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Start giftingMy Name Is Selma
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Learn moreBrought to you by Penguin.
'I am one of few Jewish survivors of World War Two, but one of many Jewish people to fight the Nazi regime. My story illustrates what happened to thousands of Jews and non-Jews alike... the sheer luck that saved some of us and the atrocities that led to the deaths of so many, as a tribute to all those who suffered and died.'
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 Ravensbrück 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.
© Selma van de Perre 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020
Selma van de Perre was a member of the Dutch Resistance organization TD Group during the Second World War. Shortly after the war she moved to London, where she worked for the BBC and met her future husband, the Belgian journalist Hugo van de Perre. For a number of years she worked as foreign correspondent for a Dutch television station. In 1983 Selma van de Perre received the Dutch Resistance Memorial Cross and in 2021 she received a Royal Distinction, conferred by the Dutch Ambassador in London. Selma is one of the few remaining survivors of Ravensbrück concentration camp who are still alive today. She lives in London and has a son.