ON TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015, OUR STORY APPEARED IN THE MEDIA. IT started early in the morning.
“Women Floor Holleeder” was the Telegraaf headline of an interview with Sonja and Sandra. That evening, my own story was published in NRC Handelsblad, and virtually every TV show broadcast it. I had to be in Assen that day for a hearing and hadn’t realized how huge the impact of our story would be.
That day and night—after the sound clips played on the RTL Late Night show—Willem Holleeder was exposed, and his true identity was revealed.
It seemed as if a wave of relief swept over the country: everybody had guessed as much, but nobody could lay a finger on him. Willem Holleeder had done all the things the Justice Department had suspected him of doing all these years.
Luckily, the thing I was afraid of—that people would react with anger and call us traitors—didn’t happen. Far from it; I think that that day alone, we received some three hundred messages of support from familiar but also unfamiliar people. And really, every message made a difference. One in particular. John van den Heuvel, a crime journalist, sent it through to me:
Dear Astrid and Sonja,
I would like to express my admiration for your courage in saying goodbye to Willem Holleeder in this way.
I have deep respect for the three women who, under such enormous pressure, have nevertheless decided to make a statement; in my opinion you belong to the backbone of the Netherlands.
I know from experience what death threats and the ensuing fear can do to people; that one can feel desperate and powerless, always living under pressure and constantly being alert because “the unknown” can strike violently at any moment. But you have made a difference by showing character.
Do think back to the Heineken-Doderer kidnapping for a moment. You may remember the codes that were used to communicate: the eagle (Holleeder c.s.) and the hare (Heineken c.s.).
The roles are reversed now. You have morphed from a fearful hare to a free-flying eagle.
I hope with all my heart that you and your children will be able to enjoy wonderful and safe flights, because you fully deserve them.
With kind regards, Kees Sietsma
Leader of the so-called Heineken team (1983)
That evening Sonja and I sat at her dining room table, opposite each other.
“Do you feel it, too?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“But what?”
“It feels like the day Cor died,” she said.
“Yes,” I said, “I feel exactly the same.”
We’d gone back in time twelve years, to the source of our grief, and it was as if only now were we ready to deal with that grief.