She Came from Mariupol

WINNER OF THE 2017 LEIPZIG BOOK FAIR PRIZE-When Natascha Wodin’s mother died, Natascha was only ten years old-too young to find out what her mother had experienced during World War II.All the little girl knew was that they were detritus, human debris left over from the war.Years later, Natascha set out on a quest to find out what happened to her mother during that time.Why had they lived in a camp for “displaced persons”?Where did her mother come from? What had she experienced? The one thing she knew is that her parents had to leave Mariupol in Ukraine for Germany as part of the Nazi forced labor program in 1943.Armed with this limited knowledge, Natascha resolved to piece together the puzzle of her family’s past.The result is a highly praised, beautiful piece of prose that has drawn comparisons to W.G. Sebald in its approach. Like Sebald, Natascha’s aim is to reclaim the stories of those who can no longer speak for themselves.The author is not only in search of her own family’s histor