They Called Me Renee - Ruth Uzrad

In 1939, fourteen-year-old Ruth Uzrad is living with her mother and two sisters in Berlin. Her father has been taken in the night by the Gestapo and all around them, Jewish friends and neighbours are attempting to flee. Having become separated from the sisters she was trying to save, Ruth braves a new path as part of the underground French resistance.

With a fervour to fight the forces that tore her family apart, Ruth assumes a new identity: Renee. She impersonates a Gestapo member to save a baby from capture, is questioned by Nazis whilst delivering forged identification documents and smuggles Jewish children across the border into Switzerland. And as she continually risks being discovered, the promise of being reunited with her family slips further and further away.

Written by Ruth, originally for her grandchildren, They Called Me Renee is the rare and precious memoir of an underground Jewish resistance fighter. A powerful testament to courage and conviction, it is the extraordinary true story of a girl trying to save herself, her family, and her community.

Published November 3, 2026