WWII camp survivor defends her memoirs

A handful of Dutch immigrants who now live in Utah question the authenticity of one woman's memoirs of her life in German-occupied Amsterdam and as a prisoner in a concentration camp.

"Too Stubborn to Die" was published in 1995 by Lehi resident Cato Jaramillo. In the book, Jaramillo writes about a childhood in Amsterdam and her abduction at age 12 that led to her being held prisoner for nearly two years at a camp know as Nordhausen.

But Ogden residents Jerry and Hanna Meents, who also lived in Amsterdam during German occupation and the Holocaust, grew concerned about Jaramillo's story after reading her book.

They spent 12 years researching her claims and have collected information that calls into question many of the details in Jaramillo's book.

"I read the book in one day, and that's when I found out that 95 percent is B.S.," said Jerry Meents. "Because all the historical facts of Amsterdam did not happen on the days she said, and she mentioned some things in the book that happened when she was supposed to be in the concentration camp."

Jaramillo said she never knew Meents in Amsterdam and doesn't understand why he would make those claims.

"I never even knew about Jerry Meents," she said. "He's been harassing me for a long time now by making telephone calls and standing in front of book stores (during author signing events)."

Jaramillo's story was featured in the Deseret Morning News in February.

Meents is not the only one questioning the book, however.

Professors at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Vercelli, Italy, have labeled the book a "forgery" and a "fraud" in presentations regarding traumatic historical events as captured in literature.

Prior to her abduction, Jaramillo describes being taken from her home by German troops to witness a public execution and recalls in vivid detail climbing over rooftops to gather food dropped into Amsterdam by Allied planes.

Meents, however, said the timeline of those events doesn't fit Jaramillo's story. The public execution Jaramillo mentions took place in March 1945, and Allied food drops didn't happen in Amsterdam until May 1945 and were not dropped over the city, according to Air Force documents obtained by Meents. According to her book, Jaramillo was in Nordhausen during that time period.