A review by kleonard
She Came from Mariupol by Natascha Wodin

4.0

A detailed and personal account of the author's search to learn more about her mother, an enigmatic figure whose traumatic experiences during WWII colored the rest of her life and the lives of her children. With only a scant bit of information, Wodin begins her quest online, connecting with other family history researchers, genealogists, survivors, and more. Each foray into the life of her mother's immediate family reveals more heartbreak and suffering, but these are stories worth telling and remembering, including details of the Nazi's forced work camps in which residents of Eastern Europe were sent to Germany to work; the looting and violence that occurred during the chaos of the Russian Revolution; and the coping mechanisms victims found--or couldn't find--in the aftermath. At times the writing is a bit clunky, and sometimes the side-trips aren't well integrated into the primary purpose of the book, but overall it is a testament to the need for historical records and documents and evidence, and to the author's determination to learn about her family.