Someone Named Eva

by Joan Wolf Narrated by Rachel Botchan

Overview

M. Wolf traveled to the Czech Republic, birthplace of her great-grandmother, for further insight into this remarkable story. Someone Named Eva is the devastating tale of a young girl whose identity is threatened by the all-consuming sweep of Nazi aggression. Before she loses everything, Milada is a normal, happy girl. But then come the Nazis, tearing her from her family's arms and leaving her with little but her grandmother's lingering words: "Remember who you are." "Honest . heartbreaking."-Booklist, starred review

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8
When resistance fighters assassinated the highest ranking Nazi officer in Czechoslovakia, Hitler sought revenge on the small village of Lidice. All 173 men and teenage boys were executed while the women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Ten Lidice children, who exemplified Aryan traits, were selected for "Germanization." They were sent to Lebensborn training centers, forced to speak only German, given new names, and indoctrinated into the Nazi ideology. They were then adopted by German families. The rest of the children of Lidice were gassed. Based on extensive research and interviews with survivors, Wolf tells the heart-wrenching story of the fictional Milada, who is sent to a Lebensborn center and adopted by the commandant of Ravensbruck. Readers are quickly immersed into her character, gaining a painful understanding of her intense struggle to hold onto her true self and identity. Students who have read stories of Jewish persecution and survival during the Holocaust will be enlightened by this portrait of how Hitler's Final Solution affected these innocent children. This amazing, eye-opening story, masterfully written, is an essential part of World War II literature and belongs on the shelves of every library.
—Rachel KaminCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Nazis came to Milada's village in Czechoslovakia and tore families apart. The men and older boys were shot, Milada found out later, and the women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp near Berlin. But Milada's family is not Jewish, and Milada's fate is to be transported to Poland and later to Germany to be "Germanized," as part of the Lebensborn program of kidnapping non-Jewish, non-German children with blonde hair and blue eyes and retraining them to become good Germans. Given a new name, trained in the German language and adopted by a German family, Milada-now Eva-struggles to retain her true identity. This little-known side of the Nazi era will fascinate young readers. Milada is a well-drawn character who resists "repatriation" and dreams of returning home. An important addition to the Holocaust curriculum. (author's note) (Fiction. 10-14)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170704767
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/30/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

June 1942: Lidice, Czechoslovakia

A few weeks after my birthday, Terezie and I got permission to stay up late, look at stars, and plan her upcoming party. The night was warm and clear, and it seemed that every star in the universe could be seen. I showed Terezie how to use the telescope, and after looking through it for a while, we lay down on the grass to talk. “I want dessert too, of course,” Terezie said when we began to talk about the food for her party. “But I’d really like a cake,—a cake with frosting. I don’t know if that will be possible with so little sugar, but . . .” She stopped talking when Jaroslav suddenly appeared. “Don’t let me interrupt your dreams of sugar and cakes,” he said with a smile.
“I just came outside to enjoy the night air.” “Go away, Jaro. We’re talking about Terezie’s birthday.” Despite how nice he had been to me at my party, he could still be a pest. “No, Milada, let him stay.” Even though I couldn’t see in the dark, I knew Terezie was blushing. It was no secret she had a crush on Jaroslav. He sat on the grass quietly as we finished planning. By then it was late, so Terezie and I said good-bye. After she left, I went to bed and fell asleep, thinking about stars and birthday parties.

A few hours later I was awakened by a loud, angry pounding on our front door that sent a sickening feeling down into my stomach. Something was very wrong. Suddenly, the door banged open and the pounding was replaced by the sounds of heavy boots, barking dogs, and fierce shouting in German. Throwing my covers aside, I jumped out of bed andraced downstairs to find our living room filled with Nazi soldiers.
“Papa!” I cried. He held out a hand to stop me from coming any farther. I felt my whole body shaking. Nazis. Up close they were even more frightening than when I had seen them in Prague. And now they were in our living room.
Jaro stood quietly next to Babichka, with an arm around her shoulders. In the other room I could hear Mama taking Anechka out of her crib. I looked from Jaro to the Nazis. The soldiers seemed almost as young as my brother, and a few of them swayed on wobbly legs. The reek of stale whiskey hung in the air. The Nazi nearest me barked a command in German, pointing upstairs with his gun.
“Go upstairs to your room, Milada,” Mama said as she entered the room with Anechka in her arms. “They are saying we must leave the house. Get dressed and take some of your things. Pack enough for three days.” I couldn’t understand the soldier’s words, just the fear he was causing, but Mama understood German. I turned to go upstairs, trying to get my legs to move, and suddenly the soldiers and dogs were gone. They had left the front door open, and silence stood in their place. In school Terezie and I had once read a poem about “loud silence,” and we had laughed at what the author had written.
How could silence be loud? But that night, right after the Nazis left, a loud silence was what stayed behind in our house as if it was a real thing, just as in the poem. Everything was completely quiet, but the terrifying presence of the soldiers lingered behind. Jaro was the first to speak. “Why are they here?” He looked from Mama to Papa, then back to Papa again. “What’s going on?” “We are being arrested and taken for interrogation.” Papa’s voice was quiet.
“What? Why? I don’t—” Jaro began, but Papa interrupted.
“I don’t know, Jaro. Just follow their orders and it will get sorted out. Now pack. Go.” I dressed quickly, still not believing that Nazis had actually been in our living room and that I was packing to leave my home. I put some clothes into a bag and tucked Mrs. Doll under one arm, even though I knew I was too old for her.
Then I gently lifted my telescope down from the shelf. It would come with me wherever I went. Downstairs, Anechka rested quietly in Mama’s arms. Papa was holding a suitcase in one hand and Mama’s hand in the other. Jaro stood with his traveling bag too, and a stubborn look on his face.
Babichka carried nothing other than the small framed wedding picture of herself and Grandfather, who had been dead many years, and her crystal rosary beads. I stared at her, wondering where her bag was. Why didn’t she have her silver candlesticks or her crucifix? Where was her hand-stitched shawl? She pulled me to her and grasped my hand in hers. Gently, she pressed her garnet pin into my palm. It had always been my favorite. It was shaped like a star, with tiny red stones around it that twinkled up at me in the light. I shook my head and tried to give it back. “No, Milada.” Shee took it out of my hand and pinned it on the inside of my blouse, her hands trembling slightly.
“You must keep this and remember,” she whispered, bending close to my ear.
“Remember who you are, Milada. Remember where you are from. Always.” I opeeeeened my mouth to protest further. “Shh, little one. Don’t say anything.
Shh.” She put a finger to my lips and ran a hand through my hair. “All right,” Papa said, turning off the living-room light and turning on the porch light. “All right,” he repeated, and together the six of us left our house. Two Nazis waited in the yard with dogs.
The porch light spilled across their faces, changing their features so it looked as if they were wearing masks. One guard used his gun to direct Babichka and me to the right side of the house. The other guard grabbed Papa roughly and pulled him from Mama. I watched as Mama’s and Papa’s intertwined hands stretched and stretched, until at last they had to let go and Papa, his eyes filled with tears, was pulled away from Mama. “I love you, Antonín!” Mama cried.
“I love you, Jana!” Papa’s voice cracked. The other Nazi grabbed Jaro by the arm and shoved him behind Papa, away from where Mama, Babichka, and I were standing. Jaro looked at us, blowing Mama and Babichka a kiss and winking at me. I felt myself being pushed farther and farther away from Papa and Jaro. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. I could only watch them being led away, until Mama turned me in the direction the Nazis’ guns pointed. I was shaking all over and looked up, noticing the stars tucked into the folds of night. They twinkled but looked dull and listless to me and offered no comfort. Other women and children, our neighbors, began to join us. They, too, were led by Nazis, and I realized it wasn’t just my family that was being arrested. The night air filled with the sound of our feet crunching on the gravel path as every house in Lidice was emptied. Mama kissed Anechka lightly on her forehead, and I shifted the telescope in my arm, beginning to feel its weight. “Milada!” I turned to see Terezie and her mother running to catch up to us. “Terezie!” I cried, grabbing her in a hug. Mama gave Terezie’s mother a brief kiss on the cheek, tears wetting both their faces. “Do you know what is happening?” Terezie asked. Her eyes were puffy, and she looked scared as she slipped her hand into mine. Like us, they had no men with them. It was just Terezie and her mother. “Papa said we’re being arrested,” I whispered. “All of us? Why?” Terezie whispered back.
“I don’t know,” I answered. We were stopped at the entrance to our school, where the soldiers’ German commands mixed with the sounds

Videos