Surviving the Holocaust and Stalin by Vanessa Holburn

Description from Goodreads:

"The horrors of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and labor camps were just the beginning of the struggle to survive for the Seiler family. As Hungarian Jews, they faced persecution of the very worst kind both from their own government and Nazi Germany. After liberation by the Soviets at the end of WWII they endured further punishment from the Stalinist regime concealed behind the Iron Curtain.

This memoir is drawn from a recently re-discovered cache of precious family letters and exclusive interviews with Marta Seiler, who translated those letters for the first time. Marta has supplemented the account with childhood memories and original photos.

The narrative is told through the voices of Marta, her mother Izabella and her father Lajos on a journey that takes us from 1935 to the present day. The reader is able to piece together the family’s personal challenges set against the backdrop of international political conflict. 

Exploring themes of resilience, identity and inherited trauma, by the end of the book we learn how Marta rediscovered her forbidden Jewish identity, found her place within the community and has moved toward a place of tolerance. 

In the tradition of oral history, Marta told her remarkable family story exclusively to journalist Vanessa Holburn. For Marta it’s important we learn the lessons of the past before they are lost for good."

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This is a compelling story of one family's experiences of being a Hungarian Jew before, during and after World War 2.

No matter how many of these types of books I read, it never ceases to shock me how 'human beings' can develop an insidious culture against others just because they are different be it religion, race or whatever.  What I didn't realise was how, even after the Russians liberated the death and labour camps created by the Nazi regime, the persecution of Jews continued for those living behind the 'Iron Curtain'.

This book has opened my eyes to the continued injustice and oppression that was inflicted upon the Jewish people by the Stalin regime despite the horrors they had been subjected to by the Nazis but what it also did was show the resilience, bravery and hope the Seiler family demonstrated despite the tragedies and hardships they encountered and experienced.

This is a must-read for people who are interested in European history and to ensure that the voices of those who went through one of the darkest periods of the twentieth century are not forgotten and I must thank Pen & Sword and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this book.

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