Dutch retailer removes Dachau biography amid doubts over wartime account

Dutch online retailer Bol has removed a biography of Willem Wilbrink from sale at the publisher’s request, as questions mount over the 99-year-old’s account of being held at the Nazi concentration camp Dachau. Bol confirmed the request to broadcaster NOS. The Dutch news agency ANP reported that Bruna and Amazon were also no longer offering the book on Thursday evening. [1] [4]

*Getekend voor het leven in Dachau en Indië*, written by Laurens van Aggelen and published in 2023, presents Wilbrink’s claimed imprisonment as a central part of his life story. Wilbrink has said he was sent to Dachau as a teenager and saved dozens of lives there. [2] [3] [4]

Writing in *Historisch Nieuwsblad*, Hans Vogelzang said he could find no corroboration for that account and that Wilbrink’s name was absent from a Dachau prisoner list he described as complete. Wilbrink rejected Vogelzang’s conclusions as defamatory and disputed the completeness of the archive, according to the magazine. The Dutch war-history institute NIOD separately confirmed to ANP that Wilbrink’s name was absent from a list of Dutch Dachau prisoners, but said it could not conclude from that omission that he had never been held there. [2] [6]

Book trade publication *Boekblad* linked the sales changes to a boycott appeal issued on 13 October. Bol’s explanation establishes why it acted, but not why the publisher made its request or what led Bruna and Amazon to stop offering the title. NOS reported that the publisher was unavailable for comment on Thursday evening. [1] [5]