My Real Name is Hanna

Inspired by the story of Esther Stermer and her family who escaped the Nazi's and survived underground for 511 days.

Hanna has split her time between exploring Kwasova with her younger siblings, sharing drawings over lunch with the sweet and shy Leon Stadnick, and assisting her neighbor, Mrs. Petrovich, with her annual dyeing and selling of psyanky, decorative eggs many in their community consider talismans. But before long, she, Leon and their families are forced into hiding, first in the woods outside of their town and then into caverns beneath it. They battle sickness and starvation, and the local peasants who join the Nazis in hunting Jews through the ravaged countryside, but at no time are they more tested than when Hanna's father – briefly above ground to scavenge for food – goes missing, and suddenly, it's on Hanna to find him, and to find a way to keep her mother, brother and sister alive.

My Real Name is Hanna is inspired by the true story of Esther Stermer and her family, who survived underground for 511 days, far longer than anyone ever has; expert cavers, by contrast, have only lasted a handful of months. Less than 5% of the Jewish population in Ukraine survived the Holocaust "Actions." The Stermers are one of the few families that remained intact. Their story is the focus of an award-winning documentary, No Place on Earth, but it – like so many Ukrainian stories of the Holocaust – has yet to be explored in literature outside of Esther's own self-published, difficult to find memoir. My Real Name Is Hanna will resonate with fans of Anna and the Swallow Man and The Librarian of Auschwitz. In lyrical prose and innovative structure, Hanna's story celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit, the beauty of a helping hand, and the power of family connections.

1941, Hitler's army crosses into Soviet-ruled Ukraine in a secret mission titled "Operation Barbarossa. A young Jewish girl, Hanna Slivka is fourteen when German soldiers arrive in her small village of Kwasova. Until their arrival, Hanna has split her time between playing with her younger siblings, sharing drawings with the sweet shy Leon Stadnick, and assisting her neighbor, Mrs. Petrovich, with her annual dyeing and selling of psyanky, decorative eggs. But now, she, Leon and their families are forced into hiding, first in the woods outside of their town and then into caverns beneath it. They battle sickness and starvation, and the local peasants who join the Nazis in hunting Jews through the ravaged countryside, but at no time are they more tested than when Hanna's father – briefly above ground to scavenge for food – goes missing, and suddenly, it's on Hanna to find him, and to find a way to keep her mother, brother and sister alive. This novel is inspired by the true story of Esther Stermer and her family, who survived underground for 511 days. Less than 5% of the Jewish population in Ukraine survived these Holocaust "Actions."