A Child at War: The True Story of Hortense Daman

Hortense Daman from Leuven was thirteen years old when the war broke out. Through her brother Francois she ended up in the resistance and as a courier she was given increasingly dangerous and responsible assignments. On Valentine's Day 1944 the Gestapo raided Hortense's parental home. Francois was not caught, but Hortense and her parents, who as grocers provided food for resistance fighters and people in hiding, were arrested and taken to the Leuven prison.
After endless interrogations, Hortense and her mother, tortured and sentenced to death, ended up in Ravensbrück, Hortense's father went to Buchenwald. Only with superhuman strength did Hortense and her mother manage to survive the horrors of "T enfer des femmes".
Hortense Daman was made a Knight in the Order of Leopold for her courage, she received the War Cross and the Resistance Medal and for her help to the Russians she was awarded by the Soviet Committee of War Veterans. She has lived in England for over 40 years.