Does the subtitle of this recent memoir tell it all? Not quite. This is not a simple memoir; it is not only about personal experience. There is myriad incidental information, plus solid historical background intertwined with family history, and numerous encounters of the child-heroine during first the Russian Communist and then the Nazi German occupations of western Ukraine.
Even though, technically, it covers the span of World War II (1939-1945), there are a “before” and an “after” skillfully woven into the fabric of the tale. The book untangles, especially for young readers, the complicated historical “back and forth” events of those years.
The reader keeps discovering many facts as a sideline to the main theme, for example: the liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church; the underground resistance – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA); the scouting organization Plast and why it was forbidden; the atrocious murders of all political prisoners by the NKVD just before the Soviets retreated; the sheltering of Jews by many Ukrainian families, especially Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and the clergy; the hunting down of young Ukrainians and forcible relocation to Germany as a labor force, the so-called “Ostarbeiter”; the very moving account of the infamous forced repatriation of many Ukrainians from the displaced persons camps to the Soviet Union (and why Americans agreed to it); and many other such notable developments.
The memoir progresses chronologically: first the Russian occupation, next the Nazis and then a very vivid description of the details of the dangerous exodus from home (mainly in the freight wagons of trains). “The main concern was that no matter where the train took us, we only wished that it would go WEST as far as possible from the approaching Russian Communists and the terror that they would bring again” (p. 66).
Eventually there is the arrival at Strasshof – and the disgusting “disinfection” of all the refugees, the “Untermenschen,” and then their assignment to different labors.
Finally, there is the end of the war in 1945 and the establishment of displaced persons camps for all the different nationalities of the refugees – about 12 million of them – by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the International Refugee Organization (IRO).
The next portion of the book provides a brief, but oh so accurate, description of a teenager’s life and schooling in a DP camp – up to the time of emigration from Europe to one of the overseas countries that accepted the refugees.
Every single action or activity described is documented. There is an amazing abundance of photographs, documents, letters, maps, etc.
And how does one tell a sad, actually tragic, story with humor? It takes a very unusual talent and skill – which Dr. Onyshkevych happens to possess.
The work is a special treat for those of us octogenarians who can personally relive most of this journey with familiar places and similar encounters. The most moving chapter for me was “Unexpected Encounters and Kind Deeds.”
An interesting, philosophical dimension is brought with a tale about a little-known ninth century statue of Svitovyd (one who sees the world) that was found in 1848 in the river Zbruch. This ancient idol has resided since 1851 at a museum in Krakow. The symbolism of this four-faced statue implies the universality of the human condition. It transcends time and reminds us of today’s sad situation in the Middle East, as well as that in our own Ukraine.
Part II of the book provides “Facts Behind and Beyond My Journey” in the form of notes to each chapter of the memoir. Addenda include: Ukraine’s historical timeline, a very comprehensive glossary, acknowledgements and an index of names.
In author’s words, “Wars do not destroy people’s humanity, which can bloom even in the most harrowing and atrocious circumstances”
I highly recommended this enlightening book to both young and old.