Someone Named Eva

I have read numerous books about the Holocaust.  Generally, the young adult books I've read are about Jewish survivors.  Someone Named Eva is a book about a Catholic survivor.  Malida is a Catholic Czech living in the village of Lidice.  Czechoslovakia was under Nazi reign and assigned a "protector", Reinhard Heydrich.  At the end of May, 1942 resistance fighters attempted to assassinate Heydrich.  Their attempt was successfully in that Heydrich died of wounds he received a few days after the attempt to end his life was made.

The Nazis were furious.  Intelligence reports showed a connection between the resistance fighters and the small town of Lidice.  In retaliation, the Czech men and boys were rounded up and shot.  Women and children were separated.  During this time any children who were thought to match Aryan standards were sent to Lebensborn programs.  Lebensborn programs included the kidnapping of non-Jewish, non-German children and teaching them to become "perfect" Germans.  The women and children who could not pass for Aryan were sent to Ravensbuck work camp or gassed.

Something Named Eva is Malida's story of who she was taken from her family and trained to be a German.  Malida is adopted by a German family and raised as one of their own.  At the end of the war, Malida is reunited with the remaining member of her family, her mother.

I was unaware of the events that took place in Lidice, and this novel made me aware of more Nazi atrocities.  Books like this are so important for young adults.  Making students aware of all the victims of the Holocaust, not just the Jewish victims, is important to understanding that genocide is a global issue that affects us all.