Bibliograph

My name is Selma, the remarkable memoir of a Jewish resistance fighter and Ravensbrück survivor, Selma Van de Perre ; translated by Alice Tetley-Paul and Anna Asbury

Type

Label

My name is Selma, the remarkable memoir of a Jewish resistance fighter and Ravensbrück survivor, Selma Van de Perre ; translated by Alice Tetley-Paul and Anna Asbury

Language

eng

resource.biographical

autobiography

Illustrations

platesillustrationsportraits

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

My name is Selma

Responsibility statement

Selma Van de Perre ; translated by Alice Tetley-Paul and Anna Asbury

Sub title

the remarkable memoir of a Jewish resistance fighter and Ravensbrück survivor

Summary

Selma van de Perre was seventeen when World War Two began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had been of no consequence. But by 1941 this simple fact had become a matter of life or death. Several times, Selma avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. Then, in an act of defiance, she joined the Resistance movement, using the pseudonym Margareta van der Kuit. For two years 'Marga' risked it all. Using a fake ID, and passing as Aryan she travelled around the country delivering newsletters, sharing information, keeping up morale - doing, as she later explained, what 'had to be done'. In July 1944 her luck ran out. She was transported to Ravensbruck women's concentration camp as a political prisoner. Unlike her parents and sister - who, she would later discover, died in other camps - she survived by using her alias, pretending to be someone else. It was only after the war ended that she was allowed to reclaim her identity and dared to say once again: My name is Selma. Now, at ninety-eight, Selma remains a force of nature. Full of hope and courage, this is her story in her own words

Target audience

adult

Contributor

Creator