Review by Booklist Review
Selma, a Dutch Jew, came from an unconventional family and lived sometimes well and sometimes in poverty, depending on her father's work in the theater. At the start of the war, the family felt that the Netherlands might be spared, but, of course, that was not to be the case. Her two brothers were able to leave the country, but her parents and younger sister were swept up by the Nazis. Selma survived by assuming a Dutch identity and working for the Resistance. She was eventually taken as a political prisoner, and though Ravensbrück was not as harsh as the death camps, conditions were extreme, with death by starvation and disease common. She survived the war and eventually moved to England, married, and established a career. Holocaust memoirs are all different, all worthy of being told, and all adding to the story that needs to be remembered. This is a somewhat nondramatic telling of the horrors that Selma experienced and witnessed, not the least of which was losing her identity, and offers a slightly different view of camp life. It should find a home in any library that collects Holocaust materials.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Van de Perre was a resistance fighter in the Netherlands during World War II, while she was still a young woman. Now in her late 90s, she movingly recounts her work with Dutch resistance organizations and the people she met along the way. During the war, the author hid her Jewish identity and risked her life to protect others; she was eventually discovered and sent to Ravensbrück. After the war, Van de Perre moved to London and became a foreign correspondent. Memories of her father, who died in Auschwitz, and her mother and sister, who died in Sobibor, are never far from her mind. She shares her pain vividly, having lost most of her family and many of her friends, and paints a stark portrait of what it was like to live with so much fear, terror, and uncertainty. Her debut shares the incredible efforts of so many people fighting Nazism, even when the odds seemed insurmountable. VERDICT There are many extraordinary books written by survivors of the Holocaust, and this numbers among them. The author's voice, strength, and pain are palpable throughout; everyone can benefit from reading her story.--Sarah Schroeder, Univ. of Washington Bothell
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A harrowing memoir from "one of the few remaining Dutch Jewish survivors" of World War II. With captivating and heartbreaking detail, van de Perre (b. 1922) shares her memories of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, offering "a testament to our fight against inhumanity." Though the author enjoyed a happy childhood, in 1936, the Netherlands started taking in immigrants from Germany who "told troubling tales of National Socialism and what happened to people who renounced the Nazis." At first, nobody paid much attention, but soon enough, German soldiers invaded and "beg[a]n to commit acts so horrific that I now struggle to believe they really happened, in spite of having experienced them myself." As a child, being Jewish in Amsterdam never posed a problem. Her family wasn't strictly observant, and people barely mentioned religious differences. While it may not have seemed significant at the time, "the fact that I didn't look Jewish would later save my life." By 1942, van de Perre was working for the resistance as a courier. For her own security, she bleached her hair and assumed a new name and identity, Margareta van der Kuit. Despite her subterfuge, however, she was arrested and put on a train to the female-only Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was greeted by SS officers with whips. She was subjected to hard labor and meals consisting of watered-down coffee for breakfast and a thin slice of bread and soup ("water with a few blades of grass or cabbage") for supper. Throughout her time at Ravensbrück, the author remained cautious and quiet, fearing that her true identity would be revealed. Due to perseverance and some good fortune, she managed to survive her brutal circumstances, which she ably conveys in a plainspoken, touching manner, displaying a sharp memory and acute sense of the gravity of her experiences. In April 1945, she was marched to freedom. Next came the task of picking up the pieces. An incredible story of courage and compassion. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
