
The Forgotten Names
A Tale of Heroism and Reclaiming Identity in Nazi-Occupied France
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Narrated by:
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Saskia Maarleveld
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By:
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Mario Escobar
About this listen
In August 1942, French parents were faced with a horrible choice: watch their children die, or abandon them forever. Fifty years later, it becomes one woman’s mission to match the abandoned names with the people they belong to.
Five years after the highly publicized trial of Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon,” law student Valérie Portheret began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux fifty years earlier, children who somehow managed to escape deportation and certain death in the German concentration camps. She soon discovers that their rescue was no unexplainable miracle. It was the result of a coordinated effort by clergy, civilians, the French Resistance, and members of other humanitarian organizations who risked their lives as part of a committee dedicated to saving those most vulnerable innocents.
Theirs was a heroic act without precedent in Nazi-occupied Europe, made possible due to a loophole in the Nazi agenda to deport all Jewish immigrants from the country: a legally recognized exemption for unaccompanied minors. Therefore, to save their children, the Jewish mothers of Vénissieux were asked to make the ultimate sacrifice of abandoning them forever.
Told in dual timelines, The Forgotten Names is a reimagined account of the true stories of the French men and women who have since been named Righteous Among the Nations, the children they rescued, the stifled cries of shattered mothers, and a law student, whose twenty-five-year journey allowed those children to reclaim their heritage and remember their forgotten names.
- World War II historical fiction inspired by true events
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs, a historical timeline, and notes from the author
- Book length: 70,000 words
- Also by author: Auschwitz Lullaby, Children of the Stars, Remember Me, The Librarian of Saint-Malo, The Teacher of Warsaw, The Swiss Nurse
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I Have to Save Them
- By: Ellie Midwood
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Auschwitz, 1942: Her entire body trembles as she stands in the infirmary and realises the horrifying truth. She’s a nurse, but instead of saving her fellow inmates, she’s about to be ordered to kill them… Surrounded by thick fog from the nearby forest, Orli stumbles from the cattle truck onto the frostbitten grounds of Auschwitz. Betrayed by her own husband for being a German resistance fighter, she has no one left in the world, and this is now her home.
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Fantastic story.
- By Vimala McClure on 02-27-25
By: Ellie Midwood
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Warsaw Fury
- By: Michael Reit
- Narrated by: Karen Gundersen
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Natan Borkowski has it all. In line to take over the successful family business, his future is set. Julia Horowitz lives in poverty. The daughter of a shoemaker, she dreams of a different life—a different world. Everything changes when Hitler’s armies invade Poland. Natan’s future is ripped away by the flick of a switch of a Luftwaffe pilot. When the smoke clears, Julia and her family find themselves locked within the walls of the newly-formed Jewish ghetto.
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SO MANY STORIES OF BRAVERY AND COURAGE DURING WWII FROM THE POLISH…
- By Marie G. on 06-13-24
By: Michael Reit
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The Glovemaker's Daughter
- By: Shari J. Ryan
- Narrated by: Henry Nott, Hannah Genesius
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris, 1943. German soldiers drag me out onto the cobbled street and push me toward the waiting truck. I force myself to face forward as tears stream down my cheeks. If I look back, they’ll know. I can’t let them find my baby girl....
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Not your typical WWII story
- By Amazon Customer on 08-04-24
By: Shari J. Ryan
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Remember Me
- A Novel of the Spanish Civil War
- By: Mario Escobar
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Amid the shadows of war, one family faces an impossible choice that will change their lives forever. From best seller Mario Escobar comes a 20th-century historical novel of sacrifice and resilience inspired by Spain’s famed Children of Morelia and the true events that shaped their lives.
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Amazing book
- By Armando Goiz on 03-04-23
By: Mario Escobar
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The Winter Child
- By: Carly Schabowski
- Narrated by: Naomi Frederick
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Poland, 1943: Please don't do this! Her shrill cry pierces the night air, the screams breaking the silence of the falling snow. But the man she calls to does not turn, vanishing into the darkness with a child clasped in his arms.
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Love this author's books!
- By andrea l on 06-01-24
By: Carly Schabowski
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The Nurse Behind the Gates
- By: Shari J. Ryan
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer, Lucy Scott
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Dachau, 1942. Emilie has been told she's here to nurse evil men. But the first patient she sees in the cold, dark room is hauntingly familiar. Her first love is not wicked. He couldn't be. What is he doing here? Emilie's heart stops as she takes in her childhood sweetheart hunched in a tattered prisoners uniform, the light lost from his face. Her new husband, Otto, said this was a camp for criminals. He should know, he's the doctor. But Danner would never have broken the law.
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Friends vs Enemies
- By Wagaageyv on 04-24-25
By: Shari J. Ryan
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Operation Tulip
- WW2 Secret Agent Series
- By: Deborah Swift
- Narrated by: Polly Edsell
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Holland, 1944: Undercover British agent Nancy Callaghan has been given her toughest case yet. A key member of the Dutch resistance has been captured, and Nancy must play the role of a wealthy Nazi to win over a notorious SS officer, Detlef Keller, and gain crucial information. But as Nancy infiltrates the Dutch SS, she finds herself catching the eye of an even more senior member of the Party. Is Nancy in too deep, or can Tom reach her before she gets caught?
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Well written, well researched story of the Dutch resistance during World War II.
- By Mr. Perkins on 05-27-25
By: Deborah Swift
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The Secret Society of Salzburg
- By: Renee Ryan
- Narrated by: Henrietta Meire
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1933. At first glance, Austrian opera singer Elsa Mayer-Braun has little in common with the young English typist she encounters on tour. Yet she and Hattie Featherstone forge an instant connection—and strike a dangerous alliance. Using their friendship as a cover, they form a secret society with a daring goal: to rescue as many Jews as possible from Nazi persecution. Though the war’s outbreak threatens Elsa and Hattie’s network, their efforts attract the covert attention of the British government, offering more opportunities to thwart the Germans.
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Magnificent story brought further to life by Audio
- By Pennydreadful Reader on 01-15-23
By: Renee Ryan
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The Widows of Champagne
- By: Renee Ryan
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Champagne, 1939. Gabrielle Leblanc Dupree is taking her family's future into her hands. While she should be preparing for a lavish party to celebrate two centuries of champagne making, she secretly hides Chateau Fouché-Leblanc's most precious vintages behind a fake wall in the cellar in preparation for the looming war. But when she joins the resistance, the coveted champagne isn't the most dangerous secret her cellar must conceal.
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Good but a bit religious
- By Far North on 03-31-23
By: Renee Ryan
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The Paris Housekeeper
- By: Renee Ryan
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden, Callie Beaulieu, Henrietta Meire
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris, 1940 German tanks rumble through the streets of Paris, forcing frightened citizens to flee. But not everyone has the luxury to leave. Camille Lacroix, a chambermaid at the world-famous Hôtel Ritz, must stay to support her family back home in Brittany. Desperate to earn money, Camille also acts as a lady’s maid for longtime guest Vivian Miller, a glamorous American widow—and a Nazi sympathizer. Despite her distrust of the woman, Camille turns to Vivian when her friend Rachel Berman needs help getting out of Paris. It’s then that Camille discovers that Vivian is not what she seems.
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Loved the three narrators
- By Pmurr on 10-27-24
By: Renee Ryan
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Children of the Stars
- By: Mario Escobar
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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August 1942. Jacob and Moses Stein, two young Jewish brothers, are staying with their aunt in Paris amid the Nazi occupation. The boys’ parents, well-known German playwrights, have left the brothers in their aunt’s care until they can find safe harbor for their family. But before the Steins can reunite, a great and terrifying roundup occurs. The French gendarmes, under Nazi order, arrest the boys and take them to the Vélodrome d’Hiver - a massive, bleak structure in Paris where thousands of France’s Jews are being forcibly detained.
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Innocence can only be lost once
- By Kenny Russell on 09-01-21
By: Mario Escobar
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The Girl from Guernica
- By: Karen Robards
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror. Griff, an American military attaché, pulls Sibi from the wreckage, and it’s only the first time he saves her life in a span of hours. When Germany claims no involvement in the attack, insisting the Spanish Republic was responsible, Griff guides Sibi to lie to Nazi officials. If she or her sisters reveal that they saw planes bearing swastikas, the gestapo will silence them—by any means necessary.
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Amazing story
- By Anna on 10-27-23
By: Karen Robards
It was based on true events
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Based on true events
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A good listen
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Well performed
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listened in a day, great lidten.
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Amazing book I want to share with others
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Sometimes it only takes a small courageous group of people to open the eyes of millions...to truth!
Heartbreaking and Heartwarming
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Unique focus on the plight of WWII children
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Fascinating Story
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Totally confusing with unknown characters & no details of time or places
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