The Ambassador Newsletter Interview Team were honoured to speak to Holocaust survivor and resistance hero Selma van de Perre about her life during the Second World War and her recently published book 'My Name is Selma'.
Selma was born in 1922 in Amsterdam to a non-practicing, liberal Jewish family. Her father was arrested in 1942 and taken to Westerbork transit camp. Selma then helped her mother and sister go into hiding in Eindhoven. After they were arrested in 1943, she became a member of the “TD Group”, a Dutch resistance organisation. After her arrest in 1944, and having concealed her Jewish identity, Selma was incarcerated in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp as a political prisoner.
After her liberation, Selma reunited with her brother, David, in London, where she worked at the Dutch Embassy. She has also worked as both a teacher of sociology and mathematics, and a BBC journalist.
In later life, Selma revisited Ravensbrück annually to tell of her incredible life story to students. Earlier this year, she was awarded with the Order of Orange-Nassau to commemorate her involvement in the Dutch resistance.
You can read more about Selma’s story in her book ‘My Name Is Selma’. Click here to view the book on Amazon.