Diet Eman

War experience

Eman's wartime experience began on May 10, 1940, when she awoke in the night to the sound of aircraft battle; she knew immediately that this meant Hitler had invaded the Netherlands despite promises otherwise. Immediately, Eman began her work against the Nazi regime: she and her fiancé established a Resistance group with friends.

Initially, Eman's resistance group listened to forbidden BBC broadcasts and spread the information to as many people as possible. These efforts grew, however, as the Nazi regime began enacting anti-Semitic laws. Eman soon worked to find a place to hide for a friend being threatened with "relocation," meaning movement to a concentration camp. This action spiraled into Eman and her fiancé, Hein Sietsma, relocating 60 people in safe houses. Because of the large number of Jewish individuals fleeing persecution, Eman was routinely confronted with the problem of housing too many individuals in one place, which was even more dangerous in an urban setting. To try to alleviate this challenge, Eman delivered false ID papers as well as extra ration cards to those who needed these resources.

Despite Eman's efforts at discretion and strategy, the Gestapo soon discovered her identity and her connection to Resistance work. She fled from her home to a family named Watergoor where she found refuge and a new identity. At this new location, her Resistance work continued; she even tracked Nazi troop movements and stores of military equipment. On April 26, 1944, Sietsma was arrested; this once again jeopardized Eman's identity and she changed her name again. Eman now had a premonition of her own arrest. Despite these ill feelings, she kept working with the Resistance. Unfortunately, her premonition proved to be true.

While traveling by train, Eman was asked for her ID, which was immediately identified as fake. Removed from the train for questioning, Eman knew she would be questioned and the illegal documents she was carrying would be discovered, leading to her arrest and even death. Thankfully, at the last moment, Eman had a chance to dispose of the documents when the officers were distracted. Eman was still taken to prison because of her fake ID, and was taken to prison in Scheveningen and on to the Vught concentration camp for questioning. At the concentration camp, Eman was assigned to work; she was to clean the bloodied clothes of civilians.

Soon it was time for Eman's trial. Because Eman had so thoroughly remembered her false identity, she was released and survived until the end of the Nazi regime. Unfortunately, however, her fiancé had died at the Dachau concentration camp.

After the war

Eman received thanks from numerous leaders for her efforts, including General Eisenhower in 1946 and President Ronald Reagan in 1982. She was awarded the Righteous Among Nations award in 1998 by Vad Vashem.

Eman left the Netherlands after the war, and did not speak about her Resistance work until 1978. That year, she spoke at a "Suffering and Survival" convention. There she met Dr. James Schaap who worked with Eman to write her memoir, Things We Couldn't Say, which was published in 1994.

Eman currently resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In April 2016, a local ballet troop in Grand Rapids performed "It Is Well," the story of Eman's wartime experiences. Eman was even present in the audience for her 96th birthday, when the dancers sang her the Dutch birthday song "Lang zal ze leven (Long shall she live)."