Communications Department - (360) 943-5001 - Fax 586-6838 - 415 Airdustrial Way SW - Olympia, WA 98501
Reference & Information line: 704-INFO in Olympia area or toll-free 1-800-562-6022. 
TRL Web site: http://www.timberland.lib.wa.us  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts: Leanne Ingle, 360-704-4508; Susan Hanson, 360-704-4507; Kristin Blalack, Yelm Timberland Library Community Librarian, 458-3374.

World War II Dutch Resistance spy and Holocaust witness, Hanneke Ippisch, will speak at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 26 at the Yelm Timberland Library. The presentation is free of charge and intended for ages 12 through adults. Ippisch, author of Sky: A True Story of Resistance During World War II, will talk about her underground work in Holland, her capture and imprisonment by the Nazis and her optimism about today’s young people.

Ippisch will relate her experiences as a 17-year-old spy (pictured at left) for the Dutch Underground and her capture and imprisonment by Nazi occupation forces. She will also share the reasons why she, the privileged young daughter of a Protestant minister, became involved in dangerous Resistance activities. Her duties included hiding and transporting Jewish families through the countryside to safe homes and finding meeting places for the movement’s leaders.

Captured, interrogated, and sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 19, Ippisch spent the last months of the war in a Nazi-held prison in Amsterdam. From the tiny cell she shared with several others, the young woman communicated with the outside world by etching letters into tiny pieces of toilet paper and sewing the messages into her laundry.

Ippisch usually speaks at schools and only rarely at other venues. She is positive and encouraging when talking with young adults, assuring them she knows that, in her place, they would have done the same as she.

Ippisch now lives in rural Montana (photo at left). She writes, handcrafts toys, and speaks to youth. Her autobiography, written for young adults, will be available at the presentation for purchase and signing. The book includes photographs and copies of documents as well as Ippisch’s narrative.

This presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Yelm Timberland Library.

Timberland Regional Library serves Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties at 27 community libraries and 6 school-based cooperative library centers. Thurston County residents can telephone Timberland’s Central Reference Service librarians for information on any subject at 704-INFO (704-4636) or 1-800-562-6022 from other areas in the district. Or they can "Ask a Librarian" online at http://www.timberland.lib.wa.us/asklib.htm. Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in a library’s program may contact the library 4 days in advance.

Revised 03/07/03