My Name Is Selma

The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor

By: Selma van de Perre

Narrated by: Rachel Bavidge

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

An international bestseller, this powerful memoir by a 98-year-old Jewish Resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor “shows us how to find hope in hopelessness and light in the darkness” (Edith Eger, author of The Choice and The Gift).

Selma van de Perre was 17 when World War II began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had not been an issue. But by 1941 it had become a matter of life or death. On several occasions, Selma barely avoided being rounded up by the Nazis. While her father was summoned to a work camp and eventually hospitalized in a Dutch transition camp, her mother and sister went into hiding - until they were betrayed in June 1943 and sent to Auschwitz. In an act of defiance and with nowhere else to turn, Selma took on an assumed identity, dyed her hair blond, and 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 traveled around the country and even to Nazi headquarters in Paris, sharing information and delivering papers - doing, as she later explained, what “had to be done.”

In July 1944 her luck ran out. She was transported to Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp as a political prisoner. Unlike her parents and sister who she later found out died in other camps - Selma survived by using her alias, pretending to be someone else. It was only after the war ended that she could reclaim her identity and dared to say once again: My name is Selma.

“We were ordinary people plunged into extraordinary circumstances,” she writes in this “astonishing, inspirational, and important” memoir (Ariana Neumann, author of When Time Stopped). Full of hope and courage, this is Selma’s story in her own words.

©2020 Selma van de Perre. English language translation ©2020 Alice Tetley-Paul and Anna Asbury. Originally published in Dutch in 2020 by Thomas Rap as Mijn naam is Selma. Previously published in English in Great Britain in 2020 by Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Penguin Audio. All rights reserved.

Remarkable

This is a story we should share with everyone we know! We must never forget!

We need to remember

We need to remember what happened to people like Selma so it never happens again.

moving

a truly interesting and engaging account of strength and survival during world war 2.

Importance

A wonderful memoir by someone who suffered horribly at a concentration camp after being arrested as a resistance member. The book is important as part of all efforts to keep alive the lessons of the Holocaust.

Fantastic

Absolutely incredible story. A truly heroic story. What a strong soul. I cried allot. loved it

A Must-Read True Story of A Holocaust Survivor

This is a fascinating true account of a brave young Jewish woman who became part of the Dutch resistance in WWII, who saved many lives, who was sent to Ravensbrooke Concentration Camp, and who lived through incredibly dangerous situations and horrendous conditions in Ravensbrooke. The reader was outstanding. I could not stop listening the story was so good. I cannot think of anyone who would not enjoy this book.

Must read

It was a wonderful book, This lady story was courageous and heartbreaking heartbreaking all at once, God-bless all

Truly exceptional woman and story!

Worth all the tears! I decided to purchase this book after seeing a television appearance of Selma, she amazed me. I delayed starting the book, I knew I would shed tears, once I started it was hard to put down.

BRAVE

So, so brave. A lovely tribute to her life and that of so many others.

great book

loved it. the story is great and so is the narrator. the personal details are interesting