Synopsis

During the Nazi occupation, Amsterdam family banker Walraven van Hall enthusiastically accepts, despite brother-partner Gijs and many colleagues' reservations, to help the resistance by financing them with fake credits, for which the Dutch government in exile gives a post-war guarantee. As the war drags on, he largely exceeds the guaranteed sum and forges a coordination between resistance components, but the Germans plus collaborators set up a large operation to find and roll up the 'underground bank'. As Allied forces approach, a far larger sum is needed to pay for a massive railway strike, but the regular systems are exhausted. Walraven now devises a daring plan to liberate funds from the national bank by a complex web of forged promissory notes, but the ruthless SS is hot on their trail. —KGF Vissers

During the Nazi occupation, Amsterdam family banker Walraven van Hall enthusiastically accepts, despite brother-partner Gijs and many colleagues' reservations, to help the resistance by financing them with fake credits, for which the Dutch government in exile gives a post-war guarantee. As the war drags on, he largely exceeds the guaranteed sum and forges a coordination between resistance components, but the Germans plus collaborators set up a large operation to find and roll up the 'underground bank'. As Allied forces approach, a far larger sum is needed to pay for a massive railway strike, but the regular systems are exhausted. Walraven now devises a daring plan to liberate funds from the national bank by a complex web of forged promissory notes, but the ruthless SS is hot on their trail. —KGF Vissers

September 11, 2018 at 03:22 PM