Table of ContentsDedicationEpigraphAcknowledgmentsPrologue: Tammy, Newburyport, MassachusettsThe Offner-Bottner Family TreeMelly: Germany, 1920s and 1930sGenek: Lvov, 1920s and 1930sMelly: Amsterdam and AntwerpA Wedding: Belgium, 1938Melly: Married LifeGerman Occupation: Belgium, 1940–1941Melly: Life under OccupationThe Anti-Jewish Laws: Belgium, 1942Melly: A Desperate DecisionAndree Geulen and the Resistance: September 1942Melly: The Family DispersedBobby: 1942Belgium and Holland: 1943Melly: A Wartime BabyBobby: 1943Irene: Namur, 1943PicturesIn Hiding: Banneux, 1943Back in Lvov: 1939–1943Genek’s Luck Runs Out: Brussels, 1943–1944Melly: Visiting BobbyThe Tide Turns: Brussels, 1944Liberation: Spring 1945Melly: IreneAfter LiberationNathan’s Freedom: Cyprus and Palestine, 1947–1949Melly: Brussels and Palestine, 1945–1949Reflections on a CalamityEpilogue: SurvivalDescendants of Leopold and Gertrude Offner: Full Family TreeSources and Further ReadingFurther Holocaust MemoirsColophonIn this biography from Melly's point of view, author and granddaughter Tammy Bottner delivers a true and moving family memoir.A young Jewish mother. A Nazi occupation bent on genocide. A heart-breaking decision that will tear a young family apart.Belgium, 1940. Melly Bottner is just eighteen with a three-week old newborn son when the Nazi occupation of Belgium begins. She and her young husband Genek live in fear as it becomes obvious that all Jews will soon be taken. Watching friends and neighbors disappear as the Germans carry out their shocking purge, the young family confronts an awful truth: if they are to survive, they must rip their own family into pieces.In this biography from Melly's point of view, author and granddaughter Tammy Bottner delivers a true and moving family memoir. This meticulously written and researched account brings to life the horrific decisions Bottner’s grandparents had to make simply to survive. Through their monumental choices, Tammy Bottner's grandparents ensured the survival of their family and made their post-war reunion possible.Among the Reeds is a deeply personal family memoir that is part-biography, part psychological observation of the extraordinary wartime lives of a persecuted people. If you like true stories of courage, heart-stopping near misses, and tear-jerking choices, then you’ll love Tammy Bottner’s compelling account.A young Jewish mother. A Nazi occupation bent on genocide. A heart-breaking decision that will tear a young family apart.Belgium, 1940. Melly Bottner is just eighteen with a three-week old newborn son when the Nazi occupation of Belgium begins. She and her young husband Genek live in fear as it becomes obvious that all Jews will soon be taken. Watching friends and neighbors disappear as the Germans carry out their shocking purge, the young family confronts an awful truth: if they are to survive, they must rip their own family into pieces.In this biography from Melly's point of view, author and granddaughter Tammy Bottner delivers a true and moving family memoir. This meticulously written and researched account brings to life the horrific decisions Bottner’s grandparents had to make simply to survive. Through their monumental choices, Tammy Bottner's grandparents ensured the survival of their family and made their post-war reunion possible.Among the Reeds is a deeply personal family memoir that is part-biography, part psychological observation of the extraordinary wartime lives of a persecuted people. If you like true stories of courage, heart-stopping near misses, and tear-jerking choices, then you’ll love Tammy Bottner’s compelling account.