Winter in Wartime

January 1945. The last winter of WW II. In Holland, the earth is frozen. In the western part there’s a shortage of fuel and food. In the freezing cold many people are walking to the east of the country, where there’s still food to find. This is where our story takes place. WINTER IN WARTIME is the story of 14-year-old Michiel, who wants to be an adult and is longing to join the resistance. He regards his father - the mayor of the small village - a softie and adores his uncle Ben, who has joined the resistance. Michiels neighbour kid (Dirk) tells him that he is involved in an assault on an ammunition storage and asks Michiel to deliver a letter to the blacksmith Bertus van Gelder, in case something goes wrong. Michiel is glad; finally someone takes him serious. But there’s a betrayal of the raid. Dirk is caught and when Michiel is about to take the letter to Bertus, he is shot by the Germans. Michiel opens the envelope and finds a drawn map of the Dagdaler Woods, which leads him to a spot where an English pilot (Jack) is hiding. Dirk was to take Jack to a contact person in the town of Zwolle. Now that Bertus is not there either, it’s all up to Michiel. When Jack gets sick, Michiel is forced to ask for help from his sister (Erica), who is a nurse. Just after a failed attempt to reach Zwolle after all, a dead German soldier is found, who obviously has been killed. When the murderer is not found, the Germans in revenge arrest Michiel’s father. Michiel now desperately hopes that his uncle Ben will liberate his father... When the war is won only a few months later, Michiel has lost his innocence and will never be the same again.