BOOTHBAY HARBOR — World War II affected the lives of people all over the world. What was it like to be a child then? Four local residents will tell some remarkable stories of WWII on Sept. 20 at the Opera House, 86 Townsend Ave.

A news release describes the storytellers as follows:

Florence Rosenberg currently spends her summers in Boothbay Harbor and returns to Paris each winter. She grew up in France and her father became involved in the OCM Resistance group soon after France’s crushing defeat in May 1940. Her mother, aware of the dangers involved, carefully prepared, rehearsed and taught her daughters, ages 9 and 14 years old, what to say if arrested and questioned.

When Rosenberg’s father — who had been arrested and tortured — escaped, the rest of the family was arrested. Françoise, whom the German policeman knew very well to be Jewish, badgered him enough to get her children freed. Françoise and her sister in-law were placed in jail before being freed as bait for their “terrorist” husband and brother. The eight years after the war were even more interesting, the news release states.

Annemarie van Deventer Appollonio was interned by the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies with her mother and brother when she was only 4 years old. They were in three different camps where they led a very precarious existence under constant surveillance in dismal housing with minimal food, forced labor and rampant disease.

Appolonio saw her mother savagely beaten as punishment for not running inside quickly enough when told to. When she was 7, in their last camp, the family was reunited but then the indigenous population rebelled against their Dutch colonizers, and the civil war started. Adaptation to normal life was not easy afterward.

Iska Cole was born in Slovakia. The first Slovakia Republic was created under German Nazi influence in March 1933. Eight-year-old Iska Cole, a flag bearer at her summer camp, shook Hitler’s hand when he visited the camp with the country’s president, his friend Tito.

She later had a much less friendly rapport with the Nazis when they took away her best friend who was Jewish and Iska went looking for her; when she lived in the forest with Partisans; when her life was saved by a pile of linens; and when at age 12, she was made to destroy a railroad track on which a German convoy of ammunitions, disguised as a medical transport with red crosses, was expected to pass.

Last but not least, the evening will include comments from George Whitten, a soldier and liberator. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge, often called the von Rundstedt Offensive, in Belgium, in 1944 and 1945. He will share a few stories, among others, of how he partook in a lovely Christmas dinner, and how he had a bridge built, an act for which he was yelled at by his superior, and then later decorated for it.

The event is free and open to the public and is appropriate for all ages. Doors for seating will open at 6:30 p.m. with the speakers beginning at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be available for sale.

For more information, call 633-6855.