As the founder of Amsterdam Publishers, an international publishing house specializing in Holocaust memoirs, Liesbeth Heenk has been devoting the past 10 years of her life to offer a platform for Holocaust survivors where they can share their stories and shed light on our collective—and dare we say, horrendous—past. This effort has led Amsterdam Publishers to presently being ranked as the biggest international publisher of Holocaust memoirs in Europe. We sat down with Liesbeth to talk more about her background, her motivation behind publishing Holocaust books, as well as her goals and ambitions for the future.
As an art historian by education, how did you come to publish Holocaust books? What was the reason behind specializing in this topic?
Looking back, I now realize that both my fascination and outright indignation with the Holocaust were planted very early on, while listening to my mother’s stories of growing up during the Second World War. As a little kid of only six or seven years old, she used to distribute anti-Nazi pamphlets to help out her father who was involved in the local underground resistance group, hiding and protecting people from the Arbeitseinsatz and Nazi terror in Berkel (the Netherlands). I was not consciously aware of the impact her stories had on me as a child until I decided, years later, to devote my time and career to publishing wartime stories. I feel morally obliged to offer survivors a platform where they can share their experiences, and my aim is to publish as many books as possible on the topic, until Holocaust deniers are no more.
It all started with the publication of Outcry. Holocaust Memoirs by Manny Steinberg. This survivor of 4 camps contacted me in 2014 because he noticed that another book published by me did very well indeed. That book has since then been relaunched by another publishing house, but Manny Steinberg’s book subsequently did phenomenally good, ranking as number 1 in many categories on Amazon for a prolonged period of time. I was asked to accompany the Steinbergs to the commemoration of the liberation of Vaihingen an der Enz in April 2016, and traveled with the family to Dachau. That experience really moved me and when I saw what it meant to the survivor and his family to have the story published, I decided to make it my focus. Outcry. Holocaust Memoirs has now been published in eight different languages.
Your company’s main goal is to publish Holocaust memoirs and biographies, but you also publish a small number of historical fiction novels set during the Second World War. Why did you decide to include this genre?
When I look at what is happening in Ukraine as well as in many other parts in the world at the moment, I cannot stop fearing that history will repeat itself unless we make people aware of what happened during (as well as what were the consequences of) the terrible years of 1939 – 1945. While it is indeed my main ambition to publish Holocaust memoirs and biographies by first, second, and now third-generation survivors, I believe that any books offering readers insights into the Second World War are valuable in their own ways. Provided they are as historically correct as possible (and never aiming to trivialize the Holocaust, nor aestheticizing those times in any way), I think that good historical fiction novels can offer the non-specialized readers a way in, demanding them to empathize and imagine, and not merely to be informed.
What value do you think these books provide in today’s world?
I have seen surveys on people’s awareness of the Holocaust and the experiences of Jewish people during the Second World War, and the numbers and ignorance are worrying. Touching upon the previous question, the constant surge in antisemitism around the world confirms my belief that we should not simply be concerned with choosing a suitable genre over another, but rather producing more books that foster sharing of knowledge, so that the general audience can find ways to identify with these events in more personal ways. It is my strong conviction that all forms of Holocaust representations (again, provided they are historically accurate) carry value as they draw attention to the wider issue of the Holocaust.
One of my biggest ambitions these days is to reach the younger generation with the books we publish, since I feel it is in the youth that we can still have a lasting impact. That is why I am seeking to get our Holocaust survivor memoirs included on the list of required literature in the Holocaust curriculum around the world. If anyone can help us in any way that would be much appreciated; with me being based in The Netherlands this is not an easy goal.
When I see that almost 41 million pages have been read of our Kindle eBooks alone, I think it is fair to say that we are making an impact. Every reader counts who genuinely feels empathy due to reading our Holocaust books.
What makes you the proudest about your work at Amsterdam Publishers?
I am a historian by heart, and one thing that I have learned in the past decade is that history books with objective representations and dry numbers do not speak as much as a Holocaust memoir by a survivor does. Because I firmly believe in the power of the word, it is my precious endeavor to offer survivors and their children a platform and create a space that encourages empathy and healing, not just sharing dry information. Ultimately, these books are a triumph of the human spirit. In my work as a publisher, I have the privilege to work closely with people who have experienced some of the worst times in our human existence—and I am always humbled and deeply impacted by their stories. Almost no day passes that I am not reminded of their stories in my personal life.
Moreover, our books do not only show the horror of the Holocaust and the appalling things that humans are capable of, but also the incredible resilience and strength that people have found amidst the chaos—and not just Jewish people, but everyone who risked their lives to help. It then comes as no surprise that I am indelibly attached to the work I do, and very grateful to be working in the company of such incredible people.
How do you see Amsterdam Publishers evolving during the years, and what is your ambition for the future?
I genuinely hope that the books I publish will help keep the memory of what happened during the Holocaust alive, and that our readership will only continue to grow throughout the years. And ultimately—as yes, one needs to dream too—I would love to see Amsterdam Publishers becoming the biggest reservoir of Holocaust books in the world. To make that happen, I would probably need to work until I am 100 years old, but let’s see how that goes!