Someone Named Eva

When is a Czechoslovakian girl not a Czechoslovakian girl? When she is dragged from her family and placed in a German repatriation program where she is only allowed to speak German and is eventually adopted by a German family. Only in Someone Named Eva, Eva, real name Milada, makes the effort to always remember who she really is. And that someone is from Lidice, Czechoslovakia, where she was the fastest runner in school, loved to star gaze and ride bikes with her best friend, had a big brother, a baby sister, and a beloved grandmother, mother and father. She also had Aryan features, which is why the Germans snagged her.

But I didn't understand why the people of Lidice, Czechoslovakia were singled out by the Nazis until I read the Author’s Note. Resistance fighters made an attempt on Hitler’s favorite officer, Heydrich, also known as the “Butcher of Prague.” Nazi intelligence thought there was a connection between the village of Lidice and the resistance fighters (wrong) so they took revenge on it’s 500 inhabitants. The men and teenage boys were shot, the “acceptable” children where sent to the repatriation program and the rest of the children and women where sent to work camps. Then the Nazis razed the town, turning it into nothing but a field.

Shannon and I read this one together and enjoyed discussing it along the way. The constant theme throughout was to never forget who you are.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: I followed a link mentioned by the author to the Lidice Memorial. I noticed this museum on the site where the town of Lidice once stood is sponsoring an annual, international art contest for children ages 4-16. Get out your art supplies and send your entry by March 15, 2011.