Zacharias Wilsma wanted to live and fought to keep his head above water. In a time when no one gave a damn about men like him, he played a crucial role in the sodomy persecutions of 1730.
Zacharias Wilsma, born in 1707, worked as a manservant for elite gentlemen but also loved men. During the sodomy persecutions of 1730, he became the main witness in a series of trials that gripped the Dutch Republic. He named around 140 men and testified against others who had been arrested. Most of them were put to death. Wilsma died in the Utrecht house of correction in 1763.
In this book, GJ Wielinga explores the life of Zacharias Wilsma. It's not a simple story of betrayal or survival, but an attempt to understand why these choices were made and what they reveal about the men of that time-and about ourselves.
Fiction based on facts and personal experience, where history and the human perspective converge.
Warning: this book contains explicit scenes and is intended for an adult audience (18+).