Between 1940 and 1945 over 100,000 Jews were deported from the
Netherlands and murdered (three quarters of the Dutch-Jewish
population). One of these was Sientje Abram, an eleven year-old girl
from Amsterdam who was killed at Auschwitz in 1942. Guus Luijters
first came across Sientje's name when he was writing a book about the
18,000 Dutch children murdered during the German Occupation. But he
could find out nothing about her. All those who knew her were also
killed. And unlike Anne Frank, she left no written records. Then one
night Sientje started a poetic dialogue with Luijters. The result is
Song of Stars, in which Sientje recalls the street where she spent her
childhood and the lost world of old Jewish Amsterdam. The final section
contains the names of the 331 children from Rapenburgerstraat who were
killed by the Nazis. Song of Stars is a compelling and terrible book
about xenophobia, cultural amnesia and public memory.