Hidden Yellow Stars Review

About the Book

 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 schoolteacher 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. (Goodreads)

BUY HERE

My Thoughts

This story holds so much it is difficult to put my thoughts into a review. The ladies in this book are remarkable and it still astounds me how resilient people can be and more evident when you can peek into the past. The research that went into this book is well done and while this is a heavy time in history and a difficult story to read it is necessary. I thought the different perspectives from each woman was well written. I didn't get lost in the back and forth and I thought it added a lot to the plot. The start of each chapter has some type of Nazi quote that shows how awful and evil their thought process was. That really brought the reality of this time to the forefront because this wasn't made up, it was reality. This book really shines a light on how hard it was for families to be split a part, specifically mothers and their children. I can't even imagine and yet so many did in order to protect their child. The ending wrapped it up as best as could be expected and for World War II history I highly recommend! 

Five Stars. 

"I received this book from Shadow Mountain Publishers for free. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review."