Someone Named Eva

Someone Named Eva is a 2007 middle-grade historical fiction novel by American teacher and children’s author Joan M. Wolf. The book is set around the 1942 Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and Slovakia) during World War II. The story follows 11-year-old Milada Kralicek and her journey of loss and rediscovery. Milada struggles to remember her Czech family and identity after Nazi soldiers kidnap her and force her to live as “Eva Werner” with her new adopted German family. The book touches on important themes of identity, family, and the effects of Germanization on children.

This guide refers to the Clarion Books 2007 edition.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of Nazi ideology, offensive and derogatory language, and physical abuse. This book is a work of historical fiction and subsequently depicts potentially triggering events, including the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia, the Lidice massacre, and concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Plot Summary

The story opens in May 1942, in the town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia. Nazi Germany has invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia for the past three years. The main character of the story, Milada, and her best friend, Terezie, are planning their 11th birthday parties. Despite the occupation, the Kraliceks throw a fun birthday party for Milada. Milada has a few friends over as well as her schoolmate Ruzha, whom she does not like. The party festivities include games, dessert, and gift giving.

A few days later, Nazi soldiers come to the Kralicek home in the middle of the night and tell Milada’s family to collect their things. While the family is packing, Babichka, Milada’s grandmother, gives Milada a star-shaped garnet pin and fastens it to the inside of Milada’s shirt. Babichka tells Milada to always remember who she is and where she comes from. The soldiers separate the females—Milada, her baby sister, Anechka, Mama, and Babichka—from the male relatives, Milada’s brother, Jaro, and Papa.

The soldiers round up all the women and children in Lidice and transport them to a large school in nearby Kladno. The women and children are forced to sit and wait on hay that’s been spread throughout the gymnasium. On the second day, Milada and a few other children are herded into a room and examined by Nazi doctors. The doctors force the children to undress and perform a physical examination. They take note of her blond hair, the color of her eyes, the shape and size of her nose, and other physical traits Milada never thought much of before.

A few days later, the soldiers take the women to a “work camp” under the pretense that they will be reunited with their partners. The soldiers also maintain that the children will join the women but will be taking a more “comfortable” bus to the camp. However, Milada and Ruzha are placed on a bus with the Nazi doctors and are taken to a Lebensborn center, or training facility, in Puschkau, Poland, where there are other blond-haired girls with light-colored eyes. At the facility, the children are assigned German names, forced to speak in German, and are told that they will become the ideal German wives and mothers to make Germany stronger.

Fräulein Krüger, the facility’s headmistress, renames Milada and Ruzha, now Eva and Franziska, respectively. Training at the facility is rigorous, and the Nazi instructors teach the girls German history, the ideals of German life, and the cornerstones of Nazi ideology. Although Eva is forced to go to these classes and salute Hitler daily, she keeps Babichka’s pin close and repeats her Czech name to herself to remember who she is.

As her training progresses, it becomes harder for Eva to remember her Czech name and language. She befriends another girl renamed Liesel, and they sneak out of their room at night to look at the stars. During the excursions, they visit a small chapel and only call each other by their real names.

After two years at the facility, the girls are adopted into German families. Eva is taken to Herr and Frau Werner’s large, richly furnished home in Fürstenberg, Germany. The Werners already have two children, a 14-year-old daughter named Elsbeth and an eight-year-old son named Peter. Eva learns that Herr Werner is an important Nazi official who runs a “prison camp” (concentration camp) close to their house. When soldiers burn the bodies of dead prisoners, the fumes create a thick, foreboding smell that pervades the Werner house.

Eva and Elsbeth grow close, and Eva even comes to call the Werner parents “Vater” (father) and “Mutter” (mother). Overall, Eva enjoys her time at the house, which is quite comfortable and contains good food. However, Eva still discreetly tries to hold onto her identity and keeps Babichka’s pin fastened to the inside of her clothes.

The Werners throw an adoption party for Eva, and Frau Werner sews Eva a beautiful blue satin gown. To keep the dress from tearing, Eva removes Babichka’s pin and places it in a desk drawer. While Eva enjoys the party and feels happy that she adds value to the Werner family and to Germany, she also forgets about Babichka’s pin.

A few weeks after the adoption party, Elsbeth and Eva take a walk through the woods behind their house. Eva hears someone singing the Czech national anthem and runs toward the voices. She finds the prison camp Herr Werner runs and sees emaciated women being forced to perform hard labor. Elsbeth tells Eva that the prison is full of “bad people” and Jews, and that they should never return to the camp. Although this experience devastates Eva, she is reminded of her Czech identity and begins wearing Babichka’s pin again.

Around this time, air raids and artillery fire become common. Food is scarce, and the Werners must dismiss their hired help. Herr Werner decides to take Peter into hiding with him, and the two of them leave. The remainder of the Werner household must take shelter from the air raids. Frau Werner is so distraught that her husband has abandoned them that Eva and Elsbeth must trick her into the small basement beneath the house. Although the basement is cold and dark, it serves as a bomb shelter for the scared trio.

Three weeks later, Russian soldiers find the house. They force Frau Werner to surrender everything left in Herr Werner’s office, destroy whatever they can, and then leave Frau Werner, Eva, and Elsbeth behind. After this, Elsbeth and Eva venture outside to retrieve a gun Elsbeth has hidden in the woods. They cannot find it, and Eva takes this opportunity to sneak away and visit the prison camp again, hoping to hear some more of her language and maybe gain information about her family.

Elsbeth catches Eva and accuses Eva of being a Jew. The two girls fight, tumbling down an embankment. Eva unwittingly loses Babichka’s pin. The girls return to the bomb shelter but refuse to speak to one another. The next night, Eva sneaks out to find Babichka’s pin. Elsbeth follows her, sorry for the fight the previous day. Together, they find Babichka’s pin, and Eva tries to tell Elsbeth about the family she left behind in Czechoslovakia. Elsbeth doesn’t understand.

Days later, Eva, Elsa, and Frau Werner awake to a quiet world and realize that the war has ended. They go back upstairs and try to clean the house and make it livable again. After living upstairs for a few days, two Americans from the Red Cross come to the house and ask for Milada. Eva hasn’t heard her Czech name in years and is overwhelmed. The Americans reveal that Milada’s mother is still alive and waiting for her in Prague. Shocked, Milada follows them, leaving Frau Werner and Elsbeth without saying goodbye.

On the train to Prague, the American woman tells Milada that her father, brother, and grandmother were all killed. They believe her baby sister is still alive and was similarly adopted into a German family. The American also warns Milada that her mother may look and act different from the last time they saw each other.

Milada sees her mother and agrees that she is changed. Mama is thin and bony, and her hair is cut short. Despite Mama’s unnerving appearance, Milada still recognizes the light in her mother’s eyes. The two embrace and begin to build a life together in Prague.

Although Milada’s mother initially refuses to speak of their family, she eventually opens up. Mama tells Milada about life before the war, like the day Milada was born. In turn, Milada tells Mama about the German facility and being adopted by the Werners. Mama is shocked that Milada kept Babichka’s pin all these years. The keepsake is their only belonging left from before the war, and Milada’s mother asks Milada to wear it on the outside of her collar as a symbol of hope.

In the last chapter of the book, Milada and her mother visit their hometown of Lidice. It is now only a field. Milada watches as a single star appears over the place where their house used to be. Quietly, she tells Babichka that she has kept her promise and will always remember.