ongoing bombardments and railway strikes. In the face of disruption, he learns to make do with limited resources, turning his situational wit into practical survival.

Despite the turmoil, he secretly pursues the idea of becoming a Resistance fighter and sometimes resents his father’s perceived softness. His idol is Uncle Ben, who claims to be part of the Resistance, a stance that both inspires and complicates Michiel’s sense of duty. The village’s fragile balance is tested as the war presses closer, and the lines between ally and enemy blur in small acts of courage and doubt.

In late 1944, Dirk Knopper, who lives opposite the Van Beusekom house, reveals a plan with two others to attack the local ration card office to steal ration cards as part of the Resistance. Michiel is given the task to deliver a letter to Bertus van Gelder if the attack fails. That same evening, Nazi vehicles arrive at Dirk’s home, the attempt ends in failure, and the village’s tension snaps toward a dangerous unpredictability.

The following morning, Michiel’s attempt to deliver the letter is met with a cascade of setbacks: his bike breaks, he’s slowed by an Allied air raid, and he senses he is being watched by Schafter, a farmer whom many suspect of secret Nazi loyalties. The mounting pressure culminates in Bertus van Gelder’s arrest, tightening the grip of occupation on the village and escalating the stakes of every choice Michiel makes.

Reading the letter later, Michiel learns that Dirk Knopper has been hiding an English pilot named Jack in a self-made burrow in the forest near the village. Dirk had hoped Bertus would take over Jack’s maintenance, but with Bertus arrested, Michiel decides to take on the responsibility himself, aware of the grave consequences and the personal risk this new path will demand. The revelation reshapes Michiel’s understanding of courage, loyalty, and his own place within a war that tests every line between duty and danger, forcing him to navigate loyalty to family, country, and a future that feels increasingly uncertain.