Destination

'The strength of this beautifully written novel is the fact that it provides psychological insight into the agony of damaged souls.'

Nederlands Dagblad, daily national newspaper

'Henk Vaessen is a born storyteller: Audaciously he tells the story of three generations during and after the war. A well-known subject, but in this book he interweaves the 'Veluwe' and soccer, reality and mysticism, gravity and humour in a natural manner. Small deeds of great people and great dreams of small people.'

Rikkert Zuiderveld, musician, author and poet

Could the twin brothers be considered lucky, being the only concentration camp survivors from the Jewish community in Elburg. And what about the few dozen out of 660 men deported from Putten who returned after the war, were they lucky? In the Silent Final Henk Vaessen shows that for those who survived the war camps the suffering did not stop when they were liberated. For the spectator the war lasts from the beginning till the end... for the victim it lasts the rest of his life. And even then it is not over...

The story confronts the reader with controversial subjects like the 'second and third generation syndrome', the relationship Judaism-Christianity and anti-semitism. At the same time the author interweaves humour and gravity in the daily life of the main characters.

'It was an impressive experience to me to "accompany" a young soccer player on his way to breaktrough and reaching the final of his personal struggle, despite his mental burden. I laughed, learned, pondered and even fought against tears of emotion.'

Bert Konterman, former international soccer player.

'The author has tried admirably to sumpathize with the trauma-processing in a Jewish Family. In addition the story contributes considerably to the dialogue between Jews and Christians, hopefully resulting in a better understanding of each other from within.'

Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp.