Hidden Yellow Stars by Rebecca Connolly

 

Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium.

Belgium, 1942

Young school teacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium, who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army?

Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She wants to recruit Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier.

Together, Andrée and Ida, and their undercover operatives, work around the clock to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the resistance. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can.

But with the Gestapo closing in and the traitorous Fat Jacques who has turned from ally to enemy and is threatening to identify and expose any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work even harder against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden—even if it might cost them their own lives.

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About The Author

 Rebecca Connolly is the author of more than three dozen novels. She calls herself a Midwest girl, having lived in Ohio and Indiana. She's always been a bookworm, and her grandma would send her books almost every month so she would never run out. Book Fairs were her carnival, and libraries are her happy place. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She received a master's degree from West Virginia University, and is a hot cocoa addict.

 

My Review

 This was a really great read, based on so much truth, but fictional. A book that at time had my heart in my throat, were they going to make it to safety.
This is based on two woman who gave everything to help the Jewish children of Belgium escape. Ingenious change of names, and four books to record when the evil was finally over. I loved that there were updates at the end of this read that told us what happened to those we quickly cared about! Then the authors notes of the extensive research she made and those who gave her the idea, and on the personal note her own family.
At the beginning of each chapter is a quote from the Evil propaganda that was being promoted and who did it. Sadly, by looking at the bibliography the books that were for children. Sick!
We need to remember and not forget!
I received this book through Shadow Mountain Publishing, and was not required to give a positive review.