Squirrel is Alive

5 X 7.5

160 PAGES

PAPERBACK

JUNE 2023

9781682753774

“"Squirrel Is Alive is a charming memoir of a young Belgian resistance fighter whose exploits during the German occupation of her country were the stuff of legend. As a young woman, she served as a courier transferring information, arms, and ammunition between resistance groups defying the Nazis and leading a daring and adventurous life. Her journey took her into the arms of a liberating American soldier and into small-town America where she worked as a nurse and then, later in life, where she spoke to groups large and small about her experience and the meaning of freedom and democracy, values that Americans too easily take for granted. It brought her well-deserved honors, but more importantly brought wisdom and insight to her many audiences. The issues she spoke of, the questions she raised, and the values she embodied have become more urgent in our world, and Squirrel—her code name during the war—is once again alive through this moving memoir, alive with much to say.”  – Michael Berenbaum, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies Director, Sigi Ziering Holocaust Institute 

“A rare, surprising tale of a teenage girl’s struggle with adolescence, love of family and country, ethics, humanity, and survival under Nazi occupation of Belgium and France. That the “Squirrel,” Mary Rostad, stayed alive as she traveled and fought against the Nazis shows the reader, young or old, what a single young person's conviction, determination, and perseverance can achieve in the name of “Right” and justice. This is an eminently readable and inspiring book by an author who never sought the well-deserved recognition she gained late in her life. Many of the events and feelings Mary described resonate with me, a Holocaust survivor, the benefactor of the actions of a few righteous “Squirrels.”  – Peter Feigl, retired international business executive, senior Defense Department arms negotiator, and active Holocaust lecturer and survivor 

“A teenager makes a difference. Mary Rostad sees her country is being destroyed by the Nazis, so the “Squirrel,” as she is known, leaves her family and walks over a thousand miles in the cold with little food, always in constant danger, to report German troop movements. She was not a bystander but an upstander, a hero. At the end of the war, she visits Dachau and learns that President Eisenhower insisted the townspeople see the atrocities caused by the Nazis, an action that could have predicted the eventual rise of Holocaust deniers. Toward the end of her life, Mary—with the encouragement of her mentor, Darryle Clott—  feels compelled hare her experiences with the world.”  – Sam Harris, founding member and driving force behind the creation of the Illinois Holocaust Museum, where he is President Emeritus; Holocaust survivor