A Conversation with Hendrika de Vries, Author, Survivor and Therapist

Hendrika de Vries is the author of the award-winning memoir When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew, a historical memoir about her childhood in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during WWII that tells a gripping story of resistance, resilience and female strength in the face of brutality and oppression.

Her current memoir, Open Turns: From Dutch Girl to New Australian — a Memoir (She Writes Press, Sept. 2, 2025 ), is its coming-of-age sequel. Henny was just a little girl when she experienced brutal violence and hunger in WWII Amsterdam. But she is now a teenage immigrant swimmer in 1950s Australia. She is smart, she swims fast and she has definite opinions about the
kind of woman she intends to be––all of which serves her well in her new home, where she must learn to turn challenges into success.

Her parents’ wisdom continues to guide her. “Intentions are like prayers; you send them out into the universe and if you pay attention they come back as destiny,” her mother says. And when she walks in the bush with her father, his
reverence for the mysteries of nature helps Henny hear the timeless Australian Land speak and see the Southern Cross as a beacon.

She enjoys swimming fame and championship victories, but throughout her coming-of-age years, she is also faced with memories, fears and dashed hopes and dreams. Time and again, she dives into the pool to find her own strength and sense of belonging––until, finally, she begins to see more clearly her unique path ahead.

Hendrika’s life experiences have infused her work as a therapist, teacher and writer. After surviving the trauma of WWII, she and her family emigrated to Australia when she was thirteen years old. As a migrant girl in 1950s Australia, with a fierce determination to succeed and a desire to belong, she faced and overcame unforeseen challenges. She earned her place as a South Australian state swimming champion, worked as a secretary to the Chief of Staff of a major newspaper’s Editorial Department, married the paper’s editorial cartoonist and became a young wife and mother.

She moved to America in the nineteen sixties, where her husband won the Pulitzer Prize for his biting political cartoons while she gave birth to their third child and embarked on a course of studies that would lead to her interest in Jungian psychology, master’s degrees in theology and counseling psychology and a career as a therapist.

A depth-oriented marriage and family therapist for over thirty years, she used memories, intuitive imagination and dreams to heal trauma, empower women and address life transitions. As a graduate schoolteacher she helped students explore the archetypal patterns in their life narratives.

Hendrika holds a BA with Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado, an MTS in theological studies from Virginia Theological Seminary, and an MA in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and the LA Times. She currently lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Learn more:

https://agirlfromamsterdam.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrika-devries-finishline/

https://www.facebook.com/HendrikadeVriesAuthor/

https://x.com/HENDRIKADEVRIE3

https://www.instagram.com/hendrika.devries.92/