This is the harrowing story of the Jews, resistance fighters, and young men escaping forced labor, who owed their lives to the staff at the ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo during WWII. Infrared photography and lyrical poetry, reveal the psychological landscapes of the individuals who lived in constant fear, not knowing from day to day whether their hiding places might be exposed. Nazi soldiers loved the zoo and visited daily, not realizing that a wall away people were in hiding.
 
Images and text chronicle the struggles of ordinary people
caught in extraordinary circumstances as they spend time with their memories, take flight with imagination,
and experience longing, grief and at times terror.
 
It was a huge group effort that kept 200-300 people alive as they hid in animal enclosures, in kitchens, attics and stables all located in the beautiful and pristine grounds of the zoo. 

With famine raging, freezing temperatures in Amsterdam and the needed secrecy of all involved, it is miraculous that all survived their time at the ARTIS Zoo.