Synopsis
In Nazi-occupied France in 1941, four-year-old Ruth Kapp learns that it is dangerous to use her own name. "Remember," her older cousin Jeannette warns her, "your name is Renee and you are French!"
A deeply personal book, this true story recounts the chilling experiences of a young Jewish girl during the Holocaust. The Kapp family flees one home after another, helped by simple, ordinary people from the French countryside who risk their lives to protect them. Eventually the family is forced to
separate, and young Ruth survives the war in an orphanage where she is not allowed to see or even mention her parents. Without the trappings of lofty language or the faceless perspective of history, this first-person account poignantly recreates the terror of war seen through the eyes of an innocent
child. Your Name Is Renee is a tale of suffering and redemption, fear and hope, which is bound to stir even the most hardened heart.
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About the Author
Stacy Cretzmeyer lives in Pawley's Island, SC. She is a counselor and is a founder and Coordinator of the Women's Advocacy Center in Counseling Services at Coastal Carolina University. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of South Carolina.
From Kirkus Reviews
Cretzmeyer, with Hartz, graphically documents the plight of Jews who were living in unoccupied southern France during WWII; French Jews were pursued not only by the German Gestapo, but also by the French Vichy government. The atrocities and effects of anti-Semitism are seen through the eyes of the four-year-old who was then Ruth Kapp; she was given a new French identity, as Rene Caper, so that the villagers wouldn't know she was Jewish. The details are unflinching: daily roundups of men, the capture of her Uncle Heinrich by French police and his deportation, finding refuge with a caring Catholic family called the Valats, hiding in their cellar for days to evade discovery, and living in constant fear that her parents would be arrested while she was away at school. It is heartwrenchingly evident that a childhood was stolen; what also becomes apparent from Ruth/Rene's testimony is that there was a strong resistance movement of Protestants and Catholics who provided safe havens in their own homes or in nearby convents. She was placed in a convent where she assumed the identity of a Christian orphan, keeping silent not only about her religious affiliation but the existence of her parents. This account makes clear to readers how the Vichy government collaborated with the Nazis, but also makes obvious the power of individuals to make a difference despite personal danger. (b&w photos, maps, notes, further reading, appendix) (Biography. 11-15) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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