The war years of Artis and other parks
By Maarten Th. Frankenhuis
In this book, the former director recounts the survival of zoos in the Second World War and how "his zoo" overcame these years of war.
The former zoo director Armand Sunier and his coworkers did hard work to keep the animals healthy, to provide them with enough food and thus to ensure their survival. The author also briefly examines the war history of other Dutch and some foreign animal parks.
Apart from animals two or three hundred people could save themselves by hiding in Artis.
This hidden story is underlined by documented quotations, anecdotes and other stories.
Maarten Frankenhuis was director of Artis from 1990 to 2003. Since his retirement at the age of 61, he has finally had time to study animals, to do field work, to write and to undertake nature trips to South and East Africa, Central and South America.
He has undertaken extensive research into the history of zoos in the Second World War. During this research, the idea of a book about the fictional dream of a child hiding in Artis was born.
From the same author appeared the novel Droomonderduik, which is the adventure of a German-Jewish boy who is hiding in Artis during the war.
